Organization XIII: We Fit Because We Misfit
by BlackChain14
Summary: A Different take/ Behind The Scenes Look At Organization XIII and Kingdom Hearts as a whole.
1. Chapter The First

MESSAGE FROM THE FUTURE: This is the first thing I have ever written about anything ever, needless to say it isn't very good. But, since this chapter (and a few others after it) My writing abilities have improved drastically and the story is much better than this chapter would have you think. So, please, read on, ignore the abuse of vulgarity, out-of-character-action, and overall uselessness and I promise you will find a story worth being written. This has been a Message from the Future.

* * *

Ok so i read over the first chapter of my old story and it really really sucked

so i wrote something differnt to start it off. Enjoy

I Dont Own Anything...yet.

* * *

Several members of Organization XIII were sitting in the Kitchen of Depressing Delights, talking and waiting for their superior to tell them what to do for the day.

"Dude, you have to tell me, who named this kitchen 'The Kitchen of Depressing Delights? Isn't that an oxymoron?', asked Xigbar

"I dont know", replied Xaldin, "Probably Xemnas or Zexion named it, they named most of the rooms in the castle"

"It figures", Marluxia piped in, "Those two are so emo...", Marluxia flipped his hair in a beautiful fashion "...And ugly"

Somewhere deep in the castle, Zexion looked up from his lexicon. "Marluxia just called me emo _and _ugly, he will pay!

Back in the kitchen, Xaldin, Xigbar, Marluxia, Larxene, Luxord and Lexaeus, sat around the huge circular booth in the corner of the kitchen. Xigbar got up, and walked over to the pantry. " I'm gonna get somethin' to eat, anyone want something?"

"Oh, I heared women like chocolate during, you know, that time of the month, so give Larxene some Hershey kisses", Luxord said. Everyone burst out laughing, except Larxene. "Heh heh. Bleeding out of you cooch once a month, is so unbeautiful," Marluxia proclaimed, flipping his hair in a beautiful fashion.

Larxene growled. "Fuck you, you french piece of shit!" she yelled.

"My dear, I am British", Luxord raised his cup of tea to the air, "And damn proud of it". Luxord stood up and proclaimed, "God save the Queen!". No one stood and toasted with Luxord, who quikly sat back down, sipped his tea and said "Bloody Americans."

"We're Japanese, Dude", said Xigbar, finally reaching the pantry. He pulled at the door, and it didnt open. He started tugging at the door, and nothing happened. He placed his foot on the door, and tugged harder, and the door still didnt open.

"Did one of you cockfags do something to the door! I want my friggin' chips!", Xigbar yelled.

"Ugly language is so not beautiful", Marluxia proclaimed.

"Hey fuck you pretty boy!"

"Fuck you one-eyed ugly face!" Marluxia yelled, giving Xigbar the bird.

"Fuck you!"

"No, fuck you!"

"No, fuck you!"

"No, fuck you!"

"Guys, Guys! Calm down", Lexaeus interrupted. He got up, and stood in between the two, trying to keep the peace. "If it makes you two feel any better, fuck the both of you". Xigbar and Marluxia turned away from each other. " Now", Lexaeus continued, "The door isnt locked and there is nothing blocking I'ts path, so it's obvious that the door is being magically sealed".

"So what do you suggest we do, then?", asked Xaldin.

"I'ts obvious. Magic defeats magic", Lexaeus stated.

"Thats the stupidest thing I have ever heared", Xigbar said, summoning his guns."I've never met a problem that my guns coudn't solve!"

"Xigbar, dont!". But Lexaeus's warning went unheared. Xigbar started teleporting around the kitchen, sending a barrage of bullets at the door. Xaldin yelled, "Run away!", as every single bullet deflected of the door and started bouncing and rebounding off of any surface in the kitchen, everyone, except Xigbar, ran out the room. Xigbar teleported upside down to the ceiling, to avoid the bullets. He failed to see seven bullets ricochet off the Refrigerator of Refrigerated Doom(?), and hit him right in the ass.

"Aaaaah! My ass!", Xigbar dropped and unsummoned his guns. Xigbar fell from the ceiling, and to the floor, landing on his ass. "Aaaaaaah! My ass!". The bullets faded away, and the door remained intact. Lexaeus, Larxene, Marluxia, Xaldin and Luxord came back into the room, to see Xigbar, groaning, flat on his back and trying to roll over to his stomach. Larxene came over and kicked Xigbar in the ribs, propelling him onto his stomach.

"Lexaeus told you not to do it, and you do it anyway", she said.

"Okay, alright, you were right Lexaeus. The door is magic, so what do we do?", groaned Xigbar.

"Theres only one person with the magical resources to unlock such a door: Zexion". A bolt of lightning boomed outside the window. "Eerie", Luxord stated.

After Xaldin and Luxord found Zexion, explained the situation, they forcibly dragged him to the kitchen, after his many protest. Zexion walked into the kitchen, looked around and found what he was looking for.

"If you're wondering where the door is", Marluxia started, "I'ts right over-Aaaah!". Before Marluxia could even finish his sentence, Zexion had kicked him square in the balls. Marluxia crouched down, holding himself. "Aaaah! What...what was that for?"

"I heared you call me emo and ugly. Nothing personal, I'ts just revenge. Oh, wait, It is personal!

"Oh, my beautiful balls!", Marluxia fell over, and passed out from the pain.

"C'mon Marluxia, you know you always have to protect the McNuggets!", Xaldin stated. He started laughing, and was joined in with everyone else. "Oh, spot on, spot on", Luxord said.

"Ok. Down to bussiness". Zexion walked over to the pantry door. He gave it a good look, then turned around to face the others. "Yep, this door is definitely magically protected".

"How can you tell?", Laxene asked

"Because, It says so on the lable", Zexion pointed down to the bottom of the door, to a lable that read 'MagicOn, keeping roommates away from your food since 1956'.

"Oh, I didn't see that".

"From what I can tell," Zexion started, "Is that, this is a pretty powerful spell, so i'm going to need a powerful unbinding spell. Lexaeus, I need you to go to my room, and brng me a book titled, I Lost My Keys, I Need Magic."

After Lexaeus brought Zexion the desired book, he started flipping though the pages. "Ooooh," Xaldin shivered.

"Whats with you?", asked Larxene.

"I'm getting the willies."

"They what?"

"They willies. It means I'm sensin' some bad mojo, mon."Xaldin said in a rastafarian accent.

"Oookay", Larxene said, taking a few steps away from Xaldin.

"Ah, here we go. I found the right spell", Zexion said, resting his hand on the page. "Now this is a powerful unbinding spell, so brace yourselves and hold on to your pants". Everyone took a few steps back and braced themselves. Zexion's book started to give off a small tint of crimson, then it levitated into the air by itself. Zexion balled up his fists, then pointed out his pinky finger and his pointer finger. He opened up his eyes wider, and his voice got very dramatic as he spoke. " _The old man without a face calls to you, by the endless sea of vengence and despair, the evil strength of Bahamut beckons you, by the crimson pride of Lord MoldyButt, I command you, door, OOOPPEEEN!_( he said open like he was in an opera)

Zexion's spell echoed throuhout The Castle That Never Was, opening every door, lid, window, cupboard, drawer, chest, and cabinet. The spell also undid shoelaces, buckles, belts, buttons, and zippers, anything that could be unbinded.

Demyx was whistling, and walking down one of the long and winding staircases in the castle. Then he heared Zexion's voice saying '_OOOPPEEEN!'. _He said, "Is that Zexi- what? What the hell?". Demyx's shoes became untied, his belt unbuckeled, and his pants fell to his knees. He tripped and started to tumble down the stairs, screaming as he went...

Back in the kitchen, everyone and everything had been affected by the spell, except Zexion and the pantry door, it still remained intact. The book stopped levitating and fell into Zexion's hands. Xaldin, Xigbar, Larxene, and Luxord, were standing there, dumbfounded, and half naked, because their pants had fallen to the floor.

"Dude...", mumbled Xigbar , "It didn't work".

"I dont understand," Zexion said, "It should have worked. This spell is supposed to be the 'shit'."

"Well, it turned out to literally be 'shit'. I know this was going to happen." Xaldin yelled, pulling up his pants, "What did I tell you, Larxene? The willies never lie!"

"Damn you, damn the door, and damn your willies!", Larxene yelled, pulling up her pants, and rehooking her bra. "I'll be in my room, let's go, Marluxia".

Larxene grabbed the hood of a still passed out Marluxia and dragged him out the door. Passing by the doorway to the kitchen, was Roxas, Number XIII, who was also pulling up his pants and rezipping up his cloak. " What the hell happened in here"?

And so, Zexion, Luxord, Xigbar, Xaldin, and Lexaeus explained to Roxas what had happened. " Well, of course your're not getting it opened, I put the spell over the door."

"You did what?", yelled Xaldin.

"Why!", yelled Luxord

"TELL ME WHY I SHOULDN'T KILL YOU WHERE YOU STAND!", yelled Xigbar, summoning his guns, and pointing them at Roxas.

"Because...", Roxas said, he walked over to the pantry door and summoned his keyblade, Oblivion. He pointed it at the door and a light shot out of the tip. From the door an unlocking sound could be heared. He opened the pantry and pulled out a bag of Funyuns. "...these are mine, not yours. Do you see what it says on the bag?". Roxas pointed to some writing on the Funyuns bag that said 'Roxas's Funyuns. The property of Roxas. Do not touch except for Roxas'. "It's not enough that I put my name on the bag, and you all still eat my food! The food that I brought for me. The label means, and I quote 'Them's ain't yo Funyuns, them's Roxas's Funyuns!". Roxas popped open the bag and grabbed a handful, stuffed them into his mouth and started to walk out the room. " Oh yeah, and Xemnas told me to tell you guys that we're having a meeting in a few minutes."

Luxord grabbed the bridge of his nose, and sighed. "Well, mates, I have a feeling that we are going to be dealing with a lot of situations like that in this fanfiction."

"Shhh!", Zexion shushed at Luxord, "You're breaking the fourth wall!"

"Oh, sorry.", Luxord turns to look at you ( the reader). " Just ignore what I said. IGNORE ME!"

"Come on lets go to the meeting." They all opened portals and teleported away.

* * *

Ok thats it I'll update it...eventually. please please please PLEASE REVIEW!


	2. Incense, Peppermints, and Brownies

OK Second Chapter. ENJOY or DIE

I DONT OWN ANYTHING.....yet.

* * *

Demyx was walking down one of the many white halls of the The Castle That Never Was. The meeting had already started and all of the members were already there, except Axel. So Xemnas sent Demyx to go and find him so that they could continue with the meeting.

While Demyx was walking and loooking for Axel, he decided to sing one of his favorite songs.

"Rock me, rock me, rock me sexy Jesus  
He died for our sins  
You just gotta believe us  
Rock me, rock me, rock me sexy Jesus  
All night long  
Rock me, rock me, rock me sexy Jesus  
We're really amazed  
You just gotta believe us  
Rock me, rock me, rock me sexy Jesus  
All night long  
He lays down science, it really blows my mind  
But he's also got abs that transcend space and time-". Demyx stopped singing when he came across another kitchen in the castle, they have at least 9 kitchens. He entered the kitchen and found Axel huddled over the stove.

"Hey Axel", Demyx started, "Y'know were having a meeting and we're all waiting for you. What are you cooking"?

"Do you really want to know?", Axel asked.

"Yeah"

"Ok". Axel turned around to so that Demyx could see what he was doing. In Axel's right hand was a huge clear baggie that appeared to have little green mushed up plants. On the stove, cooking in apot was something that looked like choclotae mix.

"I'm making speacial brownies." He said with a devious smile.

" Oooooh, brownies! Wait....what makes 'em so speacial ?", Demyx asked, scratching his head.

"They have-," Axel was cut off.

"Are they retarded or something?"

"What? No!", Axel held up the clear plastic baggie with the green stuff in it. "I'm gonna put this in the brownies."

"What's that? Dried up broccoli?",Demyx sniffed the air. "And why does it smell like Jamaica?"

"NO I'TS NOT BROCCOLI!!", Axel yelled, Don't you know what this is?"

"No."

"I'ts Pot.", Axel said.

"No, thats a baggie with drieup up broccoli in it. Thats a pot", Demyx said pointing to the pot on the stove.

"No, you Idiot! I'ts just called pot. Don't you know what this is? I'ts the Chronic.

"You mean like Luxord?"

"No, he's a Chronokinetic ( Time Manipulator), there's a difference. Demyx, come on this is Mary Jane."

"Who?", he replied

"Oh, come on Demyx!", Axel yelled getting annoyed. "It's Weed, Canabis, Reefer, Jamaican grass!"

"Well that explains the Jamaican smell."

Axel sighed and grabbed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I'ts marijauna, Demyx."

"Marijauna! But that's a drug!"

" No no no," Axel said, rushing over to Demyx and putting his arm around his shoulder. " Weed, as it is commonlly referred to, is not a drug. It grows naturally from the earth, but for drugs like meth and ecstasy, and heroine, you actually have to do stuff to it, like pouring the ammonia into the glass, heating it for a few minutes, stirring it, I dont actually how you make drugs", Axel said with shifty eyes, " But my point is, weed is not a drug, I promise you."

"Well....okay. Hey, can I help?"

"Yeah sure. Just get me some water.", Axel said, as he went back to making the brownies so special.

"That, I can do". Demyx threw his hand into the air, as water came out of nowhere and started to gather at his palm. He gripped the water and in his hands formed his blue sitar. He got into his playing position, and yelled, "_Baila, Agua,Baila!"_

"What the hell does that mean?", Axel asked.

"I'ts spanish for 'Dance, Water, Dance'!, Demyx yelled.

"Oh."at that moment water came crashing down on the floor. "No, the brownies!", Axel yelled. He immediately covered the stove with his body so that the water wouldn't get in the browies.

"Ooops," Demyx said, as the water stopped falling. He now looked at Axel, who's hair was now darker and and drooped over his face, because of the water. "Ok," Axel said, " I dont think we need water anyway.

* * *

After Axel and Demyx had added the 'special' ingredient to the brownie mix, they put the brownies in a pan then stuck them in the oven for 30 minutes. While they waited for the brownies to finish baking they teleported to the meeting room.

"It's so nice of you all to join us, VIII and IX", Xemnas said, greeting the two.

"I'ts about time you got here,"Larxene said, "as long as you guys were taking we could have all died and come back". She laughed and was not joined in by anyone because they all knew the joke wasn't really funny.

"What?", said Axel, "Thats not funny."

"Really? Cuz I've been working on it for five minu-"

"Oh! Will you shut the fuck up, you horse fucking thunder slut! I hate hearing the sound of your voice!", yelled Zexion.

"You short fucker! I hope you get raped in the face!", she replied, she summoned a bolt of lightning in her hand and threw it at Zexion. Zexion quickly summoned his Lexicon, he made it grow big enough so that it would deflect the lighting back at Larxene. The lightning bounced off the book and headed for Xemnas.

"Uh-oh.", Larxene said.

"Uh-oh.", Zexion said.

Xemnas reached out his hand and absorbed the lightning. He stuck out both his hands, one at Larxene and one at Zexion. The lightning came shooting out in both directions at them stricking and electrocuting them. " Now," said Xemnas, "Can I continue?".

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir", they both replied, twitching in pain from the attack. Zexion kept silent, but Larxene mumbled under her breath, "Fuckin' asshole."

"What was that?", Xemnas asked.

Scared, Larxene said, "Oh, nothing Superior. I just said that your hair looks so shiny and bouncy. Did you do something new to it?"

"...Well, yes. Yes, I did. Im using a new conditioner and shampoo, they do wonders for my scalp."

"Oh, well it's working."

"Thank you, Number XII. Now down to bussiness. What I wanted to discuss with you all is that I have decided to add a new member to our organization. Comments?"

"Do we really need anymore members, I mean we already have 13, I'snt that enough?", Asked Luxord.

"It woudn't be a bad thing to have at least one more member",Roxas declared," Besides, I'll finally have someone to boss around."

* * *

This conversation whether to get a fourteenth member or not continued at least 25 minutes until the organization was split down the middle. Some wanted another member, others didn't think it was neccesary. All this went on to the point where they started to really argue with each other, mostly about matters that had nothing to do with the subject.

"I'm telling you Naruto is the worst anime series I have ever seen in my life, and the english dub is terrible! Now, BLEACH is an anime worth watching!", yelled Saix.

"Are you daft, man!?", yelled Luxord," Naruto is _waaayyyyy _better than BLEACH! If you ask me BLEACH is nothing more than a spin off of Sailor Moon, oooh a high school student who gets superpowers", he said sarcastically, "Like I've never seen that before. Boring!"

Surprisingly, Roxas was in the argument as well. " I cant believe you would pick out that one aspect of anime, the one aspect that's in over 95 percent of every anime in existence, and just pick it out like it doesn't even matter!"

"You know what anime I never understood?", Zexion asked Vexen, still sitting in their thrones

"What?"

"Big O. for some reason I just never got what it was about."

"Me neither. If you ask me it was like Batman minus the cape, the other superheroes, a good story plot and the batcave."

Eveyone was angry with everyone else, but Xemnas was just sitting there, rubbing his temples.

Xigbar was yelling with Lexaeus about how Dave Chappelle was a lot funnier than Larry the Cable guy.

"Git 'er done' is not funny, I'ts just bad grammar and is proving how ignorant rednecks really are!"

"Oh, and 'I'm Rich, Bitch' is the best catchphrase in the world!", Lexaeus said sarcastically.

"It is! It made Dave the funniest man in America, and it earned him 50 million dollars!"

" So? It doesn't matter, he turned the money down! Besides, who cares if he was voted the funniest man in America, we're Japanese!", Lexaeus replied.

Marluxia was arguing with Xaldin

"Look at your hair and your disgusting eyebrows!", Marluxia said, trying to show Xaldin his flawed appearance with a mirror," Their disgusting! As a beautiful person, it is my duty to fix you!"

"Get away from me, you pink haired freak!", Xaldin yelled at Marluxia. Marluxia started to chase after Xaldin. "Come to me!", Marluxia yelled, holding hair care and other beauty products, "I can make you beautiful again!".

"Wow, Demyx," Axel said, "I think I'ts time to go get the 'special' brownies."

"What?", Demyx asked, "Oh, yeah let's go get 'em".

Demyx and Axel teleported out of the meeting room to the kitchen for the brownies. In the mean time, Xemnas finally tried to peacefully calm everyone down

"SHUT UP, YOU UNGRATEFUL SONS OF BITCHES",Xemnas yelled.

Eveyone queited down, scared that Xemnas might kill them, resurrect them, and then kill them again. Before Xemnas could open his mouth to speak, a portal of darkness appeared in the 8th and 9th seat, and the heavenly aroma of chocolate filled the room, also the smell of jamaica for some odd reason.

"Axel, what's that?", Roxas asked.

" Their specia-..", Demyx was cutoff by Axel's hand slapping over his mouth.

"Their brownies," Axel continued, "I made them, because I thought everyone could use a break from arguing. I'ts just my way of saying 'Let's be friend.', he said with a devious grin.

"Axel, your full of shit and you know it", Xemnas said, " But then again, I do love brownies". Xemnas licked his lips in anticipation.

" I like brownies.", Saix said.

"Their delicious and beautiful." Marluxia said.

Everyone teleported down below the thrones of the meeting room, to the floor. Every member took a brownie from Axel and ate it, and then they had some more, then another one. Within an hour the effects of the special brownies had taken over. They we're all as high as a kite, and they we all laying on each other in a pile.

"Dude", Xemnas said in his deep voice, laying on his back and holding a hand to his face, "My hands are HUGE!"

"You know what they said on the news?", Saix said, "If your hand is bigger than your face, you have cancer".

Xemnas put his hand to his face, then Saix quikly puched Xemnas's hand, hitting his face and causing his nose to bleed. "Ow!" Xemnas put a hand to the blood and looked at it. "Oh no! I'm a tomato!"

Luxord was laughing uncontrolablly , "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha".

"What are you laughing at, funny british-mish man?", Axel laughed( he and Demyx ate the brownies too)

"Our logo is a looks like a pair of white testicles. Ha ha ha ha ha! I have white testicles! Ha ha ha ha ha !"

"Hey it does! Ha ha ha ha", he laughed.

"Axel it's so hot! Why is it so hot, Axel?", Demyx asked. He started to unzip his coat, take off his boots, and his pants and shirt, until he was left in his underware. "Whoo! I'm naked!" Demyx started to run around the room, singing and dancing. He ran over to where Xemnas was laying on his back. Demyx started to dance with his butt several inches above Xemnas's face. Demyx started to sing

"I'm to sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt so sexy it hurts! Come on Xemnas, sing with me!"

Xemnas opened his mouth to sing as Demyx's butt continued to dance above his face. "...and I'm a model, a super model, and I'm gonna shake my little tush- Eww! Demyx you have shit stains in your underware!" (at this point Xemnas was still really high)

Larxene and Marluxia were talking to each other(they were still high from the brownies). They were talking about how dogs are like cats, but not at the same time. Until Xigbar came up behind Larxene, and started to rub her shoulders, he whispered in her ear:

"Hey, guess what?"

"What, Cap'n Crunch?", she asked.

He got closer to her ear and said. "I do cocaine."

"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!", Larxene screamed.

Zexion, Lexaeus, and Vexen were back to back to back, staring at the floor, until Zexion piped uo and said. "You know what would go great with this?"

"What?", Lexaeus asked.

"Incense and peppermints."

"The candy?", asked Vexen.

"No", said Zexion. He got up and lazily teleported out of the room. A few seconds later he came back with a CD player. He sat it down on the floor, and pressed play. A song started to play an d Zexion started to dance various dances from the 70's and 80's.

Zexion started to sing, "Incense and peppermints. Meanigless nouns, turn on tune in, turn your eyes around.".

Zexion stopped singing and yelled, "Join me, Jesse McArtney!"

Roxas looked up from whatever the hell he was doing and said, with bloodshot eyes, "Ok, Senor Pantalones.

Roxas joined Zexion with his singing and dancing. "Incense and peppermints. Meanigless nouns, turn on tune in, turn your eyes around.", They sang.

After two hours of complete bullshit, the Organization finally came down from their high. Everyone got back into their seats and waited for Xemnas to speak.

"Axel. No more special brownies, unless I say so"

"Yes, Superior." Axel replied.

"Now before I dismiss the meeting I have one more thing to say. We are going to find another 14th member.

"What's the point? What about all the other 14th members we've had? And aren't we supposed to get another member when 358/2 days comes out?", Asked Marluxia.

"True we have had bad experiences with 14th members before but this time will be different, I'm sure of it. And yes we will have an official 14th member when 358/2 days comes out, but you know as well as I do that we're not supposed to mention her, you dumb fuck! We will cross that bridge when we get there, until then all of you will go out to a different world a find any nobody that you can, and if they survive our challenge, then one of them will be our newest member.

"Oh great! Another hungry mouth to feed.", Xaldin said, " I slave over a hot stove almost eveyday to cook all of your food, and do I even get a than-".

"Yeah, thats nice, Xaldin", Xemnas said, interrupting Xaldin, "This descision is final. Tomarrow you all will go out to different worlds and find some Nobodies. Dismissed.

The meeting was over and everyone, called a dark portal and teleported to.....I don't know, they went to whereever the hell they go when meetings are over.

* * *

OK thats it, I'll update as soon as I can. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW, I REALLY NEED FEEDBACK!!!!!


	3. Fine Killingsmanship, Indeed

Ok its kinda short but i'ts here, and i need REVIEWS, PEOPLE!!!!

well anyway here it is the _Tercera,_ or 3rd, chapter( i forgot how to say chapter in spanish.

Enjoy and Review. I DONT OWN ANYTHING.....yet.

* * *

After 4 days of searching for new members, Organization XIII slowly returned back to the Castle. Axel was slowly walking to one of the many break rooms in the castle. He turned the corner into the room he was looking for, it was big room with a balcony hanging over a dropdown. In the balcony was some cupboards and a mini refrigerator, on the otherside of the balcony was a computer and some old arcade games that no one used anymore. In the dropdown part was a huge flat-screen TV, an XBOX, a PS3, and a Wii connected to the TV. Why they had all this unneccesary stuff, no nobody in the castle knew. A few feet away from the TV, was a long couch against the wall. Sitting on the couch, with abowl of chips in his lap and the remote in his hand, was Number XIII.

"Damn, I'm tired!" ,Axel exlaimed.

"How did it go? Did you find anyone?", Roxas asked.

"HELL NO, I DIDN'T FIND ANYONE!" He yelled.

"Ok Ok. Damn you dont have to yell I'm right here."

"Oh sorry". Axel came over to the couch and sat next to Roxas. "So what are you watching?"

"Desperate Housewives", Roxas said.

"...Really?"

"Yeah, I'ts a good show."

"Ok...anyway, so , I went to 14 different worlds and I only found two nobodies."

"What happened to them?", Roxas asked.

"They both faded away into nothingness, so I just said 'fuck it', and came back here. What about you?"

"Well", Roxas started, " I only went to 9 worlds. I found two, but the first one faded away. The second one died when I gave her a test."

"What was the test? Did you give her a name before she died?"

"The test was that she had to fight a Twilight Thorn. I gave her a name it was Seirexia. I had a feeling she was gonna die because she was kinda....special."

"How special? Like retarted?", Axel asked

"Very retarted. She kept saying how I reminded her of the buses she used to ride."

"The buses she used to ride?"

"Yup, short and yellow.", Roxas said pointing to his yellow hair.

Axel and Roxas burst out laughing, but was cut short when Larxene came in, and sat a few feet away from Roxas.

"Whoo! I am beat!" Larxene said, stretching over the couch. She quickly made a grab for Roxas's chips. She grabbed a handful and Roxas started yelling.

"Hey those are mine, you Whore!"

While Roxas was distracted by Larxene, Axel made a grab for Roxas's bowl and grabbed a handful. And Roxas started yelling again.

"I HATE YOU BOTH! I'LL SLIT BOTH YOUR THROATS IN YOUR SLEEP!"

"Wow, someone's a little testy today.", Larxene said, taking some chips to her mouth and smiling.

"So, Larxene,", Axel started, "How'd it go for you?"

"It went fine", she said not really taking an interest in Axel's words.

"Did you...find anyone?", Roxas asked.

"Yep.", she replied.

"Oh,",Axel said, "I get it, I can tell from your expression that you did find someone, but he or she faded into nothingness. Am I right?"

"I never said that."

"So where is he or she?", Roxas asked.

"Where's who?", she asked.

"THE NOBODY!", Axel and Roxas yelled.

"Oh, yeah! Now I remember!", Larxene exclaimed, "He's in the Northeastern tower. Dont worry, I already explained everything to him. I gave him his name and his uniform."

"What's his name?", Axel asked.

"Um....",Larxene started. She seemed to be having trouble remembering. "I think His name is Xi-". Larxene was cut off by a deep voice.

"Do my ears deceive me? Larxene, did you find another member?", came the voice of Xemnas. He materialized from nowhere, no one even heared the sound of a dark portal opening or closing.

"Holy shit, Xemnas!", Roxas yelled, jumping up and spilling his chips on the floor. "Where'd you come from? I didn't even here you come in.

"Yes, I'm weired like that, so I can do stuff like that.", Xemnas said. "So, Larxene did you find one?"

"Yeah I found one", Larxene said.

"This is a good thing and a bad thing at the same time.", Xemnas said.

"Why?", Axel, Larxene, and Roxas asked.

"Because!", Out of nowhere came the voice of Saix, appearing from a dark portal next to Xemnas. "Because I found my own 14th member.

"Because Saix found his own 14th member.", Xemnas continued Saix's sentence.

"I just said that.", Saix said.

"Yes, I know, but my voice is cooler, deeper and sexier than yours and I enjoy hearing the sound of my voice.", said Xemnas.

"Oh, whatever.", said Saix.

"Now," Continued Xemnas, "Because we only need 1 new member, I have decided to let the two new candidates fight to the death!" (Dun Dun Dah!)

"Aw, yeah!", Saix yelled with a smile, " My guy, Bronx, is gonna kick Larxene's guy's ass! Wait a minute, what is Larxene's guy's name?"

Laexene started, "His name is Xi-", she was once again cut off by Saix's yelling.

"It doesn't even matter, cuz when Bronx is done with him, he wont even be matter! HaHaHa!", Saix yelled. "Bronx is bigger, stronger, faster, and better than anyone, anywhere, in any plain of existence!"

At this Xemnas raised an eyebrow, and gave a menacing look at Saix.

"Uh..uh, but of course he pales in comparison to you, my Superior", Saix said, nervously bowing.

"Damn straight", said Xemnas. " Now, Axel you get directions from Saix and go get Bronx. Roxas you get directions from Larxene and go get her guy. We will all meet in Death's Slow Approach, so that they can kill each other and entertain us. Now go."

* * *

Axel was walking along the southern most hallway of the castle, thanks to Saix's directions, looking for this guy named Bronx. After walking, for what seemed like forever( it was actually only 11 minutes. Axel has a terrible sense of time), he finally came across a huge door, wth the title 'Guest' across the top of it.

"I guess this is it.", Axel said. He raised his fist and knocked on the door. Immediateley a booming voice erupted from the other side.

"WHAT!!!?"

The door opened to reveal a huge giant man. He had brown hair and brown eyes, and easily dwaft Axel.

Now Axel was 6'4, this guy was 7'6. He had already been given his uniform.

"Uh...are you Bronx?"

"Yeah, that's what the guy with the blue hair said it was. What's your name, puny man?"

"The name's Axel. Got it Memorized?"

"Derrrrrr.",Bronx said, a dull, almost catatonic expression on his face. "Yeah, I got it memoriorized now, puny man."( in case you cant tell he's an idiot)

Axel was getting irratated at being called puny man. True he was skinny, but it was an unspoken rule, not to commnt on Axel's bodily appearance. They lost more members that way, but Axel decided to cut the giant retard some slack.

"Hey, Bronx. You like to fight and kill right?"

"Fighting, Yeah! Killing, Yeah! Fucking, Yeah!"

"Yeah, Ok, I didn't say Fucking but Ok", said Axel, "Now, the Organization has decided that in order for you to join us, you have to kill the other potential 14th member that we have found."

"Ok, where is that motherfucker! I'll kill hin dead, then fuck his dead body!", Bronx yelled.

"What?! No no no, dont do that! You just have to kill him. Step through here."Axel said. He waved his hand and opened an extra tall portal so that he and Bronx could fit through it.

* * *

Roxas walked through a portal and appeared in front of another door labeled 'Guest'. He sighed and said, "Let's get this over with." He knocked on the door a few times and nothing happened. He knocked again, nothing happened. Roxas started to walk away and try the door down the hall, when he heared a voice.

"Who is it?"

Roxas replied back , "Open the door."

The door opened slowly to reveal a hooded figure, a little shorter than Axel. The hooded figure wasn't as tall as Axel, but he was taller than Roxas, so he had to have been about 6'1 and Roxas was 5'10. The figure was already dressed in his uniform, with his hood pulled up over his face. Roxas looked down his shoes and saw that they were regular shoes, not boots like the other members had.

"Who are you? Where's that girl Larxene?", asked the hooded figure.

"She's busy, and I'm Roxas. Whats your name?"

"Uh...she said my name was Xi-". Roxas cut the hooded figure off.

"I'ts Okay, you can tell everyone after you kil the other guy."

"What!", yelled the hooded figure, "No one said I had to kill anyone!"

"Well if your going to be part of the Organization, killing is going to be a big part of your job.", Roxas said.

"Job? Do we at least get paid?", asked the figure.

"Kinda", Roxas shrugged, "Who or whatever we kill will usually drop money, so thats you payment."

"Well, Ok, let's get this over with."

Roxas opened a portal and walked through it, the hooded figure following close behind.

* * *

Did you like it? THEN REVIEW, DUMBASS! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! I'll give you a cookie, but only if you review.


	4. Death Dead Again One Last Time

Ok ok I know it took me a while but i had to go get cookies for everyone who reviewed so here.

Anyway here is the _Cuarta(4th) _chapter( once again i don't know how to say chapter in spanish. Enjoy and Review

I DONT OWN ANYTHING...yet.

* * *

Axel and the giant idiot, Bronx, walked out of the portal into an arena called Death's Slow Approach. It was a huge area, at least the size of two basketball courts. On one side of the arena was a huge glass window. On the other side were thirteen black leather chairs, were the Organization sat. Most of the members were not there, only Xemnas, Xigbar, Zexion, Demyx, Luxord, Saix Larxene, and Roxas."Ok", said Axel. "All you have to do is wait here and when we say start, you can start fighting. Ok?"

"Ummmm, I'm hungry, when do we get to eat?", asked Bronx.

"You can eat if you live. Now I'm going to go over to my seat and remember, don't start fighting until the Superior tells you to, Ok?

"Uh, who's the Superior?", asked Bronx.

"He's the guy that looks like he was under a tanning bed for too long, and he looks like he uses a whole can of grease in his gravity-defying hair." Axel said.

"Oh", said Bronx.

Axel turned around and thought to himself, '_Oh God someone please put this giant retard out of his misery'._ He teleprted out of the arena and reappeared in his seat. When he sat down next to Demyx, he saw Roxas teleporting into the arena with the hooded figure. Before he could say anything to Roxas, he teleported next to Axel, and took his seat, and Xemnas started to speak.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are here today to bind these to in holy matrimony-"

"No one's getting married!", yelled Xigbar.

"Oh yes, sorry", Xemnas continued, "Today Organization XIII will be receiving a new member. Whoever successfully kills the other candidate, they will receive the right to be called Number XIV. But, we will still be known as Organization XIII because I already had bussiness cards printed up, and It would cost a fortune to get them reprinted. Now, will the two potential members tell us their names."

Bronx turned toward the Superior and said, "Deeeeeerrrrrrrrrr...". Bronx seemed to be in a catatonic state but Xemnas had a solution:

"Xigbar, hit him with your shoe."

"No problem!", Xigbar said taking off his shoe and throwing it at Bronx.

"Ow!", Bronx yelled, "Uh my name is Bronx!"

"And you?", Xemnas said, pointing to the hooded figure.

"My name is Xi-", The hooded figure was once again cut off.

"Who cares about formalities!", Luxord yelled from his seat, "Come on, we want to see some blood!"

"Alright fine," Xemnas said, "But before we start, Larxene and Saix, you may say some 'words of encouragement' to the two combatants."

Saix and Larxene walked out of the row of seats and down to the arena. Saix walked over to Bronx and started yelling.

"YEAHHH! WHAT YA GONNA DOOO!"

"I'M GONNA KILL!,", yelled Bronx.

"WHO YA GONNA KILLL!"

"THAT GUY!",yelled Bronx, pointing to the hooded figure.

"AND HOW YA GONNA DO IT?",yelled Saix.

"PAINFULLY AND SLOWLY FOR YOUR ENTERTAINMENT, SIR!"

"YAHHHHH", yelled Saix.

"YAHHHHH", yelled Bronx.

"STRIKE POSES WITH ME!", yelled Saix.

Saix ripped off his shirt, and Bronk did the same. They started to do model-like poses, grunting, and yelling, and quikley throwing their fists into the air. Then they finally stopped and Saix yelled one more time.

"NOW GO DO WHAT I JUST TOLD YOU TO DO!"

"YES, SIR", yelled Bronx, saluting.

Saix started walking back to his seat, his shirt ripped, almost completely off his body. Larxene made her way to the hooded figure and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"How are you doing?", she asked.

"I'm fine, can't complain. Oh, just one question how are we supposed to fight each other?", asked the hooded figure.

"With weapons. You can summon you weapon like you did when those people attacked you, right?"

"No, that was by accident."

"Well, anyway, take this.", Larxene handed the hooded figure a long samurai sword, with a red handle and a square handguard.

"Why, are you helping me?", he asked, taking the sword.

"Because I know you can win, and kill this guy the same way you killed those people."

"Oh," said The hooded man. He didn't sound very enthusiastic about that.

"Oh, and one more thing", Larxene said, "Take this!", She raised her hand and slapped the hooded man, across the face.

"OW! That hurt, you whore!", he yelled.

"Are you angry?", she asked with a smile.

"Hell, yeah I'm angry!"

"Then use that anger, and direct it at him.", she said, pointing at Bronx, who was picking his nose.

"Ok", the hooded figure said, rubbing the side of his head that is his cheek.

Larxene walked away, joining Saix on his way back to his seat.

"You know your guy is gonna lose," she said with a smile.

"Wanna bet?"

"Sure. How much are you willing to lose?"

"50,000 munny. Are you in?", Saix asked.

"Yeah."

Larxene and Saix made their way back to their seats, just in time for Xemnas to talk again.

"Is everyone ready?"

"Yeah!", everyone in the room yelled.

"Start!", Xemnas yelled.

Bronx started off. He raised his right hand into the air, and it started to glow a mettalic silver. He thrusted his hand into the hard floor. He gripped and pulled out a huge mettalic axe with a sharp tip. The axe had to be at least as tall as he was.

"Aw, Fuck!", yelled the hooded hooded figure didn't do anything fancy. He got in his stance, placing his left hand out, and raised his sword above his head( like Riku's stance). He waited for Bronx to make the first move.

"YAHHH!", Braonx yelled charging at the hooded figure, his axe held high above his head.

"_Ok",_thought the hooded figure, "_I just have to time it just right." _

Bronx got close enough to the hooded figure and brought down his axe. At the last second the hooded man rolled out of the way, letting the silver axe hit and become stuck in the floor. Bronx held onto the axe with both arms, trying to pull it out of the ground.

"_Now!"_, thought the hooded man. He rushed for Bronx and brought his sword over his head, ready to strike Bronx's wrist. The hooded figure brought the sword down on Bronx's arm, and the second it made contact the sword broke in half.

"DAMMIT, LARXENE!", yelled the hooded figure, dropping the broken sword and running away from Bronx who was laughing maniacally.

"Ha ha ha ha! Looks like the little man can't cut it! Here I come!", yelled Bronx, finally pulling his axe from the ground. "I'm gonna fuck your dead body!"

"Ew! That's disgusting!", yelled Roxas and Demyx.

"No, no, no!", yelled Axel. "What did I tell you? That is not cool. Not cool!"

"Ha ha.", Saix laughed half-heartedly to Larxene, "Looks like Bronx is going to win and apparantely is going to rape the other guy's dead body. I think I'm going to spend your money on apple juice. Did you know that apple juice gives me really bad farts? I'm going to fart on you when I drink my juice, Larxene."

"That juice isn't on you tongue just yet." She replied.

Xigbar and Zexion turned to Larxene and asked her. "Larxene why would you give him a broken sword? You just want to see him die, don't you?" Xigbar asked.

"Oh, no no no", she said with a smile, "With that sword broken, he'll have to draw out his real weapon. I saw it before and I want to see it again."

"Oh", said Zexion turning back towards the fight. "But, really, that's cruel."

"I know."

Bronx had caught the hooded man and was now holding him by his throat. "Oh, poor little man. Can't fight with the big boys!". He threw the hooded man towards the wall, banging his back against it. His hood wavered a little to show a little amount of hair.

"I saw hair! I saw hair!" yelled Demyx from his seat, "His hair is black. I mean really, really dark black."

"No you didn't," said Roxas, "That was just his hood."

"No it wasn't. I know what I saw."

The hooded man staggered to his feet, but his sides were meet with the blunt edge of Bronx's axe, sending him to the floor again.

Bronx walked over to the hooded figure, grabbed him by the cuff of his cloak and said; "Tell me your name."

"What?", panted the hooded figure, trying to catch his breath.

"I like to know the name of the people I kill."

"You...can..call me Your Killer.". Said the figure, laughing as he spoke.

Bronx got a very stupid expression on his face. "Wait, that would mean you killed me, right?"

"Yeah. Pretty much, you idiot."

The hooded figure dissapeared from Bronx's grip and reappeared behind him. His hands were now smoking with darkness, swriling around his hands, as if it wanted to take form. He stuck both of his hands outward and pure jet black darkness swirled around his hands.

"So," said Xemnas, sitting in his seat and eating Doritos. "His element is Darkness."

"Wait a minute", said Xigbar, "I thought your element was Darkness?"

"No," said Xemnas who seemed offended, "I control Nothingness. What the hell do you think I have been talking about all these years?"

"Kingdom Hearts. Ok, well if you control Nothingness, then what does Zexion control?", Xigbar asked.

"Illusion, dumbass!", Zexion called out, "We've been nobodies for how long, and you dont even know what I control? Don't talk to me anymore Xigbar!"

"But-"

"Yes, don't talk to use anymore, Xigbar," Xemnas said, interrupting Xigbar, "You don't even know us." Xemnas continued to eat his chips.

Back in the arena, the hooded figure grabbed the darkness that was swirling around his hands. The darkness quikley dispersed and left a sword in each hand. The swords short only about 20 inches long, dark gray in color and they had no handgaurd. The handle was jet black and long, while the blade was double edged and had three small jagged spikes on the top and bottom edge.

"That's it?", said Saix, "They don't even have a handgaurd."

"It's what the blades can do that I like." said Larxene.

"And what can they do?", asked Saix.

"Wait and see.", she replied.

Bronx growled, "Just because you have swords, doesn't mean I wont win!" He charged at the figure, his axe at his side. Before he could get far enough, the hooded figure had dashed to Bronx's leg, and sliced at it, blood jetting out from the wound. Bronx screamed with pain, and failed to notice that the figure was on his back. He jammed both of his blades into Bronx's shoulders, and slid down, leaving to huge, bloody gashes in Bronx's back.

"Aaaaah!", Bronx yelled, dropping his axe. "Thats cheating!"

"How's that cheating?", asked the hooded figure, holding his now bloody blades.

"You're fat! Which means your slow!"

"I'm not fat! I just have untoned muscle!" yelled the hooded figure, he was offended.

"And, Now," said the hooded man, "I'm gonna kill you and use you skull for sex and then a decorative bird house!"

"Ew!" , said Roxas.

Axel merely shook his head and placed it in his palms.

Demyx got up out of his seat, put his hands to his ears and ran out of the room, yelling, "Oh, my God! What is wrong with these people!"

The hooded figure didn't waste time. He ran to Bronx's fallen axe and grabbed it. He ran to Bronx, and hit him twice in the face with the flat side of the axe. While Bronx was trying to recover, the hooded man raised the axe and jammed it into the ground, leaving the sharp edge facing out, at an angle, towards Bronx.

"Now, die!", the hooded man laughed.

He got into a stance and re-summoned his blades.

"_Ok, just like before. I can do this."_ He thought. He threw his blades forward and the blades seperated from the handles, leaving a thin chain connecting the blades to their handles. Bronx finally regained his composure and yelled, "Motherfucker! I'm gonna kill you-Aaaaaah!" Bronx was screaming when the two blades landed in his front shoulders. The hooded figure started to pull on the handles and contracting the chains, tyring to pull Bronx closer and closer to the sharp tip of the axe. "No no no! Please don't! I don't wanna die!", Bronx screamed, pleading for his life. He tried to pull away from the hooded figures grasp but coudn't escape. Closer and closer he came to the tip of the axe until the hooded figure tugged one last time, bringing the base of Bronx's neck to the tip. The tip of the axe portruded from the back of Bronx's neck, covered in blood. The blades retracted from Bronx's shoulders, making a _SHINK! _Sound as the chains dissapeared back into the handles, leaving nothing but blood covered blades. The hooded figure desummoned his swords and wlked over to the now dead corpes of Bronx. He pulled out a white cloth and threw it at the top of Bronx's bloody head.

"Clean yourself up. You're dead."

"Ha! I win Saix give me my munny, bitch!", yelled Larxene to a dumdfounded Saix.

"But...but...how? Those swords-", Saix was cutoff by Xemnas.

Xemnas stood from his seat and said, "Our new Number XIV. You will-"

"What's you name? Show us your face!", Xigbar yelled, "We're tired of waiting and so is the reader!"

"Uh...ok", said the hooded man. He raised his hands to his hood and pulled it down, revealing jet black hair, that flowed backwards, light-medium brown skin and hypnotic black and white eyes. "My name is Xinck."

"That's not the name I gave you!" yelled Larxene.

"It's better than the name you gave me, asshole! You tried to name me Analsex!", the nobody now identified as Xinck yelled.

Larxene started to chuckle to herself until Xemnas spoke up.

"Larxene, you cannot name members Analsex."

"Why not? It has an "X" in it"

"Because, it was funny the first time you named a member that, and it was a little less funnier when you named another member the same thing. But three times is'nt funny at all. The name that Xinck has picked for himself will do fine."

Everyone was content with the events of the day, except Saix who lost a bet and Bronx who is now dead but who the hell cares? Everyone went on with their business while Xemnas showed the new member, Xinck, around the castle.

"So," said Xigbar to Luxord, "What do you think about the new member?"

"What do you mean 'What do I think'? He just got here, there's nothing to think of him."

"Dude! Are you serious? We finally have a black guy!"

* * *

Review.


	5. If Someone Asks You To Roshambo, Don't!

Ta-DOW! Ta-DOW! How you like me now!Ta-DOW! the next chapter is up _QUINTA(5th) chapter!_

_READ and REVIEW_

_ENJOY and i don't own anything...yet._

* * *

Two weeks after the Organization had gotten a new member, Xemnas had assigned Marluxia to train him and to tell him anything he needed to know.

"Why do I have to train him! It's because I won't tell you where I get my hair done is it?", Marluxia argued.

"Yes, it is, but that's not the point. You're the only one who's schedule isn't filled up with missions.", Xemnas said.

"Well I don't except the responsibility.", Marluxia said, crossing his arms.

"You don't have a choice."

"Rrrrrr.", Marluxia growled. "Fine, let's go, Xinck. This is bullshit, Xemnas."

"You're bullshit.", Xemnas said.

"I'll bullshit in your face!", Marluxia yelled, angrily.

* * *

Marluxia was told by Xemnas that he only had to train Xinck for two weeks. But Marluxia wasn't really trying to train him, but was just wasting time.

"Ok, Xinck, take this paper and start singing.", Marluxia said, handing Xinck a piece of paper.

Xinck grabbed the paper and read it out loud, "'I Feel Pretty'?. No way I'm not singing this!"

"Sing it. I'll sing with you.", Marluxia said.

Xinck mumbled something that sounded like, 'i'll make you eat your parents', cleared his throat and started to sing. _"I feel pretty, oh so pretty. I feel pretty and witty and ga_- oh, come on this is so stupid!"

"Come on Xinck sing it. I'll help you. _I feel pretty and witty and_-", he motioned for Xinck to continue.

Xinck continued, "- _I feel pretty and witty and gay. And I pity any girl who is'nt me tonight-"_

"_LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA!",_ Marluxia sang.

"_Who's that pretty girl in that mirror there?"_, Xinck sang.

"_What mirror where?",_ Marluxia sang.

"_Who could that attractive girl be? _

"_La la la la!"_

"_Such a pretty face, such a pretty dress, such a preety smile, such a pretty me!"_

"You see, Xinck. How do you feel now?, Marluxia asked.

"Prety gay.", Xinck replied.

"Oh well. Let's continue.'_I feel stunning..."_

It wasn't until Marluxia had one week left, that he actually started to train Xinck with some useful information.

"Ok, Xinck", Marluxia started, "Do you know the name of the technique we use to move at high speeds?"

"Uh...no."

"We'll in the BLEACH world, there are some beings who can do this. It goes by many names like, Shunpo, and Sonido, there is another one, but for the life of me I can't think of the name."

"We'll, what do we call it?", Xinck asked.

"We call it Moving really really really fast."

"That's not very creative."

"Yeah, well, Xemnas sucks at naming things. Now you do know how to do it right? I've seen you do it when you fought Bronx."

"Yeah I know how to do it, I just didn't know what it was called. I also know how to fight so you don't have to train me."

"Well, why didn't you tell me this in the first place! All the time I wasted with you.", Marluxia said.

"The only thing you told me that was useful was how to exfoiliate my skin."

"If I don't need to teach you anything, I still need to tell you the history of the Organization."

So Marluxia spent an entire half-hour explaining the very deppresing, and very confusing history of the Organization.

"So," Xinck started, "Xemnas has a personality disorder?"

"If you want to be that black and white about it, yes he does."

"He started off as Xehanort, took his masters name, Ansem, than changed it to Xemnas. Oh he's crazy."

"Definetly. Now before you can become a full-fleged member you have one more test. You're first mission. Here you go."

Marluxia handed Xinck a manila folder and he opened it and read it.

"So I have to go to this world, and retrieve a sword, why? I thought we were all about hearts?"

"Yes, we are, but some of the items we collect, we sell,(they have to pay the bills somehow) and others we just keep down in a vault with other powerful items.", Marluxia said.

"How am I supposed to get to this world? I can't use those dark portals that you guys can use."

"I thought ahead, ROXAS!", Marluxia yelled.

Immedietly a dark portal appeared, and out stepped a short kid with an unnatualy swirl of blond hair, and blue eyes, and an apathetic look on his face."

"What do you want.", he asked, "I'm watching High School Musical."

"High School Musical is gay,", Xinck blurted out.

"Do you want to die?", Roxas asked, rushing up to Xinck. Of course Xinck was a little taller than Roxas, who only came up to Xinck's chin.

"Who's gonna do it, you?"

"Calm down, calm down,"Marluxia said, stepping between the two. " Xinck, you've meet Roxas right?"

"No. You, Larxene, and Xemnas are the only one's I've meet."

"Oh, well Roxas this is Xinck, Xinck this is Roxas. Shake hands."

* * *

Reluctantly, Roxas and Xick shook each other's hands, then after Xinck made another comment about High School Musical, Roxas ponced on Xinck, and they started fighting. After Marluxia broke them up, and made them apoligize to each other, Marluxia explained to Roxas what Xinck's mission was. Xinck's mission was to go to the Sword in The Stone world, and steal the sword...in the stone.

A dark portal appeared out in the middle, of what apeared, nowhere, a snow white country side, it was obviously winter. The closest thing for what seemed 10 miles was a small town on a hill, far away. At the top of the hill appeared to be a church or chapel.

Xinck and Roxas emerged from the portal, with their hoods up. They shivered from the cold.

"So, where are we supposed to go?", Xinck asked

"The best bet is that town over there.", Roxas said, pointing to the town in the distance.

"That shithole? That's where the Sword is supposed to be?"

"Probably. It's likely. Let's go, it's cold." Roxas said.

They started to walk towards the town, their shoes making imprints in the snow as they went. While walking, Xinck decided to break the ice.

"I'm sorry about earlier, to be honest I've never seen High School Musical."

"It's Ok, besides I know you don't mean it, you don't have a heart.", Roxas said.

"Yeah, but you know what I mean."

"So, uh, how old are you?", Roxas asked, "You have to be what? 19? 20?"

"Fifteen.", Xinck said.

"No way! Your huge! You don't look fifteen."

"I get that a lot. I'm just festively plump and the rest of it is untoned muscle.", Xinck said. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen.", said Roxas

"Wow. You're short!", Xinck said, laughing.

"Hey! I'm normal height! You're just fat!"

"I'm not fat, I'm big boned!", Xinck yelled

"There's no such thing as big boned. There's just fat, and fatter.", Roxas said.

"You butt-fucking son of a bitch, I hate you!", Xinck yelled in a very Eric Catman-ish way.

"Ha ha ha! You're funny,", Roxas laughed.

Roxas and Xinck eventually made their way to the entrance of the shit-hole-I mean the Town. Once inside the warmth of the town, Roxas and Xinck took off their hoods. They saw that that, the town was an old English town, with short stone buildings, and animals everywhere. On the ground of the town was dirt, hay, an occasional pile of snow, horse shit, cow shit, donkey shit, and of course, human shit. In other words it was a very shitty place.

"Wow, this is a very shitty place.", said Roxas. "Hurry up and find the Sword, so we can leave. Remember, I can't help you, this is your mission."

"Ok, let's go.", Xinck said. "How am I supposed to find the sword?"

"Ask someone."

Xinck looked around and spotted a man wearing brown rags. He had brown hair and pale skin. Xinck tapped him on the shoulder and asked:

"Hey, do you know where I can find the Sword In The Stone?"

The man turned to Xinck, and with a smile said, "Aye, if ye wishes to seek the sword. Thou must stay and partake in our town's annual festivities. But if ye wishes to try his hand at trying to pull yonder sword, then thou must go to yonder hill.", The man said, pointing to the hill.

Xinck and Roxas were confused, because they didn't speak Old English, so Xinck asked the man again, and he repeated everything he said, word for word. Xinck's patience were running out, so he asked the man once more, when the man started to say the exact samething, so Xinck quickly grabbed the man, andd pulled him into an abondaned alley. He pushed the now screaming man up against the wall, and summoned black chains to bind his hands to the wall. The man started scramng for mercy, until Xinck summoned one of his short, dark gray swords and held it up to the man's face.

"Now, in plain english, tell me where the Sword In The Stone is, you fuckin hippie!", Xinck lowered his blade down close to the man's crotch. "Or, I'll cut off something that **YOU WILL MISS**, and that can't grow back.", he said with a devious smile.

'It's true he'll do it." Roxas said, unaffected by what was going on.

"I'll tell you!", the man screamed. "It's on the hill in front of the church! Please!"

"Ok, was that so hard?", Xinck said, waving his hand and desummoning the black chains in the wall. He quickly brought his sword up to the man's screaming face. "Now, forget my face."

"And my face.", Roxas added.

"And his face. Forget our faces."

Roxas and Xinck left the man wimpering and crying in the ally. They continued walking up the hill and as they got closer, they noticed that the crowd was getting thicker. Then they heared people speaking and saying 'He pulled the sword out of the stone' and ' He's just a child'. Then the crowed bursted out cheering and yelling 'Long Live King Arthur!'

Xinck and Roxas looked up and saw that someone was raising a shimmering sword in the air, than it started to move down the crowd and toward the entrance of the town.

"Dammit! Someone already pulled out the sword. We gotta go get it !", said Xinck.

"That's obvious.", Roxas said. He opened a portal and He and Xinck stepped through it(I guess no one noticed them dissapearing). They stepped out of the porta and emerged at the entrance of the town, just at the same moment a kid, no older than 12 or 13, was running with the Sword in his hand.

"Ok," said Roxas, "Get the sword."

Xinck walked up to the kid and started talking.

"Hey, kid! That's my sword!" Xinck's words cought the kids attention.

"My name is Arthur, not kid. And I'm afraid that you are mistaken, this is my sword. Im going to be the new King of England."

"You can be king all you want, but not with my sword. Give it."Xinck held out his hand for the sword.

"No." Arthur replied, cradling the sword.

"Ok, I'll Roshambo you for it."

"What's that?", Arthur asked.

"It's a game, where we both hold onto the sword, then I kick you in the testicles, then you kick me in the testicles. Last one standing wins." Xinck said with a devious smile.

"...Allright, then.", Arthur agreed, and held out the sword handle, which Xinck readily grabbed.

"Ok. Ready?", Xinck asked spreading his legs. Arthur nodded and spread his legs.

"Ok. 1, 2, 3, ROSHAMBO!", Xinck yelled and kicked Arthur square in the nuts. Arthur screamed with pain, let go of the sword, cringed and fell to his knees, holding his crotch.

"I win!.", Xinck yelled, throwing the sword over his shoulder.

Roxas had fallen in the snow, laughing and holding his stomach. "Dude, I can'y believe you just did that! Hahahah!"

"Yeah. Come on, let's go I'm ready to go."

Roxas, still chuckling, eventually stood up and opened a dark portal to The Castle That Never Was. They walked through the portal with the sword and lefted Arthur passed out in the snow.

* * *

In the meeting room, Where Nothing Gathers, the members of Organization XIII were seated on their thrones. With a 14th throne added, Xemnas said,

"Today our newest member, Xinck, has completed his first mission and as such, he now has all of the privilages and duties of a member. He will receive a nickname and a subordinate nobody".

Xemnas waved a hand and a small white box appeared on the arm rest of Xinck's throne.

"In that box you will find all the instructions you need to construct your nobody." Xemas said, "And now your nickname. You will be known as The Fallen Deviant."

"Deviant? That sounds kind of...perverted.", Xinck said, "But, I like it."

"Well," started Xaldin, "Larxene's nickame is the Savage Nympho."

"Nymph! Nymph! You dumb fuck, Nymph!," yelled Larxene from her throne.

"I mean 'Deviant' as in when he turned into a nobody, he deviated from realm of light." Xemnas said.

"Ok, but what about the 'Fallen' part?" Axel asked.

"His element is Darkness, so...get it?", Xemnas asked.

"No, I don't get it."

"I don't care, alright, I thought it sounded cool! I don't care what you all have to say, his nickname stays.! That's final!", Xemnas yelled.

"So...Now what?", asked Xigbar.

"We wait for the next chapter, of course." Vexen said.

"But what will the next chapter be about?" asked Lexaeus.

"Ooh, ooh, I know!" said Demyx, "We can have a Q&A session!"

Demyx's idea of a Q&A chapter was meet with approvals by the rest of the Organization.

"Then it is settled, the next couple

of chapters will be a Question and Answering session.," Xemnas said. "Super sweet."

* * *

Yes Yes Yes. Next Chapter is a Q&A, send in your review questions and they will answer them! REVIW REVIEW REVIEW!


	6. WTF! Part 1

Here we are again. ok i realize now that the Q&A idea was stupid and it sucked total donkey balls, BUT, i am here to redeem myself with these next two Chapters!

Enjoy and I dont own anything....yet.

* * *

All of Organization XIII was sitting in the meeting, waiting for Xemnas to start todays meeting. All of a sudden a dark portal appeared in the No.I seat and Xemnas appeared with an unhappy look on his face. He waited for someone(Nobody), anyone to say something, then Demyx piped up.

"How are you today, Superior?"

"Me?,", He asked, "Oh, I'm fine, Number IX, just fine, except for the fact that- WE'RE FUCKING BROKE, PEOPLE!"

"Broke?!"

"How can we be broke?, Xigbar asked.

"Maybe, I'ts because of all the spending you all have been doing! And with that Q&A, we spent more money than we made! Money doesn't grow on trees! I pay bills!", Xemnas yelled.

"We pay bills?", Axel asked.

"Yes, _**I**_, pay bills. We have the rent bill, the light bill, water, gas, a bill for the huge space the castle takes up, a bill to employ three underage minors, and a bunch of other crap!"

"Wait. Three underage minors? You mean Roxas, Namine, and Xinck?", Luxord said.

"Yes. Roxas and- wait, where is Xinck?", Xemnas asked.

"You sent him on a mission, remember?", asked Xaldin.

"Oh, anyway, the point is that we need to come up with ideas to make money. Start pitching.", Xemnas said.

Zexion raised his hand.

"Yes, Zexion."

"I'm partial to selling crack."

"Yeah, I wanna be a Drug Dealer!,"Yelled Demyx

"Okay."Said Xemnas, writing the ideas down on his notepad 'Drug Dealers-Crack.'.

"Oh, Oh, I know! I know!," Xaldin yelled, bouncing in his seat. "We could have a bake sale! I've been meaning to try out this new cake recipe I got of the Marthat Stewart show."

"Martha Stewart? We'll put it in the 'Maybe' pile. Any other ideas?"

"Nail Salon!", yelled Marluxia. Everyone cut an eye at Marluxia. "What? Korean women make money that way."

"Oh, I got it!," yelled Axel, "We can start a brothel!"

"Yeah, I wanna be a Pimp!", yelled Demyx.

"Ok," said Xemnas, writing down the ideas, "We got, Bake sale, Nail Salon, Drug dealers, and a Brothel. Anymore?"

"We could become hitmen.", suggested Larxene, "We could put out ads in different worlds, people contact us, we kill the target, and collect the money."

"Not bad, not bad. Anymore?", Xemnas looked down at Lexaeus, "Lexaeus, you look deep in thought. Do you have any ideas."

"...Fangirls.", He said in his deep voice.

"Fangirls? What about 'em?, " asked Xigbar.

"If we put out ads in a highly populated world, like America, we could transport crazy, Organization XIII loving Fangirls here, and have them pay to take a tour of the castle with one member at a time. Of course it will cost them a lot of money, but we will charge extra to let them sit in on a meeting with us."

"Mmmm, that is a very excellent idea. Ok, then It's settled, we will post ads on the internet to let Fans of Organization XIII know that they can pay for a tour of the castle. It might take a while to set up, but we might be able to make this work. Also, all of your other ideas might be possible. Dismissed."

With that, everyone teleported out of the room.

* * *

A few hours later....

In Vexen's dark and very very cold lab, Zexion was in a corner, sitting in a chair, reading a book. While Vexen lay over his surgery table, covered in blood. Vexen was wearing goggles and latex gloves. He was cutting into something deep when he hit an artery and blood shoot out and hit him on his goggles. Whatever he was cutting into was crying with pain.

"Ah!- Dammit! Zexion could you hand me that towel over there?"

"Yeah.", Zexion grabbed the towel and handed it to Vexen's bloody hand.

"You're bleeding." Zexion said.

"It's not my blood, It's his." He said. Pointing towards the bleeding mass on the lab table.

"Please! Let me go!"

"Oh quit you bithcin' and complaining!", Vexen yelled, "Take it like a man-or bear- whatever you are!."

"P-p-p-Please, mister, let Pooh go!", yelled a little pig thing scrambling on the floor.

"Oh, Piglet, I'm dying! Please be my mercy angel and kill me!"

On the lab table was Winnie the Pooh, bloodied and dying. Vexen came back over and dug his hands into his inards and pulled out a handful of bloody fluff. Pooh flatlined and died.

"Interesting. He has fluff and blood. So I'ts possible he also has a brain.", Vexen said, throwing the bloody cotton on the floor next to Pooh's friend, the pig."

"Poo-!"

"Oh, shut up." Vexen said, kicking the pig with his boot into the wall.

"Vexen, why are you cutting up this stuffed animal?" asked Zexion.

"I don't know, I guess I'm just bored." Vexen said with a sigh, pushing the lifeless remains of Winnie the Pooh to the floor.

"We could go see what the others are doing?"

"Sure, why not."

Vexen cleaned himself up and he and Zexion departed for the Commons Room. Once they exited out of their portals they saw Axel, Roxas, Xaldin, Xigbar, Marluxia and Larxene sitting on the couch watching The Real World. Apparantly, Axel had the remote and was the only one actually watching the TV.

"Greetings and salutations, people I have always hated." Vexaen said. "What do we have planned for today?"

"Was this the day you planned to SHUT THE FUCK UP!", yelled Axel, watching TV.

"Nothing. We're bored.", said Xigbar.

"Why don't you all go and ask Xemnas for a mission.?" suggested Zexion.

"How many stupids are you, Zexion?"asked Xaldin, "We want to have fun, not work!"

Oooh, oooh, oooh!" Marluxia said jumping to his feet. "Do you all know what today is?"

"Was this the day you were going to SHUT THE FUCK UP!", yelled Axel, still watching TV.

"No, silly! Today is the Big Sale day at the mall! Let's go!"

"Why should we?", Larxene.

"Because, they have everything for everyone at the mall. Larxene, you could get more penis candy from Spencer's Gifts, and Roxas, you could find action figures of yourself at the Disney Store."

"That candy is delicious and nutricious. I'm in." said Larxene.

"I'm in." said Roxas.

"If Roxas is going, I'm going," said Axel.

"Indeed.", Vexen said.

"I'm comin' too!", Xigbar said.

"And I'll be the troop leader!", yelled Marluxia.

Everyone agreed to go to the mall. They had gotten up and prepared to leave when Xigbar spoke up...

"Hey we should bring the new guy."

"Who, Xinck?"

"Yeah," Xigbar said, "I bet he's fun, besides, none of us really know him personally. Where is he Marluxia?"

"How should I know. I stopped caring about him a long time ago."

"He's on a mission. I know, where he is, I'll go get him. You guys wait here for us." said Xaldin.

"Okay, but hurry up, we don't have all day!", yelled Marluxia.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch, Marluxia!."Xaldin said as a dark portal started to envelop him.

"Just because their pink, does not mean their panties."

* * *

In a forest on the side of a mountain, a figure clad in black was running, his twin, short, dark-gray swords drawn. As he ran, on either side of him, monstous beings, not heartless, but about the same size as a normal human, were chasing him with their mishapen swords raised high in the air. Three of these monsters had cut off the path that the hooded figure, Xinck, was following.

When he got close enough he launched his chain swords at the three monsters, landing a combo. The three monsters were still standing when Xinck jumped into the air, the chains of his swords extended and the blades themselves ready to strike. He thought to himself...

"_Death...."_

….He brought the blades down on the heads of the monsters, instantly killing them, and the chains retracted back into the hilt.

"_...follows me."_

He continued running, until he saw more monsters coming at him. He swiped his sword through the air, generating a wave of Dark energy at them, but only killing a few. Xinck and the monsters continued running at each other until Xinck spun around in a circle, launching his chains and slicing of the heads of several soldiers. Another soldier came out of nowhere and jumped into the air. Xinck launched his sword into the air and stabbed the soldier in the chest. Xinck pulled on the handle of the sword and flew into the air as his chain retracted, but the blade stayed in the soldires chest. When Xinck was close enough and the sword was fully retracted, he took the other sword and jammed it into the chest of the soldier. He screamed with pain as Xinck ripped the soldier apart. Xinck landed back on the ground, and the blood of the soldier rained down on him.

"_Am I...the real monster?....No."_

He continued running when he saw a centaur with a spear redied in his hand and charging at Xinck. The centaur and Xinck charged at each other and at the lat minute, Xinck launhed his sord chain at a tree branch dirctly over the head of the centaur. He flew into the air and landed on the branch as the Centaur swiped his spear at the air where Xinck wasn't. Xinck jumped down from the tree branch and landed on the back of the horse part of the centaur. He stabbed his swords into the back of the centaur and ripped them out as the Centaur screamed in pain. What Xinck had ripped out appeared to be bones and lungs.

Xinck jumped of the back of the centaur, as he let out dying breaths, then finally died. Xinck turned his head and continued onward... until he saw even more soldier monster. He readied himself.

"_I hope.....for nothing."_

Xinck started to evaporate Darkness as he powered himself. Dark smoke trailing off his shoulders and back, he ran and meet the crowed of soldiers and started to unload combo after combo. His swords extending and retracting as he sliced and maimed anyone unfortunate enough to meet his swords. He would slam his extended chain swords on the ground and make an impact of dark energy, sending the soldiers into the air, and finishing them off with an air combo.

They were dead, all of them, every, single last soldier monster was at least cut in half, or completely destroyed from the dark energy Xinck had released. Xinck turned around and, on a plataeu, he saw a huge Heartless. This was the reason Xinck was sent here, to find the Heartless that was terrorizing this world and eliminate it. The heartless itself wasn't that powerful. It was just it's size, it was like a mini DarkSide, but scarier.

"_I fear....Nothing!"_

Xinck dashed to the front of the Heartless, it ounched at the ground where Xinck was standing, but missed, as Xinck had sidestepped out of the way. Xinck balled up his fist and punched the heartless in the stomach. The Heartless kneeled over in pain and his face was meet with Xinck's fist, and the heartless bent over backwards. Xinck stabbed his swords into the Heartless's pelvis and started to climb up his body, stabbing his swords into the heartless's abdomen, then his chest. When both swords were wedged into his chest, Xinck jumbed into the air, his chains extending out of their hilts as he jumbed. He twisted his body until his chains were a few inches away from the neckof the Heartless....

"_Am I....Nothing?"_

He brought down the chains, cleanly slicing off the head of the Heartless. Xinck's chains retracted and he saw the body of the heartless dissapeared. He bent down and carefully grabbed the shimmering heart that was left behind. He slowly lifted itbup into the air and let it loat away to Kingdom Hearts in The World That Never Was.

"Well, that was entertaining." said Xaldin, instantly appeaing next to Xinck.

"How's it going, Xaldin?", asked Xinck.

"It's good, it's good. You?"

"Fine, just fine, fine just fine.", replied Xinck, "Just finishing up my mission."

"As strong as you are you should have been done an hour ago."

"Well, I thought I could get some practice in."

"Oh, well anyway, a couple of us were planning on going to the mall. Wanna come?"

"Crap the bed, Uncle Fred! Yeah! I need to stop at the Chocolate Factory, I need my fix.", said Xinck

"Uh-oh.", said Xaldin.

"'Uh-oh?' why Uh-oh?"

Xaldin pointed to behind Xinck to an army size group of monster soldiers, running towrds Xinck.

"Want me too take care of them?", asked Xaldin, "I could use the practice."

"Nah. I have a new technique I wan to try out."

Xinck walked towards the on-coming horde and held up two fingers, his pointer finger and his middle finger. He held them up to eye-level and a medium size black ball appeared, with black and dark-purple electricity zooming around it. Xinck pointed the black orb towards the army.

"Black Box!"

Instantly, four huge black walls appeared, forming a box around the entire monster army, the box reached all the way from the ground to the sky.

"Evicerate, and end their lives."

With the command the black box exploded with dark energy, instantly killing the entire army and sending their lifeless remains into the air.

Xaldin whistled "Wow, that's cool."

"Yeah, but I could tell it was only working at 75%, but who cares. Let's go to the mall! Yay!, yelled Xinck.

And with that, Xaldin and Xinck teleported back to The World That Never Was. And as their portals dissapeared , it started to rain blood, as the body parts of the dead army came pouring down....

* * *

Back in The World That Never Was, Larxene, Axel, Xigbar, Roxas, Vexen, Zexion, and Marluxia were sitting lazily in the Foyer of Unhappy Thoughts, waiting for Xaldin to Return with Xinck. Then Axel decides to try and lighten the mood.

"Hey, you guys, what do you call a Jewish womens Boobs?"

"What?", asked Roxas.

"Joobs."

"Oh, thats funny.", said Roxas sarcastically.

"Enough of this funny ant-semitism!", yelled Zexion, "Let's just go, I don't want to wait for them! I want to go to the mall and buy things!"

"Calm down, Zex," said Xigbar, "I'm sure that they will still have furry underware when we get there."

"Oh, alright then." said Zexion sitting back down.

"We're back!", yelled Xaldin, teleporting into the room with Xinck.

"Took you long enough." said Marluxia, standing up.

"I was only gone for three seconds." Xaldin replied.

"Yeah, but thats like....forever in dog years." said Roxas.

"Can we go to the mall, now?. Asked Larxene.

"No", said Marluxia.

"What?!" said Larxene

"Why not!?, asked Roxas

""How dare you get my hopes up, you fucking cocksucker!", yelled Vexen

Seemingly out of nowhere, Marluxia pulled out dark green T-shirts with the words 'Mall Troupe' printed on the back and front. "We can't go to the mall without Mall T-Shirts!." Surprisingly everyone cheered, ripped of their Cloaks and put on the shirts, leaving only their black pants and boots/shoes.

"Now, " started Marluxia, "Organization XIII Mall Troupe '09, let's go!....to the van...which will take us to the mall!"

As they headed for the van, Axel caught Marluxia and took on a serious tone.

"I hope to God you know what your doing."

* * *

All nine members poured into the back of the Organizations rarely used, black and gray minivan, with Marluxia driving and Axel in the front seat. 30 minutes later they were driving into the mall parking lot, which was overly crowded.

"Damn, this mall mall is more crowded than a hookers uterus." said Xigbar.

Marluxia continued driving the van around the parking lot until he found a space.

"Look, theres one.", said Marluxia, pointing to a parking space which was blocked on both sides by SUVs and the front of the space had a light post. Printed on the ground of the space was the 'Compact Cars Only' symbol.

"Are you crazy, Marluxia!", yelled Axel, "We'll never be able to fit in that spot, it says compactt only!"

"Shut it, Axel, Marluxia is the captain in this ship."said Larxene,"He's the smartest person in here and he won't let us down. Just like Albert Einstein or Thomas Edison, or...um..let's see, someone smart, a scientist....um.., well I can't think of anymore scientist, right now."

Vexen let a tear roll down his face and he closed his eyes.

"I won't let you guys down, now hold on, I'm going in.", said Marluxia.

Everyone put on their seat belt and Marluxia put the van in drive, and proceded to drive into the compact spot. As the Van entered the spot, sparks started to fly out from the sides as the van and the SUVs were grinding together.

"How am I doin' on the right?" Marluxia asked.

"Your good, your good.", said Zexion.

"Just scoot to the left a little bit." said Xinck.

As the van pulled up to the light post, Marluxia stepped on the gas a little bit, and the car knocked over the lightpost. It fell forward and became wedged in the back of the van, preventing the back doors of the van from being opened.

"Ok, here we are, safe and sound."

"Good I can't wait to go to Baby Gap, In and Out Burger, Foot Locker, and all the other euphemisms for vagina.", said Xigbar. He reached for the sliding door of the van and slid it open, but it was stuck.

"The door's stuck, we can't get out this way."

Roxas and Vexen tried to open the other the door.

"This one's stuck too!"

Zexion tried prying open the back door. It wound't open.

"Oh, God, we're trapped!"

"Get me the hell out of here!", yelled Larxene.

"If we lived here, we'ed be home by now!", yelled Xinck.

"You said you knew what you were doing!" Axel yelled to Marluxia.

"I thought the mall would be so much fun." said Marluxia, staring blankly

"We're all gonna die!", yelled Xaldin

"What do we do now?!", yelled Xigbar.

"What do we-..what...what do we....what?"Marluxia stammered, then finally just stared out the window blankly. Axel waved his hand in front of Marluxia's face and got no reaction.

"Ok. Marluxia is useless. Everyone listen to Axel, now." Axel declared, "Now, in the boy scouts, they tell you, if you get lost to say in one place, and wait for them to find you."

"Stay in one place, and wait for someone to help us?", said Roxas, "That's burn victim talk! I say we bust through the sunroof and go get help."

"Oh, that's real brilliant, Roxas, It's like 50 degrees out there, and if you break that window, it will be 50 degrees in here.!" yelleed Axel.

"Damn, thats like jacket weather and all we have are these fucking T-shirts!", yelled Xigbar

"Fuck all of you, I'm going for help!" yelled Roxas, grabbing a crobar that came out of nowhere. He stood up to the sunroof and prepared to smash it. "Stand back!"

"Don't even thin about it, Roxas!", said Xigbar, summoning one of his Guns and pointing it at Roxas.

"Wait, Xigbar, don't do anything your gonna regret.", said Larxene, "'Cuz if you wanna do something you're gonna regret, I'm right here." she said, opening her legs.

"Larxene, what is wrong with you?" asked Xinck, a little disgusted.

"I'm a woman in the prime of her life who needs love squeezins'! And I'ts been a full 2 hours since the last time I had sex, so who wants to do me?!"

"Shut it!" said Xigbar, pointing his gun at Larxene and then everyone else, "From now on everyone is going to listen to Axel. Think of this van as a High School Graduation—No one is going anywhere!"

Zexion noticed that the side door windows were closed and he started to hyperventilate

"What if we run out of Oxygen! I need air! Air!" Zexion made his way to a side window and partially rolled it down and started to suck in air from the outside.

Xaldin panicked. "Share the air! Share the air!"

He made his way over to Zexion and pryed his head from the window.

"I'll suck your lungs dry!" Xaldin placed his lips on Zexion's mouth and tried to suck out the air.

"Ahh! I've got Xaldin-germs!", yelled Zexion, pushing away Xaldin and spitting on the floor, as he slowly sauntered towards the back of the van.

* * *

_45 minutes later_

Roxas, Xaldin, Vexen, Larxene, Xinck, Zexion were huddle in the back of the van, while Xigbar and Axel were huddled behind the front seats, while Marluxia was still dumbstucked and sitting in the driver's seat.

"One of us has got to get out that window and go get help." said Roxas.

"No one is going anywhere as long as Xigbar has that gun." said Vexen.

"'Power grows out of the barrel of a gun'-Chairman Mao." said Xinck.

Everyone looked at Xinck.

"What? This fanfiction isn't all about jokes, people." he said.

"But we have to get that gun away from him, but how?", asked Roxas., "Any Ideas?"

"Oh, I think I have a plan. Huddle!", said Zexion, and they all huddled together to hear Zexion's plan.

At the other end of the van, with Axel and Xigbar.

"_Look at them, over there."_ thought Xigbar, _,Scheming! But I'll protect them with this gun, even If I have to kill each and everyone of them!"_

"Axel." Xigbar said, "We should have a plan."

"This is the plan, we wait for some help."

"Doesn't sound like a very good plan, I'm getting hungry." Xigbar said, rubbing his stomach.

"Me too."

Over in the corner, Axel spotted Xinck, facing the corner and making munching noises.

"Hey! He's got food! Share!" Axel and Xigbar got up and made thir way over to Xinck in the corner.

"What-what do you want?", asked Xinck, his cheeks full of food.

"We're hungry share your food!" said Axel.

"I'm not eating anything!", Xinck yelled, his cheeks still full of food.

"Hey, you guys!", yelled Xigbar, "Xinck's got food!"

Roxas and the other's made their way over to Xinck and surrounded him and then everyone, Axel, Roxas, Xigbar, Larxene, Xaldin, Zexion and Vexen all started to pull on Xinck's hands, trying to pull the food out of Xinck's hands, until they pulled hard enough and fell backwards.

Axel opened his hand with Xincks food and found out what he was eating. In his hand was pink, green, blue, yellow, and red play-doh.

"Xinck...you're eating play-doh?"

"It's not what you think! Have you ever seen those play-doh commercials, where the kids are making cakes and pies and candy and ice cream out of play-doh? We'll I had some play-doh in my pocket and tried it." Xinck said.

"How was it?", asked Xigbar.

"Salty." he replied, "I would'nt recommend it."

"Ha Ha, Charade you are!", yelled Roxas, standing up and holding Xigbar's gun in his hand, which he grabbed when they were trying to get Xinck's food. "Everybody stand back, cuz I'm going for help!"

Roxas aimed the gun at the sunroof window. He fired 6 shots and the window shattered. Roxas climed up and out of the window, hopped down off the van and started running towards the mall for help.

Now that the window was gone, the cold air from outside was now coming into the van.

"You petulant fools," started Axel, "Now we're all gonna freeze to death."

Larxene, Xaldin, Xinck, Vexen, Zexion were all huddled together, hugging each other, tyring to stay warm.

"Hell be back won't he?" asked Xaldin.

"Probably not." said Xinck.

* * *

Roxas was running frantically through the mall, desperately looking for mall security.

"Security! Security, I need some security!"

As he continued running, he thought"_Nothings gonna stop me from finding some help for my friends-_". But he said, "Oh, is that a _Spencer's Gifts_?" To his left, he saw a _Spencer's Gifts. _He had heard that _Spencer's Gifts _basically had anything a suicidal teenager could want. He had actually heard that about _Hot Topic, _but honestly there was really no difference between them. He made his way into the store, walking past displays of dark T-shirts, dark jewelry and other accesories.

"Wow, I wonder if the have BLEACH merchandise..." He wasn't sure if a store like this would have any type of Anime stuff, but it wouldn't hurt to look. But, then again, he could always look for a _Hot Topic. _He walked up to the counter to a young woman with shoulder length brown hair, olive skin, and blue eyes. To go with the over-all mood of the store, she had on black Mickey Mouse ears on her head. She wore a Crimson red wrist band with a Heart drawn on it.

"Hi, I'm Holly, can I help you today?" asked the girl when Roxas got up to the counter.

"Hi, do you have any BLEACH merchandise?", Roxas asked.

Hollys expression sank and she took a good look at Roxas. She looked like she wanted to say or do something, but remembered that she was on the job and answered his question, "Not that I know of, but feel free to look around."

"Mm..Okay." Roxas turned from the counter and Holly pulled out a laptop from under the counter. Roxas started walking around the aisles, looking for anything that resembled the BLEACH logo. He didn't like BLEACH but had heard that Axel liked it and would probably appreciate the gesture. Roxas looked back towards the counter and at Holly and as he turned his head towards her, she quickly looked away from him and looked back on her computer. Roxas paid no attention.

He looked around the store for about 2 more minutes, when he turned back to Holly, "I don't see anything marked BLEACH."

"Oh, this is him." Holly said looking at her computer.

"What?" Roxas asked.

As if caught with her pants down, Holly flipped her Laptop down and back towards Roxas, "Oh, did you say BLEACH? I thought you said Reach!" She laughed, "Yeah, we actually just got some BLEACH shipments in yesterday. They're in the back, we can check 'em out." She bent down below the counter and pulled out a Ring of Keys. She walked towards the back and motioned Roxas to follow her, he followed. He stood behind her as she opened the bakc door and when it opened, she held out her hand into the room.

"Go ahead." she said. Roxas went inside, not expecting the back room to be so...dark. It was a square room with pipes hanging and looping through the ceiling. The pipes were leaking and formed a small puddle on the cement floor.

"It's in the corner, over there." She pointed over into the Corner on a table. On the table were several white boxes with blue and red lettering marked 'BLEACH'

Roxas made his way over to the tables, "Wow, you guys have a lot of BLEACH stuff. You Know, I was about to go to _Hot Topic, _they have-Oh!" Before he could get over to the Table, Holly beat him over the head with a Wrench. Roxas's body fell limply to the floor and he passed out.

"Nighty night, Nobody!" Holly said.

* * *

_Back in the Van_

The sun was starting set and it was getting colder.

"So cold, so very cold", Xinck shivered, holding onto Larxene.

While Larxene, Xaldin, Vexen, Xinck, and Zexion were huddled in the corner, Xigbar and Axel were huddled over a small fire that they had made from sticks found under the seat.

"Don't worry, you guys, Roxas will be back soon." said Zexion, shivering and reading his lexicon.

"But when, Zexion, when?", said Xaldin, "I've already peed in this coke can six times."

"I'm starting to think he might be dead." said Xinck.

"Don't you ever say that." said Vexen, slapping Xinck.

"OW! Thats it, old man, I know when I'm not wanted. Let's go join Axel and Xigbar, Xaldin and Larxene."

Larxene and Xaldin followed Xinck to the small fire that Axel and Xigbar had going.

"Hey, assfaces, can we share your fire?" asked Larxene.

Axel looked at Xigbar then said, "Fine, if you want to join, then bring something to burn."

Xaldin, Larxene, and Xinck slowly turned their heads toward Vexen and Zexion and saw Zexion reading his is a book...with paper in it.....they're gonna burn the book, in case you didn't get it.

They walked over to Zexion who smiled and said. "Can I help you guys?"

Xaldin made a grab for Zexion's book, "Give it! We're gonna burn it!"

"No!" Zexion yelled, trying to tug the book away from Xaldin, Larxene, and Xinck. But they were too strong and were able to tug the book away. Zexion fell to the floor and watched as they made their way towards the fire.

"NO! He's allergic to fire!"

Zexion quickly got to his feet and ran to the front of the van to the still catatonic Marluxia.

"Marluxia, help! Stop them, they'll listen to you!", he yelled, but Marluxia just sat there, staring out the window. Larxene, Xaldin, and Xinck continued making their way towards the fire. It was strange how long it was taking them to get there as the van was only so big.

Zexion continued trying to get help from Marluxia. "Come on, Marluxia! Your the troupe leader!

"I'm-I'm the troupe leader? But-but my decisions are wrong. I-I-I runaway, runaway, must run away. Run, Marluxia, Run!", said Marluxia. He finally got out of his seat and made his way out of the hole made by Roxas.

Larxene threw the lexicon onto the fire and it instantly started to burn.

"You did good, kids, you did good." said Axel.

"Hahahahaha!", laughed Xigbar.

"Aaaaaaaah!" yelled Vexen.

"What's wrong?", asked Xigbar.

"Oh, nothing. Just wanted to let people know I was still here."

"NOOOOOOOO!" yelled Zexion. He ran towards Axel and grabbed the water bottle he had in his pocket(I don't know why he had a water bottle with him) and threw it onto the fire, putting it out.

Zexion grabbed the lexicon from the ashes and craddled it. "Oh, baby, hold on, hold on. Stay with me!"

"You Idiot!", said Xigbar, "That was the last of our water and we're out of matches!"

"Oh, my god! You're all gonna die!" yelled Xinck, "This van just got a whole lot sexier."

* * *

Roxas woke up he was sitting in a chair. His hands were tied down and his feet were tied together and his mouth was gagged. He wasn't in the dark and dingy room he was in earlier, now he was in an even darker and dingier room. He could barely see anything. His head hurt and it throbbed every time he blinked. He thought to himself, _"I should have gone to _Hot Topic....."

* * *

In The World That Never Was, Xemnas was sitting in his office, making the design for the flier that he was going to send out to bring Fangirls to take a tour of the castle. Then a chill ran threw his spine.

"Ooooh."

"What's wrong, Superior?", said Saix.

"I have a feeling that some members of the Organization are involved in something really stupid, and for some reason, the thought that they can teleport anywhere at anytime has not been expressed."

"Well, Lexaeus is in his quarters and Luxord is making copies of these fliers, and Demyx is on a mission. So it must be the others."

All of a sudden the phone rang, and Saix picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Saix! It's me, Demyx! I was on a mission and now I'm in jail! Apparantly, It's illegal to try to assassinate the president!"

"Oh,....well that sucks.", said Saix.

"I know! I'm in jail, can you help me out?"

"No"

"But, I'm in jail!" yelled Demyx.

"Don't drop the soap." Saix said, hanging up the phone.

"Who was that?", asked Xemnas.

"Mormons. Apparantly, they're in the telemarketing business now."

* * *

Ok that was part 1 of 2 stay tuned and make sure You REVIEW!!!!


	7. WTF! Part 2

Ok Part . WARNING- A bunch of weird, crazy crap is coming. Bring T.P. and remember to REVIEW!

Really? is it so hard to click the review button at the bottom? I mean, come on people! Be cool!

I own NOTHING.

* * *

Part 2

Vexen, Larxene, Xaldin, Xinck, Xigbar, and Axel were still stuck in the van, freezing from the cold that was freely coming in because Roxas had blown it open to get out and look for help.

"We're all going to die in this van!", yelled Xaldin, shivering.

"Thanks to Zexion! Because of you we got no water, and no fire to keep us warm!" yelled Axel. Why he didn't make the fire himself, we will never know.

Zexion, who had gone a little crazy from the fact that they tried to burn his book, was sitting and rocking back and forth in a corner, cradling his book. He was flapping the cover of the book so that it looked like it was talking.

"It's Okay, It's Okay, baby, daddies here.", said Zexion

"You should have just let me burn, like you did with all those kids in that orphanage!", mouthed the book while Zexion provided the voice.

"Hey, maybe we can drink the water out of that salt water tank that just mysteriously appeared out of nowhere." suggested Xigbar, who got up from the floor and stood next to the salt water tank that just appeared out of nowhere.

"Idiot," said a Larxene, "Everyone knows that if you drink salt water you get dehydrated and start to hallucinate."

"Oh, thats just an urban legend!" said Xigbar.

"Urban Legend, my ass! Get out of my way I'll show you an Urban legend."

Larxene got up from here seat and picked the salt water tank and chugged all the water in the tank. When she was done, she wiped off her mouth and said..

"See? Xigbar was right, I drank the whole thing and I fell perfectly hydrated, and lucid......LUCID....LuCiD!"

Larxene's eyes went big and a huge grin appeared over her face.

"Yep everything is super duper!" she said.

"Really?", asked Xinck.

"No, not really I'm totally tripping balls!", she said. Larxene made her way to the front of the van and pointed to an old lady with grocery bags outside of the van. The old woman seemed to be confused as she stared at the wiredos in the van.

"Oh, My God! Guys, everything isn't super duper anymore! There's a giant Man-Eating Polar Bear With Scorpian Tail outside the van!"

"Aaaaah!", Everyone screamed and ran to the back of the van.

* * *

Walking through the parking lot, Marluxia wandered aimlessly, shivering frim the cold and singing to himself.

"_I'm more than a bird, I'm more than a plane, I'm more than just some pretty face inside a train!"_

He wandered for what seemed like hours until he saw a small fire coming from the back of the mall, near a dumpster.

He walked into the alley and saw 2 hobos sitting on assorted and dirty matresses with a fire going in the center of the area. The 2 hobos, a fat and short one, and a tall and skinny one. The fat one was lazily sitting on his matress eating a moldy slice of pizza, while the other one was....eating his toenails. Both of them were wearing standard hobo garb, ski hats, gloves with holes in the fingers, and soiled pants.

"Hey look. Phil,", said the fat one, " Here comes someone."

"Birds! They're after me! Get away from me, you sky rats!", yelled the skinny hobo named Phil.

"Hello," said Marluxia, "Can I join in with you fire?"

"Sure you can," said Phil, "As long as you keep those flying bastards away from my gums! Those sons of bitches try to pull out my gold fillings at least 8 times a day!"

Marluxia sat down on a near-by matress and warmed his hands.

"My name's Danny.", said the fat hobo, "What brings you here?"

"My name is Marluxia and I was....just lost."

"From the looks of your shirt it looks like you're a Troupe leader." said Phil, scratching himself and reading Marluxias' shirt.

"No, no, not anymore, I....walked away from all of that.", Marluxia replied, looking down.

"Well, thats what we did, and now we're hobos and we're happy. We gave up all the responsibility we used to have and chose to live behind the mall." said Danny. "You should join with us."

"Excuse me?"

"Join with us! Be a Hobo like us! Damn these birds! Caw-caw!", yelled Phil, swatting at imaginary birds.

"_Mmm"_, thought Marluxia, _"Take up the life of a derelict hobo, or go back to being a troop lea.....No! I wont go back to that! I can't."'_

"Alright, filthy hobos, I will join you! Now, Hoboify me!

* * *

Roxas woke up he was sitting in a chair. His hands were tied down and his feet were tied together and his mouth was gagged. He wasn't in the dark and dingy room he was in earlier, now he was in an even darker and dingier room. Then a door opened up several feet away from him, and a shadow of a figure appeared. Holly. Roxas started to yell angrily, but coud'nt becauses of the gag in his mouth. Holly walked over and quikly removed it.

"How are you doing?" she said with an evil grin.

"You knocked me out, tied me up, and put a dirty old sock in my mouth to gag me, how do you think I feel?"

Holly slapped her hand across his face. Roxas let out a yell, then Holly said "Oh. Did I hurt you? I didn't mean too. Let me make it better." She leaned down and started to lick the side of his face that she had slapped.

"Okay." said Roxas, "This is going in a weird direction."

Holly stopped licking his cheek and said "You're probably wondering why I have you here."

"No, but I'm sure you gonna tell me-"

"I'm gonna tell you!" she said, interupting him, "I have been working at this store for 7 years, and-"

"Seven years? Wow, you wasted your life."

she smacked him again, he yelled then she licked his cheek, then she continued with her story, "I know a little bit about you, what you are and what you do?"

"Oh, really?"

"You Nobodies..."

How did she know about Nobodies and what the Hell does she want? Roxas asked himself these questions because it wasn't possible for anyone to know about him or the Organization "Are you gonna let me go?" he interrupted.

"No! Let me finish. Anyway, let's see how can I explain this.."She put a finger on her cheek and looked longingly at Roxas, like she wanted to lick his cheek again, "I know about other worlds."

"Really?" It wasn't exactly common knowledge that there were other Worlds, mostly because if too many people knew about it, well...shit would hit the fan.

"Oh, yes. I also know a few magics, Dark magics to be precise."

"So?"

"So?! SO!?" She pulled back her first, preparing to slap Roxas again, but she stopped and said she would start from the beginning, "For years, I was bored. Bored of this job, bored of this world and bored of this life. It was at this time that I, somehow, found a way to communicate with someone form another world."

"Oh?"

* * *

_Back in the Van_

Everyone, except Larxene, was crowded in the back seat. While Larxene was in the front, still hallucinating from the salt water, and trying to keep out of sight of the Giant Man-Eating Polar Bear With Scorpian Tail, which actually turned out to just be an old women.

"Shhh!" whispered Larxene, "The Giant Man-Eating Polar Bear With Scorpian Tail, has hearing based on sound, so be quiet."

"We're all gonna die!" yelled Axel.

"Okay, what's wrong with you people!" yelled Xinck, "Did you already forget that she drank salt water! She's Hallucinating!"

"Someone shut that fucking chicken up, or we'll are gonna die!", Larxene whispered loudly.

"I'm not a chicken!" said Xinck.

"I said Shut That Fucking Chicken Up!"

"Fuck y--!" Xinck started, but Xaldin came up from behind and grabbed Xinck and held his gloved hand over his mouth and nose. "If the dumb chick hallucinating from the salt water says it's true, then it must be true!"

The old lady, who everyone thought was a Giant Man-Eating Polar Bear With Scorpian Tail, lingered for a few more seconds then finally left.

"Okay, It's gone." said Larxene.

Everyone sighed a sigh of relief, then Larxene staggered a little and said, "That was a close one,....CLOSE ONE....CloSe OnE!", then she fell over and passed out.

Xaldin had kept his hand over Xinck's nose and mouth for too long and had suffocated him too death. Xaldin fell to his knees and said, "Oh My God! That wasn't a chicken, it was Xinck! NOOOOOO!"

* * *

_Back in the Dark and Dingy room....._

Holly had explained to Roxas that through her friend from another world, she learned that there were other worlds and that her Friend's world was frequently attacked by Heartless. Holly found that interesting and asked her friend to expalin more and eventually, her friend told her about several different conspiracy theory websites designed to expose the truth about Hearless and Nobodies in that World. After that, Holly, excited about all this information about Heartless, Nobodies and Organization Conspiracies, looked deep into it. She, using a special form of Magic, enhanced her Laptop computer, hacked her way into The mainframes of other worlds (It was in another world, so she had to enhance her computer) and stole Confidential Information from several networks that knew about Organization XIII, had spotted them and studied them in secret (Mostly U.F.O nerds, and other conspiracy theorists that live with their parents in the basement) She became interested in the in several pictures that had been taken by the few people that manged to get close enough to a Nobody, which just so happened to be Vexen, Axel, Roxas and Xinck. (The people that actually run teh websites and took the pictures are basically incompetant, but somehow they were able to find out a little information about Vexen, Axel and Xinck. Not a lot, but enough for people to recognize them if they saw them) Holly said that she looked over the minute amount of information extensively for weeks, but after she could find no way to actually find these people, she gave up and disheartedly started working at _Spencer's Gifts_.

"But then" Holly said, "You walked into my store and I had to make sure it was you. And it definetly was you. And now..." She looked at Roxas, a crazy look in her eye, "I have you!"

"....'Kay. But that doesn't explain what you want with me." Roxas said, he was getting tired, but the only thing that was keeping him going was the thought of his escape plan. He couldn't do it know because he was still trying to recover from being hit in the head earlier. Holly didn't notice, but the room was slowly growing brighter as He collected energy.

Holly continued, "The information I got did not have a lot on you or any of those others, for that matter. But, it did have a nice clear snapshot of you, your powers and...your Weapons."

Roxas sighed with boredom, "And?"

Holly rushed at Roxas, forcibly placed her hands on his shoulders and screeched into his face, "I WANT YOUR POWER! I WANT OFF THIS FUCKING ROCK! I WANT TO SEE THE UNIVERSE! AND YOU AND YOUR NOBODIES ARE GOING TO GET ME THERE!"

Roxas was shocked. This girl had actually gone insane with the mere thought of Having power. She saw Him walk into her store and she must have gone insane, there's no other explanation. Roxas had to get out of here and away from Senorita Crazies. Holly backed away from Roxas and from the small of her back, pulled out a dagger with a golden handle. Roxas's maouth fell open, "What the hell, lady!?"

"What?" she said innocently, "How else do you think I'm going to get you power? But before I get you power, I'm going to torture you!"

"What? Why!?" Roxas asked as if he was sick with the very idea.

Holly chuckled and started walking towards him, "I promised to torture the shit out of ANYONE! Who came in and said that _Hot Topic_ was better than _Spencer's Gifts!!_"

"Oh, My God, Lady, you are Five different kinds of Crazy!" Roxas yelled. "You're really gonna torture me over something _that _stupid?!"

"Oh, yeah." Holly cut her eyes and her hair fell over her face, hiding her forehead, but not ner demented smile. to make matters worse, she tilted her head, adding to the crazy.

Roxas calmly stated, "Yeah, I'm gonna have to say No!" Two light-blue lights shot down out of nowhere and cleanly severed the ropes binding his hands and feet. Roxas stood up and summoned Oathkeeper. Holly had fallen down, and was shocked.

She laughed, more of a cackle,"You really are a Nobody! What are you going to do to me?!", she asked.

"Nothing. I'm leaving." Roxas dismissed Oathkeeper into a beam of light. He started walking for the door, muttering "Crazy Girl." Roxas stepped over Holly and walked towards the door. Before he could reach the handle, Holly jumped on his back and started Wrestling him to the ground, yelling; "Be my Boyfriend, be my Boyfriend!"

* * *

_Back in the Van....._

Vexen, Xigbar, Axel, Zexion and Larxene(Who had woken up from the salt water), were staring at Xaldin as the dead, deceased corpse of Xinck lay motionless on the floor.

"Okay, we can sit here for hours arguing about who had suffocated Xinck. But the important thing is Xinck is dead and we are Hungry." he said.

"Are you," started Axel, "Saying that we should...eat Xinck?"

Xaldin nodded his head.

"....."

"….."

"Dibs on his Ribs!" said Zexion, raising his hand.

"I get his brain!" said Vexen.

"I want the back of his calves!" said Larxene.

"I'll eat his thigh bones!", said Xigbar.

"Okay, Okay, Okay. If we must, we must. But before we eat Xinck, let's take a moment and remember the good times we had of with him." said Axel.

"I'll always remember that time when we went to Paris." said Larxene.

_Flashback............._

Everyone was standing under the Eiffel Tower, enjoying the beautiful city of Lights, then Xinck said;

"We had such a great time that I think I can share My Will with you guys. If I ever die, please don't eat my body!"

"Okay...Why?" asked Luxord.

"Because, everyone knows that if your body is eaten, then your soul will burn in Purgatory forever!"

"Oh" said Xaldin.

_End of Flashback................._

"Or, remember that time we all got friggin' wasted on The Alter Of Naught?" asked Zexion.

"Oh,Yes." said Vexen, contently.

_Flashback................._

Everyone was laying on the floor on The Alter of Naught, with beer cans scattered all over the ground. And there're was a meteor shower starting.

"Oh, look", said Demyx, "Make a wish."

"I wish for more rum!" slurred Luxord.

"I wish I new who I was before I was a nobody." said Roxas.

"I wish that these fucktards don't eat me after I die, because something is telling me that they will.." said Xinck.

"Oh, that won't happen." said Xemnas, who started to whisper, "I wish I had a million-gazillion Hearts.."

_End of Flashback............._

Axel pulled out chapsticks. "Well, guys, let's dig in. I'm sure this is what Xinck would have wanted."

* * *

Marluxia was now a full-fledged hobo, he had the hobo clothes to prove it. He was laying on a matress facing away from Phil and Danny, and eating a moldy sandwitch.

Phil, the crazy one, was singing a song that went like, _"My toilet is a tire! Teens set me on fire! And I wear a tinfoil hat so that the Government can't access the chip in my brain!"_

"Oh, shut up, Phil!" said Danny, laying on his matress. He found a dead rat and tossed it at Phil, who caught it in his mouth and started to eat it.

"Oh, I gotta flood the Nile." said Marluxia in a very un-Marluxia way. He got up and walked to a corner in the alley. He opened up his pants and started to pee. He looked down and saw the reflection of a lion staring right back at him.

"Oh, dude, I must be totally tripping balls. I'm seeing Lions in my piss."

"MARLUXIA!" yelled the lion.

"Aaaaah!" Marluxia jumped back a little, "Who...what are you?"

"I'm a strange lion in a puddle of piss. But you may call me Mufasa! Marluxia, you're friends need you."

"No..no they don't. I was their Troupe leader and I abandond them."

"Then you need to pour yourself a glass of Stop-Being-Such-A-Homo, and remember who you are!"

"Who am I?" asked Marluxia.

"You are the Troupe Leader, and More importantly, you are The Graceful Assassin! Now get back into that van."

"You're..You're right! I am!"

"Now, Go!" said Mufasa, dissapearing into the pissy puddle.

"Hey, Marluxia, catch!", said the hobo Danny, throwing a slice of dirty pizza at Marluxia. The pizza caught him directly on his face and left a dirty mark on his cheek.

"You...you have sullied my beautiful face with.. this filth!"

"Marluxia.. it was an accid-"

"You both will die a peasants death!" yelled Marluxia, summoning his Scythe.

"THE BIRDS!" yelled Phil.

Marluxia charged at the hobos and slashed at them, killing them. He tore off his hobo attire and started to make his way out of the alley and back towards the van....

* * *

Roxas was able to get away from the crazy girl, Holly, and was know running through the mall, trying to get to the Exit. He was only a few yards away from the Exit when holly jumped out in front of him and she was holding in her hands a device that looked like a detornater. She pointed it at Roxas.

"Down on the ground, Infidel!" she yelled.

"Ah" said Roxas, laying flat on the ground. "What do you want from me!?"

"Simple. I want you!" she laughed maniacally.

"...I hope you don't mean sexually."

"I want you every way that I can get you!"

"Well, it doesn't matter, because, you can't have me." he said, slowly getting up, but he was stopped when Holly started waving the detornater in his face.

"Ah, ah, ah! If I can't have you, then no one will! And if you make one false move I'll press down on this detornater and kill everyone in this mall!"

"I thought you said you wanted to torture me, not make me your boyfriend?" he asked.

"Heres the thing. You are my only way out of this Hell Hole, and it is through your powers that I can get out of this world. If you had my life, you would have gone a little crazy, too!" She cackled madly

"...I think 'a little crazy' might be underestimating it." said Roxas. Roxas had had enough, he needed to distract her long enough to get out his keyblade. He did the only thing he could, "Hey, Holly, look it's a Seagull!" He pointed far behind Holly. Surprisingly, she sturned all around. Crazy people were so easy to fool. With her back turned, Roxas formed a beam of light in his hand and Oathkeeper appeared once again, just in time for Holly to turn around.

"There's no damn Seagu-"

It was a quick move, but Roxas had a choice, he could either let her blow this entire mall up with him in it, or get rid of her. So, he made the choice to get rid of her with a quick slash of Oathkeeper to the chest. Her body fell limp, blood shot to the air and her body fell limply to the ground. Roxas turned away from her and headed towards the door, and on his way out he picked up the 'detonator' and got a better look at it. It wasn't a detonator.

"Hey, this is just a garage door opener!" He pressed the button. Unfortunately, Roxas had never seen a Bomb Detonator or a Garage Door Opener, so he was completely shocked when he heard explosions growing nearer and louder. He turned around and saw a Column of Fire destroying everything in it's path, engulfing innocent people, destroying windows and shops, decorative founatins and plants.

"Crap." Roxas started running out the door and he barely just escaped the blast.

* * *

_Back in the Van...._

Everyone's bellies were fat from eating Xinck, chinese style. They had chopsticks and were picking out the food from those buckets from a Chinese Restraunt.

"Whoo, anyone want to trade 'Xinck dipped in duck sauce' for 'Mu Shu Xinck'? asked Axel.

"Oh, no thanks, I'm stuffed." said Zexion, holding his stomach.

"Ooh, I could not eat another bite!" said Xigbar who obviously enjoyed his meal.

Everyone groaned happily and patted their stomachs. Until.....

ONE HOUR LATER

Everyone was hungry again, because everyone knows that if you eat Chinese food, you'll just get hungry again in an hour.

"Damn you, Chinese food!" yelled Vexen. "I feel hungry again!"

The sun was setting again, it was starting to get dark and cold again.

"The temperature is dropping fast, we'll surely freeze to death before sunrise! Aaaaah!" screamed Axel.

"There must be some way to stay warm." said a shivering Larxene, she groaned and fell over and passed out...again.

"There is" said Xaldin, summoning a one of his Lances and cutting into Larxene's stomach. When he was finished cutting, He, Zexion, Vexen, and Xigbar climbed inside.

"We should be warm in here." said Xaldin.

Axel started to climb inside of Larxene until he was stopped by Xigbar.

"Axel, just like I told you, when we went to that Girls Gone Wild Party, there's already 4 of us inside this girl and there's no room for you!"

"Fine" said Axel, "I'll just use my power over fire to heat up the gas tank, that'll keep me warm!"

Axel made his way to the back of the van and summoned a flame in his hand. The flame jetted out of his hands and hit the floor of the van, melting away the metal and revealing the gas tank, which was turning red with the fire.

"No, Axel!" yelled Zexion, "We can't keep dying and coming back later! It's totally illogical!"

Out of Larxene's body popped out Xinck, and he said, "Tell me about it."

Out from the hole in the roof, Marluxia jumped back into the van with his Scythe.

"Friends, I have returned! Oh my God, what happened!?", he said, looking at the horribles scenes going on.

"Marluxia? You're the one who got us into this! Hey guys, this is all his fault!" yelled Axel, "Get him!"

Axel, Zexion, Vexen, Xaldin, a newly revived Xinck, a non cut-up Larxene, and Xigbar got up and walked towards Marluxia.

"Let's skin him alive and use his bones for kindling!" yelled Vexen.

"Die, you son of a bitch!", yelled Zexion.

"Kill him!", yelled Xigbar.

"Wait, wait, wait, you guys. I'm sorry I left, all right. Look, I know I let you all down, and that I gave up on you guys, but who here has never given up on something, mmm? Larxene, you clearly stopped caring about what other people think about your small breast size."

"Well, yeah, you're right." she said, pushing up her bra.

"And Xaldin," Marluxia continued, "Remember when you gave up your mentally challenged baby for adoption?"

"I sure do!" Xaldin replied with a smile.

"And Vexen, remember when you stopped caring about ethics, and started doing experiments on little kids?"

"Ah, good times, good times.", Vexen said.

"And, Axel", He continued, "Remember when you gave up 20,000 munny for a Donkey on _Deal Or No Deal_?"

"That Donkey paid for itself in the first 6 months."

"But I'm back, and I'm gonna lead us out of this van!" said Marluxia.

"It's hopeless, We'll never get out of here!" yelled Vexen.

"Thats where you'er wrong, Vexen", said Marluxia, "Because we can do anything we put our minds. Because we're Misfts and We Fit-"

Xinck grabbed Marluxia by the collar and said, "If you say 'We Fit Because We Misfit', I'll bash you're head in with a steel baseball bat and eat what drips out!"

"Okay, fair enough. But I have a plan to get us out of here!" said Marluxia with a smile.

"What is it?" asked Larxene.

"The scrap from the van! We can take parts from the van and make some type of vehicle." said Marluxia.

"I think he's right!" said Vexen.

"It could work!" yelled Zexion!"

"Let's do it!" exclaimed Axel.

And so, they put Marluxias plan "My Idea" into affect. Within minutes, the interior of the van was reduced to scrap metal. All of the walls were bare with the undercoat of metal, and all the pieces were brought together in the middle of the van, where they were working on some sort of contraption.

Zexion walked over to the side of the van and pulled off another piece of metal, instantly the van started to tremble, and make grinding sounds. It was falling apart from the inside. A piece of metal fell from the roof and hit Xinck in the head.

"Ow! Whats going on!?"

"It's the van, Vexen said, "We've compromised it's structual integrity! It's going to collapse!"

"We've got to go now!" yelled Xigbar.

"If we go now, the vehicle could collapse!" yelled Xaldin.

"If we don't go now, we're already dead!" screamed Marluxia, "So like the time my girlfriend and I went to a diner and ordered a bowl of soup to split, but we didn't feel like crackers, We got a Roll!"

* * *

It was nighttime at the mall, and most of the cars that were there in the beginning, had already gone home. Roxas was walking in the deserted parking lot, deep in thought.

"_Wasn't there something I was supposed to do? Probably. I know it involved a van, and what else?"_

Roxas walked past a large black and gray van. Then all of a sudden, the back door busted open, and out came a small, flat, rickety, mettalic platform with only two wheels clumsily rolling along the bottom. On top of the, self dubbed 'Piece-O-Crap', were, Marluxia, Axel, Larxene, Zexion, Xinck, Xaldin, Vexen, and Xigbar.

After the rickety 'Piece-O-Crap' made it clear of the van, it fell apart, and everyone fell to the floor before Roxas.

"Oh! Now I remember! I was supposed to come and rescue you guys!"

* * *

The Castle That Never Was...

Everyone had gotten out of their mall clothes and were back in the uniforms, and were now sitting on their high stone chairs in the meeting room, listening to Xemnas interogate them about their trip.

"So...the thought that you can teleport anywhere at anytime never occurred to you?"

"No, we were very distracted." said Xaldin.

"With what?" Xemnas asked.

"....Eating Xinck." he replied.

"Thats very confusing," said Saix, "If you suffocated him, then ate him, how is he here right now?"

"I think I can explain it!" said Vexen.

It only took Vexen 20 minutes to explain how Xinck did not die after, even after he died.

"Well, that explains a lot." said Axel.

"Now, that we have that excedingly boring and stupid incident out of the way-" said Xemnas who was cutoff by Demyx.

"Does no one care that I was in jail!? I was almost ganged raped! Luckily, I told them that I ate huge amounts of glass when I was younger, and that the walls of my ass was like a jagged tunnel, and-"

"No one cares, Demyx. Now like I was saying, now we can move on to a way we can collect money. In two days, Fangirls will be coming to The World That Never Was, and we are going to collect all their money as they take a tour of the castle." said Xemnas.

"I am not looking forward to this." said Roxas, putting his head down.

"True." said Xemnas. "It will not be pleasant. By the end of the day we will all have soar hands from signing autographs, and our backs soar from leaning down to take pictures. It will be hell. Prepare yourselves. Dismissed."

* * *

Later......

Axel, and Roxas were standing around in the middle of the hall, talking about nothing.

"Pam Anderson or Taylor Swift? But, Pam Anderson has a yeast infection." said Roxas.

"Um...Pam, I guess" Axel replied.

"Eww, you're disgusting."

Then Demyx came down the hallway with his Dancer nobody walking by his side.

"Hey, Guys! Said Demyx, "You want to go see a movie or something?"

"Demyx, I've always wanted to ask something. Are your Dancers girls?" Axel asked.

"Their Boys and Girls." He replied, defensively, "Besides they're better than your Assassins!"

"Bullcrap" Axel said, snapping his fingers and his Assassin nobody came into the room. "They can self-destruct.

"So? Thats all they do. And if they miss, then they enemy could still be running around...doing...stuff." said Demyx.

Axel got extremely close to Demyx and yelled, "Assassins!"

"Dancers!" he replied.

"Assasssins!"

"Dancers!"

Axel and Demyx were now face too face. They both turned to Roxas and yelled, "Roxas, settle this!"

Roxas merely snapped his fingers and a Samurai nobody appeared.

"Samurais kick everyones ass."

"Assasssins!" yelled Axel.

"Dancers!" yelled Demyx.

"Samurais!" yelled Roxas.

"Can you guys keep it down? I'm tyring to watch my stories." said Xinck, appearing out of a portal.

"Xinck, finally, someone with a brain. Which ones are better, Crappy Assassins, Turd-faced Samurais, or, the best, Beautiful Dancers?" asked Demyx.

Axel, Roxas, and Demyx stared at Xinck.

"They both kinda suck to me."

"How can you say that? They're better than yours!" yelled Roxas.

"You haven't even seen mine!"

"Your right, none of us have seen your Subordinate nobodiess. Show us." said Axel.

"Yeah." said Demyx.

"....Ok, but don't laugh." said Xinck. He snapped his fingers and a small white portal appeared and a small nobdy popped out.

The nobody was small, about 3 ft. tall. It had long black and gray sleeves that almost completely covered It's small hands. It's body was slender, yet thick, black and white, with the symbol of the Organizations tattoed over random parts of it's jacket-like torso. It's legs were small and it's feet were nearly completely obscured from view, because it's legs looked like baggy jeans. Its head was completely covered by a long hood and the only thing that could be seen was it's mouth, which was a zig-zag had nothing, including eyes, underneath I'ts hood, so on the top of it's hood was a black semi-circle and a full black circle, giving it a 'Say What?' expression.

"It's...so...cute!" yelled Demyx, running over to the nobody and petting it.

"Don't pet him! He's an evil viscious creature,...even if he looks like a 6 year old." Xinck said

"What do you call him?" asked Roxas and Axel, also petting the Nobody.

"Reapers." he replied.

"Why?" asked Demyx.

Xinck snapped his fingers and instantly the Reaper's legs tuned into a whispy tail. It's hidden hands turned into Scythe-like blades.

"Oh, thats why." said Axel.

Xinck snapped his fingers again and the Reaper turned back into its regular form.

"Could you go get me a drink?" Xinck asked the Reaper.

It nodded, turned around a started to waddle towrds the kitchen. It tripped over it's own feet, got up and continued

to run towrds the kitchen.

"CUTE!" exclaimed Roxas, Axel, and Demyx.

"He's not cute! I'm super cereal!" Xinck yelled stomping his foot.

* * *

Edit: I hated these last two chapters. I honestly have no idea why I wrote them. Sorry.


	8. Demyxs' Beat Laments The World

Okay This might be a little Scary or Bad, but This story isn't all about Humor.

One more thing, Since this is my first story on this website IDK if I'm supposed to respond to the Reviews or not, so in case i don't i want to say Thank you to everyone who takes the time to Review.

This one's about Demyx! I wrote this because I don't agree with how People Think he is so Nice

SO Enjoy! and REVIEW!

* * *

"Okay", said Xemnas, starting a meeting, "I don't know where he is, but let's start the meeting without him."

"But, sir, If this meeting is about Demyx, then shoudn't he be here?" asked Saix.

"No way!", said Axel, "If he's here, then all he'll do is cry!"

Suddenly, the No.9 seat in the meeting room was enveloped in a cloud of black smoke, and Demyx appeared in a seated position.

"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late." he said, "I had to finish this charity mission I went on."

"Charity mission?" asked Xinck, "What Charity?"

"Everytime I go and do something bad in one world, I always go to a different world and do something nice, you know, just to balance everything out?" he said.

Everyone groaned at the thought of a member doing 'Charity Work'. Xemnas saw this and said, "Demyx, can I see you out in the hall, please?"

"Sure."

Demyx and Xemnas teleported out of the meeting room, leaving the rest of the Organization to talk to themselves.

"I can't believe that this is what we were going to get when I found him, I'm sorry." said Axel.

"He's too nice!" said Larxene, "It doesn't make sense. I've heared of faking emotions, but he does it too well to call it faking!"

"He needs a raw dose of reality." said Luxord.

"I don't get it," said Roxas, "How does he go on just being so...happy?"

"I think It's a good idea that we are kicking him out." said Saix.

Outside the Meeting room, in the hall, Xemnas and Demyx were talking.

"Do you know what everyone likes, Demyx?" Xemnas asked in a hurry.

"What?"

"Tacos. Everyone loves Tacos. Now, this is very important, Demyx, I need you to go to Taco Bueno and order 50 tacos for everyone, can you do that?"

"Well, sure, but shoudn't we get on with the meeting before we eat?"

"No, this is very important because this meeting is going to last for a while, and we all love Tacos." said Xemnas.

"Ok, I'll go. So, I'm going to Taco Bell?"

"No No No, Bueno, Bueno, Bueno! _Si, Tacos y Burritos de Taco Bueno es muy delicioso. Vamonos_!", said Xemnas with a spanish accent.

"Okay. Do you have the money?" asked Demyx.

"_Si, Aqui Es El Dinero_" said Xemnas, handing Demyx the money.

"Uh...you don't have to speak spanish anymore."

"_Oh_, _Disculpe_- ah, I mean I'm sorry. Now go, and take your time!"

Demyx teleported out of the Castle and away from Xemnas. Xemnas sighed then quickly teleported back into the meeting room and into his seat.

"Okay, he's gone. We need to hurry, there's, like, 20 Taco Buenos around The Castle That Never Was." he said quickly, "Now, this meeting is about Demyx's lack of 'Ill intent', and I am considering kicking him out of the Organization."

"I think we should," said Saix, "Demyx goes on a lot of missions, but his fighting styles are poor and any scheme he plans always fails."

"If we kick him out, then we risk reducing our numbers and essentially weaken ourselves." said Zexion.

"We can afford to kick him out because he never contributed that much strngth to the Organization in the first place." said Marluxia.

"I think we should give him a chance to prove his will to work with the Organization" said Xigbar.

"I agree with Xigbar" said Vexen, "Even if he fails, It should prove to be quite entertaining to watch him fall."

"It's decided. We will allow Demyx to do something to prove his worth to the Organization." said Xemnas.

Xaldin sniffed the air "I smell tacos."

"Oh, damn, he's coming back. Quickly, Intervention!" said Xemnas.

* * *

Demyx came through the door of the Castle with the 50 tacos in several bags. All of a sudden, all the lights went out, and Demyx started to shudder.

"Aaaah! What was that?! "

he continued to walk through the dark castle and he heared a shuffling of feet.

"Stay back! I have Mexican food! Too much of it will give you diarrhea!"

Suddenly a spotlight came out from over head, bathing Demyx in it's light. Then a small chair came from the surrounding dark shadows, and a voice.

"Sit"

"Is that you, Xemnas?" shuddered Demyx, sitting down in the chair.

"Place the Tacos on the floor." came another familiar voice.

"Roxas?" asked Demyx, placing the Tacos on the floor.

Suddenly, Thirteen figures appeared from the shadows, with their hoods off, they started to move about the well-lit area.

Axel, Roxas, Xinck, and Zexion walked over to the tacos, unwrapped them and started to eat. Then Xemnas spoke.

"Demyx, I'm going to cut to the chase. We're kicking you out."

"What? Kicking me out? Why? I got the Tacos. They're eating them!" yelled Demyx.

"This isn't about us, this is about you" said Axel, with his cheeks full of Tacos.

"Listen, Demyx" said Luxord, "It's just that, we don't think that you are cut out for the Organization. I mean, all together, we have caused incalculable amounts of chaos in an inumeral number of Worlds. But the only bad thing I can ever remember you doing is pushing a prgenant woman down the stairs."

"Actually, she tripped and she was drunk, thats the way I remember it." said Xinck, eating a taco.

"Now, Demyx," continued Xemnas, "We are going to let you prove your self to us."

"How? Anything, I'll do anything!" said Xemnas.

"You have to do something that is Terribily Great. Use your powers to do something Amazingly Powerful, that only you could do." said Xemnas.

"I could push 2 pregnant girls down the stairs?" saud Demyx.

"Think harder!" said Zexion, eating Tacos.

Demyx put his brain to the test and thought and thought and thought. He thought so much that his thinker became soar, then it finally happened and a Deviously Evil grin appeared on his face, and he said, in a voice that was a little deeper, "I got it."

* * *

In a world known as SeaSide City, a city by the sea, an average girl, no older than 16 was sitting in class. This girls name was Rena. She had tan skin and brown hair. She wasn't well endowed, meaning she was slender but not completely flat chested.

She wasn't paying the slightest attention to the teacher give a speech about Disestablishmentarianism, whatever the fuck that was( its a real word, get off my back). She was staring out the window looking at the wet earth. It had recently rained and she loved to look at the sky as the silver-lined clouds recede over the horizon.

Finally, the bell rang for lunch and Rena collected her notebook and backpack and walked out the class. She hated walking in the hallways because they were too small for people to walk through, so everybody was bumping into everyone else. She casually waited on a wall so that the halls would be clear when she went to lunch.

"_I hate this place"_ she thought._ "Why don't they just make the halls bigger?"_

After everyone had cleared the halls, she started walking down the green-painted hallway. She turned a corner and continued to walk, until she saw a poster on the wall that she hadn't seen before. It had a picture of a young man playing a blue guitar or a sitar. He had a mullet that formed into a mohawk at the top of his head. At the bottom of the poster it read, 'Come see the Pied Piper of the Sea, The Prince of Music, The Melodious Nocturne!'

The poster went on to say that this 'Melodius Nocturne' was playing a once in a lifetime concert down by the Sea Rocks today. She wasn't doing anything later so she thought this could be interesting, but coudn't decide to go or not. So she decided to think about it later.

In the lunchroom she sat down at a table that was populated by the 'Ugly kids'. She, herself, wasn't ugly, but was considered a 'Loner Goth' so she usually sat by herself at lunch. She sat down nect to an 'Ugly kid', who just so happened to be really really ugly, his name was Frawd.

Rena didn't talk to Frawd a lot, so she pulled out a sandwhich from her lunch bag and started to eat. Then Frawd started to speak.

"I hate this school" he said in a weird accent, "Sometimes I wish I coud just burn it down, down to the gwound(thats how he talks)"

"That's nice, Frawd" she commented back, not looking up from her sandwhich.

"Burn it down."

"Mmm-mm"

"Down."

"Yup" she replied back.

"To the gwound"

"Yeah-huh"

"Gwound"

"Whatever" she continued eating when her popular friend, Jaime, came over to sit.

"Eating your Peanut Butter and Onion sandwhich I see" she said, "That's why you can never get a man, because your breathe smells like onions."

"Nice to see you too, Jaime" Rena replied.

"So..uh, What's going on with you?"

"Oh, nothing. Same 'ol, same 'ol" she replied, "You?"

"Oh,well..." Jaime went into a long winded discussion about how the problems of popular people are so important, and how nothing, besides their High School is ever going to be this imporatnt. Basically it went blah blah blah blah blah, High School Is Such A Serious Thing. These Problems Matter. The discussion was so long, infact, that the author is going to talk about something else, like Stuff and Things. Stuff and Things are really cool, especially Things, because Things can be Anything. And now, Jaime has finn=ally come to the conclusion of her bullshit.

"....and thats how I got rid of my AIDS! Isn't that amazing?"

"Oh, yeah, espeacially how you got the entire cast of High School Musical to have an Orgy just for you." said Rena.

"So, I heared about this concert going on by the Sea Rocks? It's supposed to have this wonderful singer there. You wanna go?" asked Jaime.

"Well, I've been thinking whether I want to go or not, but I guess since you're going I'll go too. I'ts tonight, right?"

"Yeah, I'ts supposed to be right after school. We can meet at the front door of the school and walk there."

"Ok"

The Lunch bell rang and Rena and Jaime went back to there classes, and waited for school to be over. Later when school was over, Rena meet Jaime at the front door of the school.

Jaime was with two other people, a boy wearing a gray shit, red jacket and blue jeans, and a girl wearing a slutty miniskirt, and a 'I just found out I'm Pregnant Look' on her face. Jaime introduced her friends to Rena, he boys name was Todd and the Girls name was Mandy.

On their way to the Sea Rocks, Rena mostly kept queit while Mandy, Jaime and Todd yakked on and on about....whatever the hell kids talk about. As Rena walked with her friends, she heared a distant voice, a voice that she had never heared before. The body-less voice seemed to whisper in her ear, 'Dont go! You'll die!'

Suddenely, Rena grabbed her phone from her pocket and said, " I have to call my Mom and tell her where I'm going."

"Mom's are such a drag" said Mandy, "I don't tell my Mom nothing. I do what I want, when I want. I does what I want!"

Rena put her phone up to her ear and started to talk.

"Mom. I'ts me, Rena, I'm going to a concert. I'll be home late"

She was greeted with her Moms usual response "Do we have anymore wine?"

"There should be some in the refrigerator" replied Rena.

"Ok. Well, wheres my Cigarettes. I need my smokes."

"Check your pocket"

"Ok. Bye" Rena hung up the phone and her and Jaime, and Jaime's friends continued to walk to the Sea Rocks. When they got there, they noticed that thousands of people showed up, just to hear this 'Melodious Nocturne'. The Sea Rocks were not so much as rocks, as much as they were thick pillars. Three giant pillars with two on either side with the biggest pillar standing between the crowed and the Sea. The two samller pillars had huge speakers on the top of them, while the bigger one was bare on top.

The air around the Sea was filled with a salty taste as they got closer to the crowd. They noticed that more people were filing in behind them as they got closer.

"Theres a lot of people here" said Todd as he started to breathe faster, "I'm getting claustrophobic!"

"Calm down, you giant pansy!" yelled Jaime, "The concert is about to start!"

"_I have a bad feeling about this"_ thought Rena, _"Maybe we should go."_

Suddenley a figure appeared at the top of the huge pillar, with a blue guitar or sitar. He had a mullet/mohawk, and he was wearing black sleeveless shirt and over it he was wearing a Dark Sea Blue, long, sleeveless vest. His pants were pure black and he was wearing black shoes.

"Hello, SeaSide City! Are you ready for some music!" the Melodius Nocturne yelled.

The entire audience started to cheer, and yell madly with yells of 'Yes,Yeah, Yay!'

"Allright then" said The Melodius Nocturne with a devious smile creeped over his face. And he strummed his sitar, and he started to play, nice soothing sounds that everyone loved. Everyone was cheering for The Melodius Nocturne as he played his sitar, even Rena, Jaime, Todd and Mandy. Some people were dancing and singing along with the Muscian. Renas feeling of doubt about going to the concert had dissapeared.

….3 hours and two intermissions later, The Melodius Nocturne was still on the giant Sea Rock, singing and playing. When he had finished the song he was playing, everyone cheered and had fallen in love with the Muscian.

"Allright, people!" yelled the Melodious Nocturne, "It's time for me to go!"

"No! No! No! No!" yelled the crowd of die-hard fans.

"No, don't go!" yelled Jaime.

"We love you!" yelled Todd.

"Have my babies!" yelled Mandy

The Melodious Nocturne heared the crowds pleas for more, and he was going to give them more. All of a sudden, that feeling of doubt appeared once more in Rena.

"We should go, now!" said Rena to her friends.

"No! We have to stay and hear more!" said Jaime, Todd, and Jaime, over the yells of the crowd.

"It's dangerous here!" said Rena.

"Okay" said The Nocturne, "I'll give you more. More than you can handle."

He raised his sitar up to his face and whispered, "Rankle The Seas And The Skies."

He started to play, but this time, as he played on his sitar, a heavy metal sound was erupting from the sitar, and The Nocturne was banging his head as he played. The sound was strange, because his sitar was giving off an electric guitar sound, a base, and drums, as if there was a whole heavy metal band playing their music out of nowhere.

The wind started to pick up and black and gray clouds were blocking out the sun until, it was completey gone. Lightning was flashing from the sky and striking the now enraged Sea. The Sea was now chaotic with waves crashing against the Rocks. But people were still cheering and yelling for their music as if they wanted whatever The Nocturne was going to give them.

"This is bad," Rena said to herself, "I have to get out of here! Jaime, let's go!"

"No" she replied, turning back The Nocturne.

Rena attempted to leave, but the crowd was to thick and she couldn't get through. She could only watch in horror as The Nocturne continued to play, the wind whipping across her face as the Sea water mist splahed her.

Then the flow of the music went a little slower and The Nocturne started to speak as he played, but gis voice was different, it was almost demonic as he said;

"I Call Out To The Beasts Of The Sea To Come Forth And Join Us, This Night Is Yours, Because, One Day They Will All Be With You In The Black And Deep, One Day They Will All GO INTO THE WATER! GO INTO THE WATAH!...."

"Yes, Lord Demyx" said the crowd, but not in unison. The Melodius Nocturne had set a Spell, and now, agianst their will, they had been commanded to drown in the Sea. Even Rena was now slowly moving with the crowd towrds the Sea, saying 'Yes, Lord Demyx', but in her mind, she was screaming 'NO, NO Not like this!'

"..... Live There, Die There, Live There And Die!", continued Demyx, The Nocturne, " We Reject Our Earthly Fires, Gone Are Days Of Man And Pious, Lungs Transform To Take In Water. Cloaked In Scales We Swim And Swim. We Will Conquer Land With Water"

As the crowd continued to move towards the chaotic Sea, Black tentacles of undersea Heartless came from the water and started to grab at people, pulling them into the water and their Death. Fish Heartless jumped from the Sea onto the land and attacked the crowd, people screamed, but still continued to walk into The Water.

Jaime, Todd, and Mandy had already been devoured by the Water, as Rena continued to walk to her Death. She was quiet on the outside, but screaming on the inside as a black tentacle of a Heartless rose from he Sea and dragged her into the Sea....

Demyx continued to play his beat, as he danced across the Pillar rock. Then the water made I'ts way past the boundary of the Sea towrds the rest of the World, so that the Undersea Heartles could collect the Hearts of the world.

Demyx danced across the surface of the pillar, unaffected by the Death all around him. Then he looked at the sky and thought that the sky looked beautiful as the glowing Hearts of the dead floated towards space and Kingdom Hearts.....

* * *

_In The World That Never Was...._

Demyx had definetly earned his spot In the Organization.

"Okay" said Xemnas, "You can stay."

"Yay!" said Demyx, jumping up and down.

"Damn, I never knew Demyx was such a badass!" said Xigbar.

"That was awesome!" yelled Axel.

"......"

"......"

"Okay, now what?" asked Larxene.

"Oh, I remember" said Marluxia, "We were supposed to do something with Fangirls, right?"

"Yes, I thought abou it, and It's a stupid idea(it really was when I thought of it)" said Xemnas.

"Okay, then what do we do until the next chapter?" asked Xinck.

Lexaeus opened his eyes and said, "We wait. See what developes."

* * *

Okay. Thats It for Now. Like i said, ih ad an idea to let all these fangirls come in, but then it got really stupid and so i decided not to write it.

OH and I should tell you something Important. THIS IS TAKING PLACE BEFORE CASTLE OBLIVION. THEY WILL GO THERE IN A FEW CHAPTERS.

Oh and the song I was trying to describe was a Dethklok Song called Go Into The Water.

THATS IT! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!!!!


	9. The Lonely Loner

Sorry it took so long to get this up, I've been busy...with stuff....and things.

How about that last chapter, huh? messed up, i know. it would be funny if you showed that chapter to a really hard-core Demyx fan! hehehe.

Anyhoo...lets move on Heres a new chapter, it gets kinda soft in the middle but I think i did a good Job, If i do say so myself.

I DON"T OWN ANYTHING...yet. ENJOY!!!

* * *

In the Lobby, where the members usually stayed when they are about to go on a mission, Xigbar and Demyx were talking.

"What do you mean 'Your Leaving'?!", yelled Demyx, hanging on to Xigbar's arm.

"I meant that I'm going on a mission. I'll be back in a few days." said Xigbar, trying to shake off Demyx.

"But, what am I suppposed to do while you're gone?"

"I don't konw. Play with your sitar, or take a nap, or go play with Axel and Roxas."

"I thought we were friends!"

"Yeah, sure, but I'm going on a mission, NOW GET OFF!" he yelled, trowing Demyx off of him.

Xigbar summoned a dark portal and teleported away, leaving Demyx alone in the lobby. He started to walk into a long hallway. Along the way, he past a few rooms, they were mostly empty except for one room that showed Xinck sitting on a couch, watching TV by himself. I haven't really gotten to know Xinck that much, thought Demyx. He didn't think much more than that and continued walking.

Walking a little bit longer, Demyx decided to play some music while he walked. He summoned his sitar and started to play a quiet soothing melody.

Demyx eventually said, "_Danse, L'eau, Danse_"(Fr: Dance,Water, Dance) in a French accent, and medium sized water droplets appeared in midair. They changed shape and form, they twisted and flew around Demyx as he played, and walked around the Castle.

Then, he heared two familiar voices coming down they white hall. Roxas and Axel were walking down the hall, talking and laughing. Demyx stopped playing and de-summoned his sitar, his water dissapearing instantly.

"Hey, guys! Whatcha doing?" called Demyx.

Axel and Roxas stopped in front of Demyx.

" were just about to go to Twilight Town." said Roxas.

Axel nudged Roxas and whispered, "Don't tell him where we are going, or he'll want to come along."

"Sounds like a good idea, can I come?" Demyx asked.

"No." replied Axel.

"Why not?" Demyx asked.

Because, Two's company, Three's a crowd. Everyone knows that.." Axel replied.

"If you want, we can do something later." said Roxas, who started walking past Demyx with Axel.

"Yeah, Okay." Demyx said, dejectedly.

Axel and Roxas dissapeared from view and Demyx contiued walking again. He didn't relize it, until he had walked past the same room he saw before, that he had walked in circles and was walking past the same room that Xinck was just in. He saw Xinck, still sitting on the couch, alone, and watching TV. Except now he was letting a small ball of Darkness floating and moving carelessly across his hands.

Then, Demyx had an idea.

"_Lets see here. I'm a Water elemental and Axel is Fire. Axel is always with Roxas. Roxas is a Light elemental. Xinck is a Dark elemental. Fire and Light, Water and Darkness. I got it!"_

Demyx leaped into the room and tackled Xinck. Xinck screamed a surprisingly girlish scream and hit the floor with Demyx on top of him.

"What are you doing!? What's going on?! Please don't rape me!" yelled Xinck.

"I'm not gonna rape you. I have a proposition for you." said Demyx a huge grin on his face.

"...What kind of proposition?" he asked with an eyebrow arched.

Demyx stood up and held out his hand to Xinck and what apeared to be a rainbow appeared and Demyx yelled , "FRIENDSHIP!"

"Huh?"

"You, Xinck, get to be me, Demyx's, Friend! What do you think?"

"_Well,"_ Xinck thought,_ "It's either this or be alone forever._

"Ok. I'll be your friend." said Xinck taking Demyx's hand. Demyx pulled him up and put his arm around Xinck's shoulder.

"So, what do you want to do now, new friend?" asked Demyx.

"Um..I don't know. I've never really had a friend before." Xinck replied.

"Well, let's see," said Demyx, "Oooh, I know. First what we do is, we spy on Axel and Roxas."

"Why?" asked Xinck.

"'Cause they are our elemental opposites, so we are going to do everything they do, but better!"

"Okay, well I heared that they were in Twilight Town."

"Alright, let's go! Onward, new friend!" yelled Demyx.

* * *

In Twilight Town, Axel and Roxas were sitting on the Bell Tower, watching the setting sun and eating ice cream. But on the side of the building, adjacent to Axel and Roxas, Demyx and Xinck were spying on them in the shadows.

"Do you see what I see, Xinck?" asked Demyx.

"Yup. Just Roxas and Axel eating ice cream. What's the big deal?"

"There's no big deal. What we are going to do is the exact opposite. And I know the perfect place to do that! Let's go."

Demyx teleported away and dragged Xinck along with him. They reappered on a wharf, along a Beach. Xinck didn't know what world they were in, but decided not to ask. But` as soon as he got a good look at the beach he wanted to know, "Where the hell are we?!"

The entire beach was polluted with soda bottles, wrappers, and other articles of trash. Their were dozens of seagulls flying around and picking skin of off the dead fish that had washed up from the polluted sea. The entire are had that 'Rotten, Dead Fish smell'

Demyx took in a deep sniff of air and exhaled." Ah, Do you smell that Xinck?"

"I wish I didn't. I want to leave." he replied in a nasally voice, holding his nose.

"Leave? But we just got here."

"This place is terrible!"

"Xinck, you're being a negative nancy. And if you don't want everyone in the Organization to start calling you that from now on, then you need to lighten up."

"Fine." he replied.

Demyx and Xinck walked over to the edge of the wharf and sat down and watched as the sun of this world set below the horizon, because it wasn't Twilight Town, this worlds sun actually set. Xinck still didn't like this place, espeacially now because tiny little bugs were now zooming around his head.

"So,uh, what do we do now?" asked Xinck, smacking his forhead as a bug tried to land on it.

"We sit here and look cool, and hope that Fangirls write fanfictions about us."

"What?"

"I mean-uh, let's have some ice cream." Demyx pulled two ice cream bars, seemingly out of nowhere, and handed one to Xinck.

"Hey, It's chocolate. I like chocolate." said Xinck. As soon as he unwrapped his ice cream, bugs and seagulls started to zoom around his ice cream. But for Demyx, he had already started to eat his ice cream and wasn't bothered at all by the bugs.

"Ack!- stop it! Damn bugs!" yelled Xinck.

"Come on Xinck, relax" said Demyx.

"I can't relax with all these bugs on my ice crea-NO!" Xinck yelled when a seagull swooped down and snagged his ice cream in it's mouth and flew away.

"My ice cream!"

Demyx spotted a small bug on Xinck's forehead.

"Hey, you got a bug right-oh I'll get it" Demyx smacked Xinck's forehead, a little to hard, and had pushed Xinck, girlishly screaming, off the wharf towards the polluted water.

Xinck's head popped out of the water and he started yelling in pain, "Ahh! The water's burning my eyes!"

"Yeah" replied Demyx, "I would avoid swimming in that water if I were you." he said with a care-free smile on his face.

* * *

_The Next Day In The World That Never Was...._

Demyx was waiting on The Alter Of Naught. He had called Xinck because he wanted to try something that he had saw on TV. A dark portal appeared and Xinck stepped out, with an innocent look on his face.

"What are we doing today?" he asked in a surprisingly child-like voice.

"Well" Demyx started, "I saw this thing on TV that I wanted to try."

"Well, what is it?"

"Come her and I'll show you."

Xinck walked over to Demyx, who quikly put his arm around Xinck's shoulder.

"So I was watching TV and I saw this thing called The Omni-Wedgie on that Jackass show, y'know the one I'm talking about, right?"

"No, and I don't like the direction this is going in, but continue."

"So, anyway, I got the idea that If they could do it on a TV show, then why can't I do it?"

"I don't know. Have you tried it?"

"Not yet." replied Demyx.

Demyx walked Xinck over to the edge of The Alter Of Naught and they both looked down.

"Wow, thats a long way down." said Xinck.

"Yeah, I think this is good enough."

"Good for what?"

"This." Demyx pushed Xinck off the edge of the Alter. Xinck let out a girlish scream, but Demyx grabbed the back of his cloak, catching him before he went completely over.

"Aaah!-Oh. I thought you were about to let me drop all the way!" Xinck said with a small smile on his face and a sigh of relief.

"No. I need to do this first." Demyx pulled up the back of Xinck's cloak and reached for his underware. He held onto it with one hand and prepared to let go of Xinck's cloak with the other.

"Ok. Now you can go."

"Wait!" But it was to late and Demyx had let go. Xinck was falling straight down, his ass pointing upward as Demyx held onto his ever-extending underware.

Xinck screamed at the top of his lungs as he fell lower and lower, blood and crap staining his underware. The elastic underware continued to extend longer and longer until he came to an abrupt and painful stop....right out side of Xemnas's office.

Xinck's face was distorted with pain and tears. Xemnas wheeled around in his chair, looked at Xinck for a few seconds, then tugged on a string and closed the curtains.

"Wow, so thats an Omni-wedgie." said Demyx, all the way at the top of the Castle. He started to pull on Xinck's underware, pulling him all they way up towards the Alter. When Demyx pulled the final tug he pulled Xinck over the edge of the Alter, where he hit the floor.

"So, how was it?" Demyx asked with a smile.

Xinck lifted up his head and said, with tears in his eyes, "I can taste the fabric."

* * *

T_he Next Day, In a Random World......_

Demyx was standing on a hill. Below the hill was an extremly busy highway, cars zooming left and right. Once again he had seen something on TV and wanted to try it out. A black portal appeared and out stepped Xinck, who, once again, had a child-like innocent look on his face.

"You're going to hurt me again, aren't you?"

"No, of course not. Don't be stupid, stupid. This time, I will make sure that you don't get hurt."

"Why can't we just play a game like normal people. Y'know, like, Scrabble or Uno?" asked Xinck.

"Because, Xinck, we are not normal. We're Nobodies and we need to stay entertained."

"Uno's entertaining! And Pain free!"

"Look, Xinck, I'm gonna make sure that you don't feel any pain with this!" Demyx pulled out of his pocket a large syringe filled with a clear liquid.

"Oh no. You're gonna drug me, aren't you?" asked Xinck.

"Of course not. This is Morphine. It's supposed to make you go numb."

"Why do I need to be numb?" asked Xinck.

"I wan't to try this thing called Numb-Chuckin'. It's when I numb you up and throw you into oncoming traffic." said Demyx.

"BUT THAT"S GONNA HURT!"

"Not if you're numb and can't feel anything."

"Eh...I don't know...." said Xinck.

Demyx ran over to Xinck and placed his arm over Xinck's shoulder and started walking over to the edge of the cliff.

"Xinck, you have nothing to worry about, because Nobodies like us are approximately 450 times more durable than normal humans. You'll be fine, I promise."

"Well...Oka-"

"Great!" Demyx yelled, Pushing Xinck off the hill and into traffic. He screamed and grunted as he hit the roof of a car. He slid off the back and hit the windshield of another car. He continued screaming like a girl until he hit the road. He was bleeding and his cloak had been torn in several places. Then an 18-wheeler came straight for him...

"I don't wanna play anymore! Aaaaah!"

Up on the hill, Demyx was watching as Xinck go hit with car, after car, after car. Then Demyx looked down in his hands and saw that the syringe was still full of Morphine. He forgot to inject Xinck with the Morphine.

"Huh, well that's interesting."

* * *

_The Next Day In The World That Never Was......_

Xinck was now wearing a cast on his left arm, a crutch under his right arm, and bandages on his head with some of his jet-black hair sticking out of it. Right now, he didn't have that Child-like look on his face, instaed he had an apathtic expression.

He was walking-or limping through the Castle, trying to find his way to his room. He had to get there on foot, because portals of Darkness are hard to get through with crutches.

Then Xinck heared Demyx calling his name in the other direction.

"Hey, Xinck! I got something new we can do!"

Xinck's eyes widened and he turned away from Demyx as quikly as he could and started to limp away as fast as he could.

"_Limp away, limp away!"_ he Thought. But Demyx had caught up to Xinck and put his arm over Xinck's shoulder.

"Okay, I got something new with Razor blades and Lemon juice! Let's go." said Demyx.

"I'm not going anywhere with you! Everytime I go anywhere with you, I get hurt!"

"Oh, come on Xinck, I promise you won't-"

"SHUT UP! Just shut up! Shut the fuck up! In the past two days, you have tortured me and nearly killed me! I'd rather have no friends then have a Sadistic, pathetc attempt at friendship with you!"

"But, but-Xinck, I...." Demyx's eyes got big as if he was about to cry.

"Now, If you excuse me, I have to go find a safe way to get down stairs. I need to go see Vexen." Xinck walked/Limped away from Demyx.

A few hours later in Vexen's lab, Xinck was sitting on a lab table and waited as Vexen undid the bandages around his head.

"And there we go" he said, removing all the bandages. "Now, your leg and arm should be just fine in a few more hours. Other than that, you're just fine. You're lucky, because your a nobody the injuries you received would have never healed if you were human."

"Lucky me." said Xinck, he hopped of the medical table and moved his arm and leg around to make sure they were okay.

"So, uh....Vexen, I have a few hours to spare, you want to do something?" Xinck asked.

"No."

"Oh well, Okay then. Later?"

"No."

"Why not?" asked Xinck, his child-like appearance reappeared.

"Because, I'm very busy. Why don't you go play with Demyx again?"

"Because he's the one that did all that stuff to me in the first place."

"Well, Xinck, either you can wallow in this Castle by yourself, or you can find a companion. Me personally, always have my science. What do you have?"

"I have a very large penis." Xinck replied.

"I didn't need to know that. You can let yourself out." Vexen walked out of that area of the lab and down some stairs into who knows where.

Xinck prepared to leave the lab, when he spotted a mirror. He looked into it and saw himself. He thought that he hadn't changed much since he was human. The only different things were his hair and eyes. His hair always had a wool-like texture to it, but now it was darker and looked as if it was wet, but it wasn't shiny. His dark hair reflected no light what-so-ever. His eyes resembled a solar eclipse, completley black in the middle then a small burst of white and another circle of black that stopped as soon as it came in contact with the white part of the rest of the eye.

He sighed and said, "Well, I guess having an abusive friend is better than no friends at all."

Xinck walked all over the Castle until he found Demyx in the Lobby.

"Hey, Demyx!" Xinck called. Demyx turned around and saw Xinck. Xinck walked up to Demyx and said,

"Okay, I thought about and I have decided that I will be your Crash-test Dummy friend. I figured that it would be better if I at least had one friend during my entire existence than none at all."

Xinck expected Demyx to say 'Okay, I'll take you back', but instead he said,

"No."

"Why not?" asked Xinck.

"Well, I just needed someone to be around while Xigbar was on a mission and he's back, so I don't really need you anymore." he said with a smile.

"But-"

"It's alright, Xinck, we're still cool. I gotta go. Bye!" Demyx teleported out of the room, leaving Xinck by himself, all alone.

Xinck walked through the hallways, his head down and his hands in his pockets. He found Lexaeus in one of the Libraries, reading a book. Xinck had never really talked to Lexaeus before, not on a personal level, only on missions.

Xinck took a seat next to Lexaeus and watched him read. Lexaeus looked at Xinck and Xinck looked away. Lexaeus turned his head back to his book and Xinck turned to look at Lexaeus, to which Lexaeus looked at Xinck then Xinck looked away. Basically this was an attempt at communication that had obviously failed.

Xinck got out of his seat and walked out of the library to try to find some companionship. He walked into the kitchen and saw Xaldin over the stove cooking with an apron on.

"Hi, Xaldin" called Xinck.

"What do you want?" he asked in his usually gruff voice.

"Well, I just came in here to see if you wanted to do something?"

"No. go away." he replied.

"Maybe I can help you cook?"

"Unless you're the offspring of Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray and Oprah's personal Chef, then NO! Leave!"

Xinck ran out the kitchen and down the hallway, alone again. He had nothing to do and no one to do it with. He was alone. He was soaking in despair. He almost found his situation laughable, a nobody of nothingness, with nobody. Irony. Xinck never liked Irony used on him he knows that he isn't supposed to have emotions, but now, he felt sad.

"_Wait a minute," _he thougt,_ "I know!"_

He waved his across the air and suddenly a small nobody appeared. His Reaper Nobody. This small child-like nobodies have to do what he says. They don't have a choice.

Xinck bent down and said, "Hey, Reaper, I was wondering if , Y'know, you wanted to do something or go somewhere?"

The Reaper thought into Xinck's head, _"No."_

"What? Why?" asked Xinck.

"_'Cuz, dude, I have plans."_

"Plans? What possible plans could you have?"

"_I guess, unlike you, I have a life."_

"Can I come along?"

"_Actually, you coming along would just, y'know, ruin everything."_

"How?!"

"_You would just be a third wheel. My friend set us up on a blind-double date with these Stiletto Nobodies_(Larxene's)_ and you would just mess everything up."_

"Wait, I don't understand." said Xinck.

"_I know you don't."_

With that, the Reaper back flipped into the air and dissapeared into a white portal.

Xinck sighed, "Even my subordinates don't have time for me."

* * *

Later in Xinck's room, he was trying to sleep, but he couldn't. He had too much on his mind. Mostly about how he had just as much loneliness as he had when he was human. Nothing, for him, ever really changed, just his existence. The World That Never Was rarely ever had sunlight and when it did it was only dawn, then the sun would set and teh world would be dark again. Xinck was never really a day person, mostly because his eyes were a little sensitive to light, but since he joined with the Organization, he hadn't seen sunlight here, but he has heard others speak of it. But, he really prefered the Night. Not being able to sleep, he got up from his bed and slipped on his black cloak. He looked up to the huge sky window above his bed and saw rain falling from the clouds. He liked nights, days and evenings like this, any day when it rained. He decided to go for a walk and think.

_Day and night. He tossed and turned, he keeps stressing his mind, he looks for peace but see he can't attain...._

Xinck opened a portal and walked through it. The portal reopened and Xinck stepped out into the Dark City. The dreary-ness of the Castle was startng to get to him. He walked down the Brink Of Despair, with the Castle to his back. He didn't know where he was going.

_...Day and Night. The lonely loner seems to free his mind at night. He's all alone, through the day and night..._

Walking, walking, walking and walking some more, Xinck found himself at the bottom of Memories Skyscraper. He looked up into the air at the clouds and saw the rain falling innocently and uninterupted. He liked the rain, it was as if the Heavens themselves were taking pity on him, crying for him because he couldn't. It made him feel-it made him think-that maybe it wasn't all bad. He was alone before and he can be alone now. He'll get past it, just like he always did.

_...He's all alone some things will never change... _

Suddenly, on the ground small dark portals appeared and several yellow eyes popped out of the ground. Three shadows and One Neoshadow appeared. Xinck started to summon his blades, but stopped when the Heartless did not seem hostile. Instead they moved timdly towards Xinck, their antennas twitching as they moved, and started to rub their heads against Xinck's leg. Xinck decided not to kill them. He noticed that some of the weaker Heartless, like these, would sometimes follow him. He only ever killed Heartless when he was ordered to, they attacked first, they were in his way, or they provoked him. He bent down and petted one of the Heartless on the head and he continued to walk, the Shadows following as he went.

…_He's on the move, can't seem to shake the shade. Within his dreams he see's the life he made...._

Eventually, Xinck found a huge, dark building and from what he could see it had a great view from the top. He could have just teleported too the top, but instead he decided to do it manually. He summoned his chain swords and he trusted the right sword into the air, the chain extended and flew with the blade to the building. The blade became stuck high in the side of the wall, he tugged on the handle and was instantly tugged into the air, the chain retracting as he went. The chain dissapeared into the hilt when Xinck was close enough. He took his left sword and stabbed it into the building, while he pulled out the right one and stabbed it higher into the side of the building. He started to climb, higher and higher, the Heartless had sunk into the side and were climbing just below Xinck. When he got to the top, he jumped over the edge and landed on the flat roof of the building. He desummoned his swords and looked around. He was high up in the air, and he could see how beautiful the Dark City was from high up. It was hard to see from the Castle because of all of the clouds, but here , he could see the neon lights that stayed on constantly, and the beautiful Daark clouds above. He sat down on the edge of the building, his feet dangling off the ledge. The 3 Shadows and 1 Neoshadows were sitting next to him. Xinck raised his hand and started to pet one of the Shadows.

"It's a beautiful night, isn't?" said Xinck to the Shadow, he wasn't expecting an answer back.

"It is." said the Shadow.

"Did you just talk?!" said Xinck, surprised.

"No."

"Oh, okay." said Xinck. He stayed in that sitting position for a little while longer. It was peaceful and he liked it a little bit. The all of a sudden, The Heartless's anntenas started to twitch, as if the had sensed something. They quickly left, melting into the floor and going over the edge of the building.

"_Well,"_ thought Xinck,_ "It was nice while it lasted."_

Suddenly, Xinck sensed a presence on the roof, it only took him a second to figure out who it was, since it was a level of power equal to that of a member of the Organization.

"What are you doing?" asked the figure.

"Nothing. Leave me alone." Xinck replied.

"No need to be so rude. I just thought I would come see how you are."

"What do you care?"

The figure came over to the ledge and sat down beside Xinck. He had his hood up, but Xinck knew who he was. "I was thinking, maybe we could be friends?" said the figure.

"Oh? And why would you want to be my friend? You don't seem like the kind of person who would extend an offer of friendship."

"Ugh! Do you want to be my friend or not?!" yelled the figure, annoyed.

"I'm just saying, that I've had a bad experience with friends. I've never had any."

"Wow. That sucks." the figue put his hands up to his hood and pulled it back, leaving a spot of blonde hair and blue eyes. Roxas. (big surprise.)

"Roxas? Oh, I thought you were Zexion. But all the same, sure, I'll be your friend." said Xinck.

All of a sudden a dark portal appeared behind them and Axel stepped out.

"Yo! How's it goin'." he said with a smile.

"Hey, Axel." said Roxas.

"Hi."said Xinck.

Axel walked over to the ledge and sat down besides Roxas.

"This City is so boring." said Axel. "There's never anything to do.

"We could go back to Twilight Town?" suggested Roxas.

"Naw, Zexion and Luxord are on a mission there. They might see us."

"Axel." said Xinck, "I've always wanted to know, what did you do before you were a nobody?"

"Me? Why do you want to know?"

"Just because."

"Well, I wasn't anything special" Axel looked around The Dark City, not making any eye Contact with the other two, "My Real name's Lea."

"Really?" Roxas asked a little shocked.

"Yeah, I thought I told you." Axel said, turning around

"I probably wasn't paying attention." Roxas laughed.

Axel, Roxas and Xinck continued talking about random stuff, nothing important, but just talking to pass the time. Until they got back on the subject of Xinck.

"Okay" said Axel, "What about you, Xinck? Whats your story?"

Xinck sighed and said, "I hated my life. I had no friends and nothing of any importance ever happened to me."

"What about your family? Asked Roxas.

"Ha! My family was a joke. My own mother thought I was a monster. She said that the day I was born, 21 people died in the hospital where I was born. Then she said that Wolves came to try and take me to raise me as there own."

Axel and Roxas chuckled a little, "What about brothers, or sisters?" asked Axel.

"I had one sister, I think she's dead now. But I remember being a baby and she held me while smoking a cigarette and talking on the phone. She made a dent on the soft spot on my head and used it as an ashtray, and when she was done talking on the phone, she dropped me on the floor and left me there."

Axel and Roxas started laughing again.

"Haha! Okay, what about your Father?" asked Roxas.

"My father was a drinker. Every morning, when I went to school, I would see him sitting in his chair drinking a beer. And when I got home, he would be in the same spot drinking beer. He was an outrageous drunk. Sometimes he would make outrageous claimes, like he 'Invented the question mark'. And he would sometimes accuse chestnuts of being lazy."

Axel and Roxas bursted out laughing. They knew Xinck wasn't telling the truth, but they still thought it was funny.( He's really not telling the truth, I had to fit in a joke somewhere.)

Eventually, Xinck joined in with the laughter. Then he said, "Y'know, of all the friends I've ever had, you guys are the first."

* * *

_And Now This...._

Most of the Organization was sitting in the kitchen, except Xaldin, Axel, Roxas, Xinck, Marluxia, and Larxene.

"Ah...," said Xemnas, sipping his tea, "It's so nice to just relax with a nice cup of tea. Isn't it, Saix?"

"Yes, sir, it certainly is."

All of a sudden, the sound of yelling came down the hall, then the image of Roxas and Xinck punching, kicking and rolling on the ground, fighting each other.

"It had my name on it!" yelled Roxas.

"You had your name on the box! Not each cookie!" yelled Xinck, raising a cookie up to his mouth,

"Don't do it!"

Xinck bit down on the cookie, then Roxas bit him on the arm.

"Aaaah!" Xinck let out a shriek, then he and Roxas continued fighting down the hallway.

"Oh, Superior, that reminds me." said Saix. "Currently, Sora is now exploring The End Of The World."

"Excellent. It should take him a few more weeks to find his way through that world. And in a few days I will let everyone know who will be going on to Castle Oblivion."

"Xemnas" said Xigbar, "Didn't you say you fought Sora in Hollow Bastion a while ago? How well can the little runt fight?"

"Surprisingly, he was more powerful than I thought he was, but he is still nowhere near the same power as any of us has. If I didn't go easy on him, I might have killed him unintentionally."

Then Xaldin came into the kitchen, sweaty and wearing exercise clothes. He had just fineshed training.

"Whoo! What a workout" he yelled, he went over to Vexen and lifted up his armpit, "Smell that, old man! It's epic, isn't it!?

Vexen sniffed and the horrible smell of Xaldin got into his nose and eyes. He shot up and started to run out the room, covering his nose and eyes, yelling, "Oh, God! It got into my eyes! It burns!" he hit the wall with his shoulder and barely made it out of the room.

"Oh, whatever." said Xaldin. He walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of milk. He drank the entire bottle, wiped of his milk mustache and put the empty carton back into the refrigerator.

"Got Milk, bitches?" he said, walking out the room.

"Ugh! I am so tired of him drinking all the milk and leaing it in the refrigerator!" yelled Luxord.

"It's not the first time he has done this. He did this as Dilan, as well." said Lexaeus.

"I know what we should do." said Xemnas, forming the finger pyramid of evil contemplation.

"What will we do about Xaldin's lack of responsibility?" asked Lexaeus.

"We wait until night. When Xaldin falls asleep, we will all meet outside his room."

* * *

_That Night....._

The door to Xaldins room slowly crept open. So silently, that he didn't even stir in his sleep. Thirteen pairs of feet tiptoad in and waited for their supplies from Xemnas.

Everyone, except Lexaeus, Xigbar, Axel and Larxene, had been instructed to bring one long tube sock and Xemnas would provide the rest of the materials. Xemnas opened his pillow case and everyone who brought a tube sock reached in and grabbed a large bar of soap. They each dropped the heavy bar of soap into the sock and waited

Xemnas gave the signal and Lexaeus, Larxene, Axel and Xigbar pulled out a long blanket and pulled it over Xaldins bed and part of his mouth, muffling his screams. The blanket kept his arms and legs down so he coudn't move.

As soon as Xaldin was trapped, Xemnas gave the signal and everyone started to beat Xaldin with their tube socks full of soap. Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion got him in the legs, while Saix, Luxord and Xinck got his torso and Roxas and Demyx got his arms. Xaldin was shrieking and crying under his blanket, then Xemnas gave another signal and they all stopped. He came up and started to beat Xaldin in the face with his sock and soap, yelling,

"NO...MORE...EMPTY.....MILK CARTONS IN THE FRIDGE!"

Everyone left Xaldins room, leaving him crying and cowering under his blankets in pain.

* * *

How was it? let me know and REVIEW REVIEW EVIEW!!!

And one more thing, I don't plan on having this FAnfic all about Xinck. this was just something going on in my head. REVIEW!!!!!


	10. Unmistakable Number XIV

I'm so happy cuz I'm a Gummi Bear, Gummi Bear- AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

Here we go! the thirteenth chapter! Read and Enjoy and Review! i need Reviews! I'm serious, its not that hard to click on that button atthe bottom and tell me what you think. I mean, I would do it for you!

Anyhoo, Enjoy and Review and I don't own anything!

And Remember, "Evil Shall Always Triumph Over Good, Because Good Is Dumb"-Dark Helmet (Space Balls)

* * *

In the meeting Room, Where Nothing Gathers, Xemnas was just finishing up a meeting. Everyone was in there designated seats, except Xinck.

"...And in conclusion, I will be reading of a list of things that will no longer be acceptable within the Castle; The word 'Guestimate' will no longer be tolerated. It's a stupid word, just say estimate. And also, male members are not allowed to where socks with sandals. If you didn't want to show your feet, then you shoudn't have worn sandals."

All of a sudden, The Fourteenth seat was enveloped in a cloud of black smoke, and the figure of Xinck appeared.

"Sorry I'm late. I was on the Toilet, I think I'm constipated."

"Oh, Xinck, so nice of you to join us. Now this is very impotant and I need you to stay calm-"

"Who the fuck is this and why are they in my Seat?!" yelled Xinck, pointing to a figure that he just noticed was seating next to him with their hood up over their face.

"Okay, look, Xinck. That is the Fourteenth member." said Xemnas.

"But, I'm the Fourteenth member."

"No, _She_ is the official Fourteenth member."

"She? I'm being replaced by a girl? What did I do?"

"Look, Xinck," said Saix, "Xion is the-"

"Xion? What kind of a name is that?!" yelled Xinck.

"What kind of a name is Xinck?" asked the figure next to him. Xinck turned to face her and said, "You don't get to talk to me! This is between Organization members."

"I am an Organization member. An _official_ member." she replied.

Xinck stood up in his chair and said, "How can this happen?! Am I getting kicked out?!"

"I did think about kicking you out, then I remembered all of the service you gave to the Organization and decided to let you stay."

"Wait! We all have tattoos to signify that we are apart of the Organization. You can't tell me that that isn't real!"

"We have tattoos?" asked Luxord.

"Yeah, we have tattoos." said Marluxia, "Where have you been. Mines on my hip."

"Mines on my Shoulder ." said Axel.

"Mines on my nuts." saaid Xigbar.

"Thats disgusting!" yelled Xaldin.

"I'm just kidding, it's on my chest."

"And mines right here." said Xinck. He unzipped his coat, turned around and drooped his cloak a little down his bare back to reveal a black tattoo over his left back shoulder blade, that read, 'XIV.'

"You see? I'm still Number 14!"

"No, Xinck." said Xemnas, "Xion is the Official 14th member."

"But, I-"

"From now on, you will be the 15th."

Xinck sank into his chair and zipped up his coat. "Can I be excused?"

"Go ahead." said Xemnas. A dark portal appeared around Xinck and he dissapeared.

"Wow." said Demyx, "That was awkward."

"Dismissed." said Xemnas.

_Later in the Kitchen....._

Everyone, and the new member, Xion, was sitting in the kitchen eating. Everyone was here except Xinck.

"...So anyway," said Xigbar, "I pulled the trigger and the bullet shot the entire 300 yards and hit the target right in the head."

"The target being a man and his wife?" asked Xaldin.

"Yeah, but I was only supposed to kill the man. So I killed the man and his head exploded from the bullet, showering his stunned wife with blood. She was so scared and sad, then she started screaming, 'Take me too! Take me too! Kill me!'. It was funny because I heared her screaming from all 300 yards , then I whispered, 'No. no, you live with it.' Good times, good times..."

Xion was sitting next to Roxas eating queitly. She had taken off her hood, revealing black hair, and ble eyes. Then Axel spoke,

"Roxas, have you seen Xinck?"

"Not since this mornings' meeting. Why?"

"Maybe we should go check on him."

"Allright. Fine. You wanna come, Xion?"

"Sure."

Axel, Roxas and Xion left the table and teleported from the kitchen. They re-appeared in front of the door that was marked 'XIV', but now, the 'XIV' had an 'X' marked through it and now had a tiny sticky note that read 'Fifteenth'.

Roxas knocked on the door. Nothing happened. He knocked again and said, "Xinck? Are you in there?"

This time, Axel knocked and sayed, "Are you awake? Off you ass and on your feet, this ain't a time to beat your meat!"

Nothing happened.

This time Xion came up, picked a hair pin out of her hair and started to pick the lock. Then the door opened.

"See? All it takes is a womans touch." And they proceeded to walk in.

(A/N; Its so hard writing about a character you don't know anything about.)

No one had ever been inside Xincks room before. The inside was as huge as The Castle's foyer. There were two levels in the room. The bottom floor was mostly bare with geometric blaack and white designs. At the very front of the roomwere twin staircases that curved towards the floor. The lead to the top section of the room, that mostly went along the sides of the walls and up above the stairs, where a large circular platform rested, was a large rectangular black-covered bed, a TV, and a lamp. And up above the huge bed was a huge square sky-window that had a perfect view of the sky.

"What the fuck?! Why is his room bigger than mine?!" yelled Roxas.

"Look!" yelled Xion, pointing in the corner of the second level. They ran up the stairs and saw Xinck hanging from the ceiling with a noose around his neck.

"Is he...dead?" asked Xion.

"I don't know. Poke him." said Axel.

Roxas found a stick and started to poke the possibly dead Xinck. Nothing happened.

"Harder!" said Axel. Roxas poke Xinck, hard, in the eye and Xinck started to stir.

"What! What?! Oh- I'm still alive." he said depressingly.

"Xinck, why were you trying to kill yourself?" asked Roxas

"I've got nothing to live for. _She_ took everything from me!"

"Hey. It's not my fault. Besides, your stll in the organization. You're fifteen now.

"But I've gotten so use to Fourteen. And no one want's to be Fifteen, not even the Number Fifteen.!" yelled Xinck.

"How long have you been up there?" asked Axel.

"I've been up here for 6 hours. After I relized that it wasn't working, I took a nap."

"Come on, let's get him down." said Axel. A ball of fire appeared in his hands. He threw it at the rope above Xinck. It instantly burned away, and Xinck fell to the Floor.

"No! Leave me to Die!" he yelled as they started to drag him out of the room.

_In the Kitchen...._

Axel, Roxas, and Xion dragged Xinck into the kitchen, and sat him down next to Zexion.

"Wow. You look like hell." Zexion said.

"Hell? Just another name for the endless abyss that is my soul. Please pass the peas of Despair."

"You Emo." said Zexion, passing Xinck the peas. Xinck looked at the bowl of peas and said, "The peas of Despair. We have much in common, we are both shunned by others like us. None of the other vegetables respect us, but look down on us. We are nothing but spheres of hate, madness, and destruction."

"Xinck are you going to eat the peas or not?" asked Xemnas.

"Xemnas, you're a squash!" Xinck yelled.

"A what?"

"A squash. You roll on us peas. You builed us up just to knock us down, and replace us with..." Xinck looked at Xion, "...Celery!"

"Xinck, calm down. Eat your food." said Roxas.

"And you, Roxas, are a tomato!"

"What?"

"People think your a vegetable, but your really a Fruit!"

"Xinck, settle down." said Saix.

"Silence! You blue-haired Lettuce! Give me that knife!" Xinck dived for a knife sitting innocently on the table. He grabbed the knife and started to run for the corner. He kneeled on the floor, faced the others and held the knife over his wrist, "I'll do it!"

"Xinck, what are you doing?" asked Xigbar.

"I'll do it!"

Xigbar scoffed loudly, "No, you won't."

"I will!" He held the knife closer.

"You're all talk! If you're gonna do it, then do it!"

Xinck looked at Xigbar, then at the knife, back at Xigbar, who looked more than confident that Xinck wouldn't do it. The Xinck looked at the others who merely shook their heads in disapproval. Xinck let go of the knife and it clattered to the floor. He stood back up, wiped his hands over the fron of his coat then lowered his head, "I'll behave."

Later, after Xinck's Breakdown, Xemnas ordered Him, Axel, Roxas and Xion on a mission in Twilight Town. It's a simple mission, they had to locate a DarkSide Heartless and Kill it. Simple.

A dark portal opened up at the train station and four figures walked out with their hoods up.

"Okay," said Axel, "The missions pretty simple. We just have to find the Heartless and-"

Out of Nowhere a huge Darkside Heartless appeared in front of them and prepared to attack. "Hey! Look, we found it." Xinck said pointing at the Heartless, "How are you gonna handle this, Xion?"

"Watch and learn." she said, summoning a Keyblade.

"Oh! And she has a Keyblade?! They just give these things out, don't they? Xinck summoned his swords and He and Xion leapt at the Heartless, striking and slashing at it. Xinck prepared to jump at the Darksides head, when it reached up with it's opened hand and swatted Xinck back to the ground, but Xion was still going. She fell back to the ground and started to run towards the Darkside. "No you don't!" said Xinck. His glove started to glow jet-black and he placed it flat on the floor. Xion was about to jump into the air when a small black portal appeared at her feet and a dark hand emerged and grabbed at her ankle, holding her in place.

"What the-?"

Xinck jumped over Xion and yelled, "Loser-face!"

Xinck prepared to attack the Heartless again, but then The Darkside leaned back then punched toward Xinck. It's fist made contact with Xinck, thowing him against the wall and knocked him unconscious.

"Okay. They're useless. Let's go." said Axel. Him and Roxas charged with their weapons drawn. The Darkside punched toward the grown once again, this time it's hand stuck and a dark portal swirled around it's wrist as Shadows appeared. Axel ran up I'ts hand and up to his head. Axel attacked and his flaming chakrams were slicing into the head of The Heartless.

Roxas had taken out the Shadows that appeared and was now attacking The Darksides arm with his Keyblades. His Keyblades were shooting around him and Light was zooming and cutting away at the Darkside. Eventually The Heartless had enough and died, leaving a small Heart floating towrds the sky.

Roxas walked over to Xion, who was still on the floor with her ankle caught in the grasp of a dark hand. He grabbed the hand and it glowed with Light, immediately dispersing the dark hand. Xion instantly sat up, walked over to Xinck and started to kick him awake.

"Hey! What was that?!" she yelled.

"What do you mean?"

"You made that hand keep me down! I could have won!."

"I don't remember that." he said with Shifty eyes, "But I do remember you stealing my number!"

Xinck and Xion continued to fight and bicker back and forth, back and forth. Even after the mission they continued to argue everyway they went. For 3 days straight they continued yelling at each other until, one day at breakfast....

"You're just jealous, because I can remember who I was before! You can't!" yelled Xinck.

"What does that have to do with anything?! Besides, I bet my past life was a lot better than yours!"

"Aaargh! Dammit, Xion, let go my Eggos!" yelled Xinck

"They were here on the table, which means they're for everyone! Don't be greedy!"

Xemnas could not take it anymore, so he stood up and yelled, "SHUT THE HELL UP, CHILDREN!"

Xinck and Xion quieted down and listened.

"I have had enough of listening to you two fight and bicker! I can't get any sleep! Now, I am ordering you two to be friends and get along or I'll turn you all into Dusks! Now, Function! Function, damn you!"

Xion and Xinck looked at each other, then looked away. Then Xion spoke up.

"Hey, Xinck, don't you hate how bossy Xemnas is?" she said with a smile.

Xinck chuckled, "Yeah. Haha. And don't you hate those long winded and boring speeches he gives?"

"Yeah! He's like, 'We must blah, blah, blah! To obtain blah blah blah! My hair defies gravity itself, blah blah blah!"

Xinck and Xion laughed, then were joined by Axel, Roxas, Xigbar, Demyx, Vexen, Luxord, Larxene and Marluxia.

"Oh, those _are_ his mannerisms!Hahaha!" said Luxord.

Xinck ruffled his hair so that it looked like Xemnas's and stood up on the table. He started doing hand swoops like Xemnas when he speaks, "Yessss..Kingdom..Heartsss...Shine..your..pale..light..on..this..empty..realm..."

Now everyone was laughing, except Xemnas and Saix. Saix wanted to laugh except Xemnas get shooting glares at him anytime he chuckled.

"Yessss...share..your..power..with...all..Nobodiessss!"

Xemnas stood up and everyone fell silent. He got up and walked out of the room, muttering, "You're all a bunch of Judases."

Later, Axel, Roxas, Xion and Xinck went back to Twilight Town(they had to drag Xinck. He didn't want to go) They sat on top of the Clock Tower and ate ice Cream.

"Aaaah! Salty, Salty! No..wait..Sweet. It's Sweet." Xinck said, eating the ice cream like a child.

"So, Xion," said Roxas, "You really don't remember who you were?"

"No. I just don't remember."

"Me neither."

"What? You don't remember anything?" she asked

"No. I just remember waking up in Twilight Town. Then Xemnas found me."

"Xemnas. What a joke." said Axel, "He's not so great. And I bet Saix thinks the Sun shines out his ass."

Everyone laughed.

"Ooh. I got one," said Xinck, "Saix thinks that Xemnas's shit smells like Spring Daises and Cinnamon."

"I guess It's safe to assume you guys don't care for Xemnas." said Xion.

"No." said Roxas.

"Nope." said Xinck

"Hell no." said Axel.

"All he does," said Roxas, "Is send us on these pointless missions to kill Heartless, or beings with powerful Hearts. He'll even make us go on these long missions that can last for weeks. Just for Hearts."

"Mmm. Well, while he's looking for Hearts, I'll be looking for something as well." said Xion.

"And what will you be looking for, exactly?" asked Xinck.

Xion just looked at the setting sun.

Xion's Time in the Organization would be short and due to her Connection to Sora and Roxas, no one will remember her when She disappears after fighting Roxas. Roxas did not leave the Organization and would be sent on a Mission in Twilight Town, while Xion, after trying to run away from the Organization(again) is apprehended by Axel, and later Xemnas. The Superior, eager to bring about the full fruition of Kingdom Hearts, would quicken the purpose of Xion and have her fight and absorb Roxas, to fully become Sora(He did this in case of Marluxia's treachery would cause problems at Castle Oblivion). Roxas's Mission was actually phony, meant only for Xion to absorb him, but Roxas, unfortunately, defeated Xion and absorbed her and Sora's memories instead. But because of who Xion was, what she was, The memory of herself quickly slipped from Roxas's mind, so he forgot everything about her and went back to The Castle. Axel and Xinck, also having memories of Her, also forgot her. The only people who remember Xion are Xemnas, Saix, Xaldin, Xigbar, and Vexen. There was no arguement between Roxas, Axel and Xinck concerning the Existence of Sora or Xion.

Namine, still being held by the Organization in Castle Oblivion, will talked to Xion before Sora would fall asleep and told her about what would happen to her. Namine already knew because she could tell that Xion was made from Sora's stolen memories. As such, Namine will not tell Sora about Her. Namine, because she can manipulate Sora's memories, will also be able to remember Xion's existence and will later be Riku's driving force for finding Roxas.

The Events of 358/2 Days were completely Forgotten.

* * *

Kind of Short i know, but i had to do something. okay now go to the left and click the button that says Review. Don't ask why, just do it and Review! Review! Review! Review! Review!


	11. Crush My Battle Opponents Balls Part 1

Next Chapter is up, Its really Long and is Part One of Two, Enjoy! and Review

"Rape me once, shame on you. Rape me twice, shame on me. You'll thank me when you've not been raped a third time." - Reno 911!

I don't own anything...yet. Enjoy!

* * *

**CRUSH MY BATTLE OPPONENTS BALLS-PART 1: LET'S FIGHTING LOVE**

Xemnas was laying flat on his back on top of his desk in his office. He was really bored. He was supposed to be sending a team to Castle Oblivion in a few days,, but in the meantime he had nothing to do. He was caught up with all his paperwork, Kingdom Hearts was doing fine, and he was so bored.

Xemnas sighed loudly enough that Saix could here him from the other side of the room. Saix payed him no attention so Xemnas sighed again. "Saix, I'm bored!"

"Is there anything you would like me to do Superior?"

"Mmm" Xemnas thought about it, "Dance."

"Dance? Alright then." He said, moving to the center of the room. He kept his hands to his sides and kicked up his legs while he made noises with his mouth, "Do-do-do-do-do-Can't touch this."

"Saix, you can't dance!"

"My apologies, Superior."

"You're boring!"

"I apologies once again, Superior."

"Stop Apologizing! I need something, something to do! Something-!" Xemnas got an idea. He stood up from his desk and looked at Saix.

"Yes, Superior?"

"Fight me!"

"What?"

Xemnas dashed at Saix and his Aerial Blades extended from his hands. Saix called his Claymore and was able to block Xemnas's attack. They stood in place, weapons blocking each other as Xemnas put more pressure on Saix. He was starting to bend from the strain until he said, "Xemnas! Stop!" Xemnas continued to push on Saix until he noticed that Saix's scar was slowly growing wider, his blue hair was sparking with blue flames and his eyes were growing wider. Xemnas jumped back just in time to see Saix explode and in blue fire and charged after Xemnas.

Xemnas silently said, "Stop." and Saix immediately stopped in his tracks.

"Xemnas what are you planning?" asked Saix.

"In order to past the time, I have decided to have a Tournament between us members. Just to see who will win."

"But why?"

"Because I'm bored and it will be a good chance to see how powerful the Organization is becoming. Inform the others."

* * *

Xaldin, Xigbar and Luxord were sitting in the Lounge area, playing a card game. And because of Luxords skill with cards, they had to play the only game that He wasn't good at.

"HA! Go Fish, Bitch!" yelled Xaldin to Luxord.

Luxord growled, "Why can't we play Poker or at least War! I despise go fish!"

"Sorry, dude, It's the only game that we have the slightest chance of winning. Got any 3's?" asked Xigbar.

"No. Go Fish." said Luxord. Xigbar pulled a card from the deck and pulled out a 3.

"Yeah!You're losing, Mr. British!"

"NO! No, no, no, no!" screamed Luxord, banging his head on the table.

Suddenly the Sniper, Dragoon and Gambler nobodies appeared and walked/floated towrds their respective Leaders and they all said the same thing, _"Superiors, Lord Xemnas has decided to host a Tournament between each member. You're presence is requested in Addled Impasse."_

"A Tournament? For what purpose would we need to have a tournament?" asked Luxord.

"It's obvious. It's so Xemnas can let everyone else in the know that, next to him, I am the most powerful." said Xaldin

"Oh, please! You are so full of yourself! It's because Xemnas has finally recognized my Skillz...with a 'z'" said Xigbar.

"Mmm," said Luxord, thinking out loud, "Will said Skillz pay the Billz? One can only hope that there is a prize in store for the winner of the Tournament."

"Well, then let's go!" said Xigbar, hitting the table.

"Prepare for your ass to feel the pain....of my Lance!" said Xaldin, "I mean my weapon Lance, not my- Well, you get it."

"Then we are off, Gentlemen." Luxord said opening a portal.

* * *

In Vexen's Room.....

Vexen was in his shower, while two figures were sneaking into his room.

"Did you get it?"

"Yeah, I got it. Are you sure we should be doing this?"

"Calm down, Roxas," said Axel, "Besides he's never gonna find out we were in here."

Axel and Roxas walked over to Vexen's dresser. They opened the top drawer and started to go through it. The first thing Axel pulled out was a magazine.

"What magazine is that?" asked Roxas.

"I don't know. It's too Dark to read the title. Make a light."

Roxas held his hand over the magazine cover and a small light shown in his hand and the title of the Magazine could be seen.

"'Slutty Scientist Monthly?' dude, Vexen is a freak!" yelled Axel.

"Is someone out there?!" called Vexen from behind the door to his bathroom.

"Quick, we gotta hurry, he'll be out of the shower soon!" said Roxas.

Axel started to search all over the Dresser until he found Vexen's underware Drawer, then he pulled out a pair of Vexen's underware.

"Okay, give me the hot sauce." said Axel. Roxas reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle of 'Spicy Jalepeno Sauce'. He handed it to Axel and he Quikly doused the under in the red sauce and put it back into the drawer.

"Okay. Let's go." Axel and Roxas quickly teleported out of the room as soon as they heared Vexen turn of the water in the shower.

Vexen walked out of the bathroom with nothing but a towel on. And he immediately sniffed the air.

"Mmm. It smells like Hot Sauce. I hate hot sauce."

he walked over to the Dresser and pulled out a pair of underware and put them on. Instantly his eyes started to water and he yelled, "Aaaah! My biscuits are burning!"

Vexen pointed his hands at....that region and shot out ice and snow from his hands. He sighed with relief and sat down on his bed. Then a portal appeared and a Dusk appeared.

"_My leige,Lord Xemnas has decided to host a Tournament between each member. You're presence is requested in Addled Impasse."_

"I know Axel did this! I will have my vengence in battle!," Vexen stood up and proclaimed, "I SWEAR BY ALL THAT IS COOL! HAHAHA!"

* * *

Lexaeus, Zexion, and Larxene all got the invitation.

"Hey, Roxas, did you hear? Xemnas is hosting a Tournament." said Axel

"Yeah I heared. The Samurais told me."

"Yeah! Are you ready to kick some names and Take some Ass!?" yelled Axel, pumped up.

"I think you mean take some names and kick some ass." Roxas sighed.

"Whatever."

"Lets's go."

* * *

Marluxia heared the news and his response was just as predictable as you would expect. "A tournament? Mmm, well, I'll just have to win beautifully. And this will give me a good idea as to how powerful the rest of the Organization is, espeacially Xemnas."

"What makes you think you'll win?" asked Larxene, "I know how to fight."

"Yeah, but, I'm better."

"Says who?"

"Says me."

* * *

Xinck was also about to hear about the Tournament.

He was sitting in Namine's room, having a tea party.(Don't ask why. Xinck is....strange)

"I'm so glad that we were able to have a tea party." said Namine sipping her tea.

"Yeah. It's great. Would you like some more tea, Ms. Polly Prissy Pants?" asked Xinck handing a cup of tea to a stuffed doll.

Suddenly a white portal appeared by a door and a Reaper Nobody flipped out of the portal, landed on it's butt, got up and walked over to Xinck.

"_Superior, Lord Xemnas has- Oh my God! What are you wearing?!"_

What Xinck was wearing was a blue polka-dot dress over his black Organization coat and a blue hat to complete the illusion.

"What? I'm in character! It's perfectly normal!" yelled Xinck

Namine started to chuckle.

"Stop it!" he yelled in a surprisigly high voice.

"_Did Namine make you wear the dress?" _asked the Reaper.

"Uh...yeah...that's it." Xinck said with shifty eyes.

"No I didn't!" yelled Namine, "I didn't even say anything about a dress! You said, 'If I had a dress, then it really be like a tea party.'"

"You can't prove I said that!"

"Bet you I can." she said with a smile.

Xinck whispered, "No wonder you're barely in this story."

Xinck ripped off the dress and said, "So what does Xemnas want?"

"_Lord Xemnas has decided to host a Tournament between each member. You're presence is requested in Addled Impasse."_

"Great. Just great. He can host a Tournament but I can't get a few days of Vacation. This is bullshit."

Xinck opened a portal and left.

* * *

In Addled Impasse all of The Organization were standing against the wall, waiting for Xemnas. When he finally appeared he had a small smile over his face.

"Organization XIII. I am glad you could all join me today."

"No you're not." said Xinck.

"Yeah, well, anyway, it's good that you all could be here. In order for us to test our strength, and to make sure that the team I am sending to Castle Oblivion is strong, I have decided to let us all compete in a one-on-one tournament with ourselves, me included."

No one was surprised at this because they already knew that they were having a contest, but what they really wanted to know was...

"What do we get if we win!?" yelled Demyx.

"It's a surprise." said Xemnas.

Zexion stepped forward and asked, "How will we know whom is fighting whom?"

"With this!" Xemnas proclaimed, waving his hand and a machine began to appear high on the wall above their heads. It had a shiny black screen and a silver covering. It was basically a TV screen. "This is the Decidulator! It will determine who will fight who. Now, here are the rules; there are no rules. But when you are out, then you are out. Any Questions?"

Demyx raised his hand.

"No questions about Horse Radish."

Demyx kept his hand up.

"No questions about Popular Culture."

Demyx kept his hand up.

"No questions about how Sea Horses have babies."

Demyx put his hand down.

"Now," Xemnas continued, "Do we have any volunteers to go first?"

No one raised their hand.

"Alright then." Xemnas raised his hands and said, "Oh, Great Machine! Reveal to us our first combatants!"

The Decidulator glowed white and then two names appeared over it's screen and a voice from the machine said, in a soothing voice, _"The Graceful Assassin Vs. The Whirlwind Lancer."_

_Xaldin vs Marluxia_

Xaldin and Marluxia stood apart from each other, weapons drawn.

"Are you going to start anytime soon?" asked Marluxia, "I plan on ending this beautifully."

"Your so arrogant and vain, Marluxia. Thats going to get you killed!"Xaldin charged at Marluxia, a spear in each hand and the rest floating behind him. Xaldin swiped at Marluxia's head and he dodged and dissapeared, reapearing behind Xaldin with his Scythe drawn and struck Xaldin in the back. He yelled with pain and turned around.

"Aaah! You fug-pugly bastard!" he yelled.

"How dare you call me fug-pugly!" yelled Marluxia, "With those hideous things you call eyebrows!"

Marluxia and Xaldin continued to fight, pink slahes and light blue streaks stained the air as they exchanged blows. Xaldin stuck the head of one of his spears into the floor, he spun on it horizontally and kicked Marluxia in the stomach. He yelped and failed to notice Xaldin was glowing a pale green color and was now moving and twirling his connected lances over his head in fast motions. Marluxia was able to quickly dodge each and every lance. Xaldin stopped and threw his lances into the air and he started flying on them. His lances were growing wider as he flew, eventually forming a dragon-like machine.

"Beware the Winds of Despair!"

The Dragon shot out a huge gust of severing wind, and caught Marluxia, sending him smashing against the huge glass window in the room. When the attack was over, Xaldins lances returned to normal and Marluxia fell to the floor, bloodied.

"Are you going to give up now?" Xaldin asked.

"I guess...I'll show you my power." Marluxia huffed apathetically

"Say What?"

Marluxia dissapeared and reapeared far behind Xaldin and he said, "Bind."

Instantly, Xaldin was wrapped in dark thorns, preventing him from moving.

"What! What is this?! What are you doing?!"

Marluxia held his Scythe blade up towards his face and said, "You shoudn't concern yourself with what I'm doing. Because in a few seconds you will turn to dust and dissapear before my eyes."

Then Marluxia whispered to his Scythe Blade, "Scatter Beautifully." and instantly the blade started to disentergrate into tiny pink fragments, then they dissapeared completely, leaving nothing but the green handle.

For a while, nothing happened. Then Xaldin started to gasp, "I can see them!" Suddenly, as if on cue, Xaldin screamed and his Torso exploded in blood, and his hair flew up into the air. The effect of Marluxia's attack was so great that even the top of the Great Glass window shattered and rained down glass onto the floor. Then Xaldin fell, unconscious and Marluxia's pink blade retuned to the green handle

"Marluxia wins." said Xemnas. He walked over to Xaldin and kicked him in the ribs, "Are you still alive?"

"Y-yes... He..He Cheated." he said.

"No he couldn't have cheated. There are no rules."

"He used deadly force!"

"Why didn't you?"

Xaldin staggered up to reveal that his hair was now down and all of his clothes above his waist were completely torn off. He was bloddy and cut up as he limped back to the wall with the other members. I still say he cheated!"

"Oh, bitch and moan, bitch and moan." said Xemnas, "Who's next, Decidulator?"

The Decidulator beeped a small sound, then two names appeared on the screen, _"The Gambler of Fate Vs. The Key of Destiny"_

_Roxas vs Luxord_

"Let's give them a good show, old chap." said Luxord, shuffling his cards.

"Uh, alright. Let's go!" yelled Roxas, dashing toward Luxord. He swiped at Luxords head with Oblivion, but Luxord spun around and kicked Roxas into the air. He recovered in midair and summoned a light-blue laser to shoot down vertically at Luxord. Luxord picked a card and enlarged it, large enough that it was a shield. He blocked the laser and began running in the opposite direction.

"Trying to run?" asked Roxas falling back to the ground.

"Of course not! Take this!" Luxord shot several cards at Roxas and they caught him of guard and cut him on the shoulder. Roxas growled and dashed at Luxord, a trail of Light streaking behind him. He caught Luxord of guard and struck him several times in the stomach with his Keyblades. Luxord fell to the ground.

"_Okay, time to cheat!"_ he thought. Luxord shuffled his cards and said, "A challenge is it?"

"Yes!" Roxas called out, "I'm feeling lucky!"

Instantly, four cards that kept changing their faces appeared and Luxord asked, "Do you know the rules?"

"Oh, wait! I forgot the rules!"

"Thats what I thought! Now you'll pay the price!" Luxord snapped his fingers and instantly Roxas was turned into a die. He started hopping away while Luxord and the others started Laughing.

"HaHaha! I thought you would do better than this, Roxas?" said Luxord. He run up to the Roxas die and kicked it several times. Eventually Roxas turned back and he was mad.

"No hard feelings, right, Roxas? It was all fun and games!" said Luxord.

"Fine. I'll show you fun and games!" Roxas shot to the edge of the room and pointed his Oathkeeper Keyblade downward and a small white fire appeared. He shot around Luxord 3 more times and did the exact same thing until there were four white flames erupting from the floor, forming a square.

"What-what are you doing?!" asked Luxord in a panic.

"This." Roxas struck his Oathkeeper on the floor and four white streaks shot out from the flames, onto the floor and connected under Luxord. Then more white streaks were made and connected each flame until a box with a white outline was formed trapping Luxord inside.

"You might want to put these on." said Axel, handing Xinck a pair of black sunglasses and putting on a pair of his own.

"Hey, can I have a pair?" asked Demyx.

"Nope." said Axel.

"Why not?!"

"You're not cool enough." said Axel

Suddenly the white box was enveloped in a blinding white, hiding Luxord from view. Then the light cleared and Luxord was laying limply on the floor.

"Yay! I win!" yelled Roxas, but the only ones who clapped for him were Axel and Xinck.

"Roxas wins." said Xemnas, walking over to Luxord. Luxord was face down when he got to him. Xemnas pulled him over and yelled, "Oh, God! Roxas, you devastated him!"

Luxord started to get up and face Xemnas, "What? Whats going on-Aaah! It hurts! What the bloody hell did he do to me?!"

Luxord grabbed a piece of glass that had fallen from the Marluxia vs Xaldin Battle and looked into it. His skin was now completely red from sun-burn.

"Aaah! My skin it hurts! The little bastard gave me sun-burn!"

"Just go sit on the wall with the others." said Xemnas. Luxord walked over to the wall and stood next to Xigbar.

"How is it?" he asked.

"It hurts when I talk." Luxord said, straining his face.

"Decidulator, who is next to fight?!" yelled Xemnas.

The Decidulator beeped once more and two more names appeared,_ "The Fallen Deviant Vs. The Freeshooter."_

_Xinck vs. Xigbar_

"Alright, let's do it!" yelled Xigbar, loading his guns.

"Bring it, old man."

"Hey, I'm not just any old dude! Wow, deja vu! It feels like I said that before."

"Whatever." Xinck started to charge toward Xigbar and Xigbar did the same. At the last second Xigbar jumped into the air and teleported behind Xinck and fired at him. Xinck got hit several times in the back and Xigbar started floating in the air. He trusted both his guns into tiny portals and they reapeared above Xinck. He held up his hand and a dark portal appeared between his head and the bullets. The bullets fell into the potal and reapeared behind Xigbar. Xigbar turned around just in time to dodge the bullets.

"Clever little sneak!" Xigbar turned back around to see Xinck was gone. "Where'd he go! Where'd he go?!"

"Surprise!" Xinck called out from above Xigbar, bring his sword down on Xigbar, but he was able to block the blade by crossing his guns in an 'X' shape. Xinck continued to push down and the force was great enough to push Xigbar from the air and back to the ground.

"You're good!" said Xigbar.

"You're not bad either!"

Xigbar dissapeared from his and Xinck's stalemate. He reapeared above Xinck, ready to strike, but Xinck thrusted his sword into the air and the blade seperated with a chain. Xigbars outstretched arm, that was ready to shoot, was entangled by Xinck's chain. He pulled on the chain and brought Xigbar down to his level and he started to spin around in a circle. Xigbar was being swung around in a circle around Xinck, then he felt the chain around his arm loosening then it was gone and it retracted back to Xinck's sword handle as Xigbar flew into a wall.

"Damn!" Xigbar growled as he saw Xinck right in front of him. Xinck unloaded a combo on Xigbar, his chains extending and retracting as he attacked. Xigbar raised his foot and kicked Xinck in the stomach, stoping the attack. Then he teleported to the center of the area.

"Alright then, you've done good so far. But it's over." he called out. He started to glow with a white outline, then he yelled out, "Merc's Revenge!" He spun around on his feet, shooting bullets in every direction he went, several of the bullets hit Xinck and when he tried to recover, he noticed Xigbar was constantly teleporting across the field, shooting out a barrage of bullets as he went. Xinck was able to jump, and duck, and evade some of them, then he would get hit by the rest of them.

Xigbar teleported right above Xinck, still glowing and said, "Dance, bitch!" he flipped into the air and thrusted his guns into portals and hundreds of bullets came shooting out of portals and Xinck was caught in the barrage of bullets.

When it was over, he staggered a little, but he did'nt fall over. Xigbar teleported down to the ground and said, "I've noticed something."

"What?" Xinck huffed.

"You've got good speed, and excellent strength and offense, but it's your defense that sucks."

"Oh, thanks for the tip. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Why did you name your attack?"

"What? Merc's Revenge? Oh, yeah I started naming my moves. You don't name yours?"

"No, but maybe I should start. Lets go!"

"Alright!" Xigbar called out. He teleported far away from Xinck and reapeared on a small plat form. He ducked down and combined his guns so that they formed a sniper rifle. He aimed at Xinck and yelled, "Gotcha now! Critical Snipe!"

He shot out only a few bullets, but Xinck could tell that they would be fatal. He dodged each bullet and ran close to the ledge, too close for Xigbar to get a clear shot. Xinck jumped out and started to swing his swords left and right, extending them with their chains as he went. Then he shot them toward Xigbars ledge. The blades shot at the Ledge and it exploded and Xigbar started to fall as Xinck jumped back to avoid the debris.

As Xigbar fell he saw Xinck was wide open. "Get this!" he yelled. He shot one of his guns into a portal and it was going to reapear right behind Xinck. But as soon as the portal appeared and the gun was coming out of it, Xinck turned around and grabbed Xigbar arm through the portal.

"What?!"

Xigbar was stuck in midair with his arm in a portal and Xinck was keeping him up. He couldn't teleport as long as Xinck was holding onto his arm

"Leggo!"

"No!" Xinck yelled back, about to strike Xigbar with his free hand sword.

Xigbar started to growl, "Sto-o-o-o-p!" Instantly, a blinding blue and white light enveloped the area. When the light cleared, Xinck saw that the entire field was now sideways and the floor was now vertical, but no one fell.

"Wow. Trippy." he said, and he noticed that Xigbars arm was gone from his grip.

"I think I'm gonna get sick!" yelled Demyx from the sidelines.

"Well, well, well." look at this." said Xigbar from the ceiling, which would now be the other wall, "Take this!" he yelled and Thousands of portals appeared all around him and out shot a thousand bullets from each portal and they were all headed towards Xinck.

"Damn it!" he growled. He knew he couldn't avoid this. His made his hand glow black and he trusted it to the ground/ wall. The entire floor went black and it appreared as if it were a huge dark portal. From the Darkness of the floor Thousands and Thousands of black chains shot out from the dark floor. The chains destroyed the Thousands of bullets as the made contact and made their way toward Xigbar.

"Uh-uh."

The chains wrapped around Xigbar, his arms, his legs, his torso and neck and head. He was completely ensnared in the chains. Then the chains started to retract back into the Darkness, pulling Xigbar with them. When he was close enough, the Darkness on the floor dissapeared and left only the chains attached to Xigbar as he hit the floor/wall with a thump.

"Xinck Wins." called Xemnas. He flew over to Xigbar and said, "Xinck take off the chains and Xigbar undo your spell."

After Xigbar was free and The room was back to normal, everyone waited for the next fight. "The _"Chilly Academic Vs. The Flurry of Dancing Flames."_

_Axel vs Vexen_

Axel and Vexen stood several feet away from each other, weapons at the ready.

"Finally! I shall have my vengence!" yelled Vexen.

"What are you talking about?" asked Axel.

"I know it was you that put taco sauce in my underware."

"Oh, yeah! That, I remember." Axel said, chuckling.

"In my day, people would be punished for such an act! You would'hv been stoned! With big rocks!"

"Stoned? So, if someone did something wrong, you get high?"

"No. the Today definition of stoned means getting high, but in my days, it meant getting blugened to death with big fucking rocks!"

"Your point?"

"My point is that I am going to start off strong and kill you! Come to me, Ice blade!" Vexen trusted his shield point into the air and ice and snow shot up from the ground and started to form an icy spike on the edge of his shiled. He flew towrd Axel and slashed for his head, but he ducked. Vexen spun around and swiped again, only to miss. Vexen leaped into the air and yelled,

"Away, you go!" He flew down and smashed his ice sword right next to Axel. He missed, but the icy shockwave caught AxeL, but he only staggered.

"Dammit, Old man," Axel yelled and dashed towards Vexen an slashed at Vexens back with his Chakrams. Vexen staggered, but recovered and Axel jumped back and tossed his Chakrams at Vexen. He blocked with his shield and Chuckled.

"You're weak! Is this all the strenght that the Flurry of Dancing Flames posseses? It's laughable! I think I will laugh. He I go. Ha ha ha ha ha!"

"Then try this." Axel said, and he dissapeared into a plume of fire.

"Clever trick. But I don't need to see you, when you're buried!" he yelled, once again trusting his shiled into the air and an Ice Beam shot out from the tip. The beam hit the ceiling of the room and huge icicles formed and started to fall towards the ground.

Axel reapeared from a portal of fire in midair and junped towards the ground. He hit it and a fire shockwave erupted outward and damaged Vexen.

Vexen growled, "Freeze in Hell, Axel!" He swiped his shield in the air and huge ice pikes shot out towards Axel. Axel stomped his foot forward and placed his hands on the ground. He threw his hands upward and a huge wall of fire erupted from the ground, blocking Him from Vexn's spikes.

On the side lines Roxas, Demyx and Xinck watched as Vexen and Axel exchanged attacks, fire and ice.

"This is almost epic." said Roxas.

"We need epic music." said Xinck.

"I know the perfect song!" said Demyx,"Here we go. You two can be my back up singers."

"Uh, No." said Roxas.

Demyx summoned his Sitar and started to play and he sang, "I have a wonderful penis. Hair on my balls. Is that the sound of sarubobo? No! Ninjas are here Hey hey let's go, getting in a fight The important thing is to protect my balls I am a badass, So, Let's fighting love! Let's fighting love! This song is a little stupid It's incomprehensible The English language is absurd But that's okay, we do it all the time! Hey hey let's go, getting in a fight! The important thing is to protect my balls I am a badass, so let's fighting Let's fighting love! Let's fighting love!"

Demyx finished his song, and Roxas and Xinck looked at him in Dismay.

"Dude, what the hell was that!" yelled Xinck.

"That's so inappropriate!" yelled Roxas.

"Well, it sounds better in Japanese." Demyx said.

"I am ashamed of you, Demyx!" said Xinck.

"Xinck, you can't talk, I've seen you slaughter orphans." said Demyx.

"Touche'" said Xinck.

Back in the fight, Axel and Vexen were bloodied and Beaten. Their clothes were battle damaged and there were random fires and ice spikes all over the area. Vexen had burn marks on his face and Axel had Frozen dead skin on his shoulders. But he wasn't done yet.

Axel jumped into the air and at the bottom of his shoes, fire shot out and he flew towards Vexen. Vexen rolled out of the way as Axel passed by, but he spun around in midair and shot back and grabbed Vexen by the arms and started carrying him into the air.

"What the hell!? Let me go!" Vexen yelled.

"Okay!"

Axel had flown high into the air, high enough tha he dropped Vexen. Vexen yelled and screamed as he fell from the air, then he hit the ground and landed on his feet. His legs shook a little, but he did not fall over.

"Huh. So that's why they call me the Catman." he said.

"Dammit!" said Axel, still in the air. He held up his hand and a bal of fire appeared. He threw it at Vexen, but he dodged out of the way.

"You throw like a bitch, Axel!" Vexen yelled from the ground.

"Die, old man!" Axel started to throw huge and powerful fireballs at Vexen and Vexen was either dodging them or throwing ice to cancel them out.

Vexen had tired Axel out from his constant attacks. Vexen was chuckling maniacally and Axel was getting pissed. He growled and yelled out, "Burn, Baby!" his hands erupted in fire and he swiped them across his body and his entire being was engulfed in flames. He fired himself downward straight at Vexen, like a meteor falling from the sky. And as he fell, the flames arround him got bigger and hotter.

"Ah, crap." said Vexen. He tried to run, but Axel's attack was too big. He crashed directly in front of Vexen, blasting him into the wall. He hit head first and fell to his knee. When he got up, he saw Axel standing in a flaming crater. Parts of his cloak had been completely burned off and the remains were slowly drifting on his waist. Starting from both sides of his chest and trailing to his back was a small trail of fire. Vexen knew that Axel was about to do something bad.

"Whew! Is it just me or is it getting kind of hot in here?" said Marluxia, fanning himself.

"Yeah, Axel's is hot, isn't he?" said Larxene.

"I hope you mean the Temperature."

"Nope." she said with a smile.

"This is getting good." said Xemnas.

"Superior, aren't you worried about Axel killing Vexen?" asked Saix.

"I'll stop it before Axel does any permanent damage."

Axel started to move out of the crater and he spoke while he walked, "I didn't think I would end up using this against you."

"Using what? That meteor thing didn't even phase me!" said Vexen.

"No, not that. This. " Axel swiped a fiery hand above his head and a small, translucent fire crown appeared and burned ove his head.

"What...what is that?"

"It's a new move a developed a few days ago. Its a combination of Martial Arts and Pyrokinesis. I call it Flame Fu."

"Flaming Fool?!" shouted Roxas from the sidelines.

"No! Flame Fu! Flame Fu!"

"Well, speak up! We can barely hear you over hear!"

"Flaming Fool would have been funnier." said Xinck.

Axel got into a fighing stance and Vexen had finally noticed that his Chakrams had dissapeared. _"Well, of course he can control his element without his chakrams easier than others."_ he thought, _"Dammit, he just might beat me._"

"All things of this World, turn to Ashes." said Axel.

"What?" asked Vexen.

"Nothing. I just thought it was something cool to say before I kill someone."

"We'll see who kills who."

Axel flew at Vexen with a huge ball of fire forming in his hand, but Vexen had enough time to react. He held up the tip of his shield and shot out an ice beam. Axel fired his fireball and it meat Vexen's ice beam, but the fire was too powerful and easily passed through the ice. The fire meet Vexens shield and Exploded, sending Vexen into the air. Axel made his way up to Vexen and punched a fiery hand into Vexen's stomach. Vexen gagged and fell back down, he recovered quicklyjust to see Axel front flip in midair several times, fire gathering at his feet as he spun. He stopped spinning and shot out the fire from his feet at Vexen. Vexen blocked with his shield and jumped out of the way was Axel landed back on the ground. He made his way to Vexen and quickly started to unleash a series of swift punches and kicks that Vexen had trouble keeping up with.

"_Damn, he's to fast! I can't keep up! But I have more than one trick up my sleeve."_ he thought.

Vexen fell to the ground and Axel stood over him with his fist close to Vexens face, ready to fire another shot.

"Thats it, you're done." said Axel, "You've got nothing left."

"I woudn't say that." said Vexen slowly reaching into his pocket.

"Oh, yeah? What else you got?"

"Pocket Sand!" Vexen threw sand from his pocket into Axel's eyes and he staggered backwards yelling, "Dammit, you son of a bitch! Thats cheating!"

"There are no rules! And you left yourself wide open!" Vexen pointed his ice beam at Axel and fired, sending Axel crashing into a wall and freezing his torso to the wall.

"HaHA! I'm winning! Time to end this!" he said making his way to Axel.

Axel started to smoke and the ice around him quickly melted. "No. I'm gonna finish this."

Axel thrusted his fists downward and huge flames shot out of his fists and feet, propelling him, like a rocket, to Vexen at super high speeds. He leapt into the air, flipped and brought his foot down on Vexens head. Then, Axel grabbed Vexen's arm and tossed him high into the air. Axel fell to the floor, right below Vexen. He got into a stance and a huge pillar of fire shot out from Axel and towards Vexen. Vexen turned, just in time, to see the huge wall of fire coming at him.

"Oh, dear."

The huge fire consumed Vexen and he started to fall from the air, still consumed in flame like a meteor. He hit the ground and the fires dispersed. Vexen got up and his skin was completely charred.

"Axel wins." said Xemnas.

"No!" yelled Vexen, "My Vengence! It was supposed to be mine!" he got up and ran to Xemnas

"You have to let me fight him again! I can beat him!"

"Vexen, you are taking this too seriously. This is mostly supposed to be a sparring match to test our skills. Let it go."

"But!-"

"Let it go."

Vexen growled, "Fine. Now if you excuse me, I have to go chip off the dead skin." He turned around and teleported out of the room.

"I wonder if he noticed that his hair was on fire?" said Zexion.

"Probably not," said Lexaeus, "He's such a hot-head, I'm surpried his element isn't fire. Get it? I said he was a hot-head and his hair is on fire."

"I get it, Lexaeus."

"Okay, I was just making sure, because you didn't laugh."

"I didn't laugh because it wasn't funny."

"Oh. Well, I get credit for trying right? I mean, I have barely said anything in this story."

"Maybe because, you're just not funny."

"Well, I tried my best!" yelled Lexaeus.

"Your best is an Idiot." said Zexion.

"Alright, enough of your idiocy." said Xemnas, "Let us find out who is next, Decidulator."

The machine beeped again and Two names appeared on the screen, _" The Melodius Nocturne Vs The Cloaked Schemer"_

_Demyx vs Zexion_

"Ready to lose to my beats and dance till your feet bleed?" asked Demyx, summoning his sitar.

"Oh? You perceive that you can best me? I'll show you how my arcane brilliance easily thrashes your melodic insignifigance." said Zexion, summoning his Lexicon.

"....I have no idea what any of those words mean."

"It figures."

Demyx strummed his sitar and Zexion swiped at his book and they both started to charge at each other....

* * *

Well this chapter is so long that i had to split it into two chapters. I know it wasn't that funny, but i wanted to put someting up. So Review! Review Review Review!


	12. Crush My Battle Opponents Balls Part 2

Okay Part 2 is here and It turns out there will be a part 3. Enjoy!

READ, ENJOY and REVIEW!!

* * *

**CRUSH MY BATTLE OPPONENTS BALLS-PART 2: FINALLY! THE FINAL ENDIING OF FINALITY....FINALLY...(not really)**

......Demyx hit the ground head first, beaten and covered in wounds and blood. His sitar was broken and the entire arena was soked with water. Zexion, on the other hand was a lot better. His cloak was ripped in a few places, but other than that he was fine.

He walked over to Demyx's body and started to do the Cabbage patch, "Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Who is bad? Who is bad? I am. Yes. Indeed."

"But..but how?" huffed Demyx.

"Don't you remember? You covered the entire area with water and slipped. You hit your head and broke your sitar."

"Zexion wins." said Xemnas. Before he could speak again, Xinck came running onto the field and kicked Demyx several times in the ribs.

"Thats for throwing me into oncoming traffic a few chapters ago! Thought I forgot didn't you?!" Xinck ran back to the Sidelines and Roxas asked,

"Feel better?"

"...A little."

"Alright," said Xemnas, waving his hand and the area cleared itself of all debris and Demyx and Zexion walked back to the sidelines, "Decidulator, who is next to fight?"

The Decidulator beeped and two names appeared,_ "The Graceful Assassin Vs. The Superior"_

Everyone gasped. Everyone except Marluxia, who merely chuckled and thought,_ "Finally. Let us see how powerful he really is."_

_Xemnas vs Marluxia_

Marluxia, with his scythe drawn, cautiously watched Xemnas across the field. Xemnas had a small smirk on his face, as if he knew something.

"_Does he know my plans? Or does he just suspect something?"_ Marluxia thought.

"I won't go easy on you, Number XI" said Xemnas, his hands crackling with blue energy.

"Of course I woudn't expect you to." he replied.

"Then shall we begin?"

"Let's"

They waited a few more seconds, the tension building with every second. Then Marluxia started, he dashed at super human speed to Xemnas and raised his Scythe and with a powerful swing he brung his Scythe down towards Xemnas.

"Guard." Xemnas said silently without so much of a flinch and a blue translucent shield appeared between Xemnas and Marluxia, blocking the attack. Elecricity shot out from the shield and up to the Scythe and electrocuted Marluxia.

"Aaaah!" Marluxia yelled and jumped back in pain, _"All that power in just a shield?!"_

Xemnas was picking in his ear with his pinkie finger, "Oh? Have we started?"

Marluxia growled he lunged at Xemnas and unloaded attack after attack after attack at super human speed, and Xemnas was blocking each attack with his barehands!

"_Impossible!,"_ thought Marluxia, _"Okay, stop holding back!"_

Then, Xemnas noticed an attack headed towards his legs. He quickly, almost instantly, leaped horizontally into the air, dodging the attack. Then he landed on his feet far from Marluxia.

Marluxia chuckled, "So, you recognize an attack with enough force to kill you? Interesting."

"Well, since you now know that, I guess there is no point in me holding back."

Xemnas and Marluxia charged at each other, Xemnas's red Aerial Blades extended and Marluxia jumped into the air to avoid Xemnas's strike. He armed and hit Xemnas in the back with his scythe. Xemnas didn't stagger, but he spun around, his arms tucked in and two orbs of energy in his palms.

"Begone!" he unleashed the orbs from his hands and they flew off in different directions and exploded near Marluxia, throwing him back to the ground. He quickly recovered and slashed his Scythe in the air, sending a pink wave of energy at Xemnas. Xemnas dissapeared from the path of the attack and reappeared behind Marluxia, but the Pink wave made it all the way towards the sidelines and hit Luxord in the face.

"AAAAHHH! My sunburn! Damn it all to puss-spewing blood-gutted Hell!" Luxord yelled, holding his face.

Xemnas struck Marluxia in the back several times. Marluxia quickly tuned and blocked the rest of the attack. Xemnas's blade and Marluxia's blade and continued to press, putting more pressue on Marluxia, who was struggling. Marluxia pushed off from Xemnas and twirled his Scythe around. The he threw the blade down to the ground and it sunk deep and glowed dark pink.

"Grow and bind." he said. A crack in the floor appeared and made it's way to Xemnas. The floor opened up under his feet and vines shot up from the ground and consumed Xemnas. Xemnas didn't seem fazed and let himself be consumed until the vines completley obscuring him from view.

"You see? I have made quick work of our Superior." said Marluxia. He started to walk back to the sidelines, when an electric-blue laser shot out from the vines and more lasers shot out, hundres of lasers that easily destroy all of the Vines. Xemnas emerged from the vines and he was now enveloped in a clear blue orb and lasers were shooting out from the orb. One laser shot out towards Marluxia, he turned around and blocked with his scythe just in time.

"Dammit! How'd he get out!?"

Xemnas walked towards Marluxia without so much as a scratch. "Wow. Is that it? Really? I mean, come on, man! Come on!" he said.

"Then try this!" Marluxia held up his blade towards his face and whispered, "Scatter Beautifully."

Instantly, the blade started to dissapear until it had completley vanished from sight, leaving only the long green handle.

"Pretty. But not effective." Xemnas swiped his hand across the air and instantly he was surrounded by thousands of tiny Cherry Blossom petals floating in midair. He was able to stop Marluxia's attack that had taken out Xaldin.

"I could have done that if I wanted to! I just didn't!" yelled Xaldin from the sidelines

"How?...Impossibe!" yelled Marluxia.

"I saw you use it against Xaldin and quickly realized how it worked. These Cherry Blossoms act as the shattered remants of the blade of your Scythe and when they scatter, they move too fast for anyone to see. And if you can't see the attack, then all you can do is wait for the blades to cut you up from the inside out and pass through you."

Marluxia called back the petals and his Scythe blade reformed.

Marluxia charged for Xemnas and quickly started to attack again, but Xemnas was too fast. Everytime Marluxia aimed for his head, he would duck, anytime he aimed for his torso, he would jump. Surprisingly, what Xemnas was thinking was, _"It's nice to get a good workout."_

Marluxia jabbed his Scythe toward Xemnas's Stomach and he jumped high enough to land exactly on the tip of the Scythe. This caught Marluxia off guard as he gazed up at Xemnas.

"You know, from here you can get a good look at my foot!" Xemnas flipped backwards, kicking Marluixa in the chin and landing back on the ground.

Marluxia staggered back, _"He's just toying with me!"_

"I am done toying with you." said Xemnas, "It's time to finish."

Xemnas quickly dissapeard from view, surprising Marluxia. Xemnas reappeared on Marluxia's Right side and attacked, landing a hit on his stomach and back at the same time. Marluxia didn't have anytime to recover before Xemnas dissapeard again, reappeared, attacked, and dissapeard again.

"Here!" Xemnas yelled, flying around in a circle, small rods of energy surrounding Marluxia, "Fire!" and the energy shot at Marluxia, hitting him in the torso several times.

"Dude, Marluxia's gonna die." said Xigbar.

"It's about damn time." said a still bloody Xaldin.

"I am in so much pain right now. Please kill me." said Luxord with his sunburn.

"I think I can fit you into my schedule." said Xinck.

"ENOUGH!!!" yelled Marluxia. His yell actually stopped Xemnas in his tracks. Marluxia was covered in blood, his once perfect hair was now imperfect and his clothes were ripped up. He was also glowing a deathly pink and black aura.

"You can beat me. You can even toy with me in a fight, but when you get MY blood in MY Perm, that means you die!"

Marluxia twirled his Scythe around several times, then slowly plunged it into the ground, the blade dissapearing as it went. Then Marluxia pulled the Scyhe back up and the blade was gone, leaving only the green handle.

"Lets see how you deal with this...On A Grand Scale!"

As if on cue, on both sides of Marluxia, huge versions of his Scythe blade appeared, thousands of them, a seemingly endless amount of Scythe blades.

"Oh. This should be interesting." said Xemnas.

"Indeed. Now, Scatter For Eternity!" the Scythe blades glowed pink and exploded in a flurry of pink Cherry Blossoms and Marluxia was surrounded by a pink sandstorm of Cherry Blossoms.

"Now, Die!" he pointed to Xemnas and the Cherry Blossoms shot towards Xemnas. He dodged out of the way, but just barely, because part of his shoulder was caught in the storm of pink and he staeted to bleed.

"_Damn"_ he thought, _"Can't let it touch me."_

Xemnas flew into the air and the Cherry Blossoms followed him. They flew past Xemnas and started to form in front of him. They shot down and Xemnas pulled up his shield to block the dangerous petals.

"Ugh! All this pink reminds me of Pepto-Bismol." said Axel.

"That disgusting pink crap for your stomach?" asked Roxas

"Mmm-mm." he replied holding his mouth.

"Nausea, heartburn, Indigestion, upset stomach, diarrhea. Yay! Pepto-Bismol!" yelled Xinck

"Oh, god, stop! I'm gonna be sick!" yelled Axel.

"Alright I've had enough." said Xemnas, still flying, he turned around and headed for Marluxia, the Barrage of Cherry Blossoms still flying after him. Suddenly Xemnas dissapeard and reappeared behind Marluxia and black, white and gray energy thorns shot out from his hands and ensnared Marluxia.

"You shall go...um..by yourself!" Xemnas tossed Marluxia into the oncoming onslaught of deadly petals.

"Fool! They won't harm me!" yelled Marluxia, recovering and drifting effortlessly in the air as the Cherry Blossoms rustled with instability. "Now, what do you have befor I finish you?" asked Marluxia,

"This." Xemnas held out his arm and electric blue energy zoomed around his arm as translucent and large shapes formed around his arm, converging at a point that was unstable with energy.

Xemnas called out, "Cannon of The Void." and a huge blue and white stream of energy shot out towards Marluxia. He didn't have enough time to react or defend himself. The beam completley enveloped Marluxia and exploded in a sphere of fire, instantly burning all of the Cherry Blossoms

"Wow. He is definetly dead." said Saix.

"No. He's not. He is stronger than he looks." said Larxene, _"Marluxia will have to resort to his Plan B if we are going to take over the Organization. Xemnas is too Powerful for us to take him alone, we'll need the keyblade."_

"No being could survive that. Even if they had the durability of a Nobody. And Xemnas didn't even use half of his power. That is way Xemnas is Superior."

Larxene groaned, "Oh, get off Xemnas's nuts!"

The smoke cleared and Marluxia was face down on the floor. His green scythe blade was still in his hand, and the Pink blade was slowly reforming from whatever Cherry Blossoms were left. Xemnas walked over to Marluxia, knealt down and said, "_I_ win."

Marluxia slowly got up, looked at Xemnas and sayed, "Cheater." Then Marluxia girlishly ran out of the room.

"You know he's gonna cry in his room, right?" said Xinck.

"Obviously." said Zexion, "He didn't stand a chance against Xemnas."

"But Marluxia is not just a push-over," said Lexaeus, "Against anyone else and he might have won."

Xemnas walked casually back to the sidelines, "So, so far the Victors are Roxas, Axel, Xinck, Zexion and Myself. And the Losers are Xaldin, Xigbar, Luxord, Vexen, Marluxia and Demyx, with Vexen and Marluxia in there rooms."

He eyed the rest of the Losers, "Wow. Look at all the failure. Who is next Decidulator?"

The Decidulator beeped and Two more names appeared, _"The Savage Nymph Vs. The Luna Diviner."_

_Saix vs Larxene_

"I will not go easy on you, Larxene."

"You talk to much." she replied, "But don't forget, I won't promise I wont try to kill you."

Saix turned around and faced the Kingdom Hearts moon. His hair started to catch fire with a blue aura, his scar was growing bigger and his fangs longer.

"No, you don't!" she shot across the entire field, covered in lightning and smashed into Saix's back, stopping his transformation. He recovered and swung his claymore around. Larxene jumped high, and dodged, while in the air she hit Saix with Lightning. He staggered back and growled with anger. He raised his claymore into the air and blue energy started to gather around the weapon. He slashed his claymore down and released the energy in a huge crescent, blue shape. It hit Larxene head on and she yelled and flew into the air. Saix followed. Saix meet a stunned Larxene in the air and hit her several times with his claymore. The final strike threw her into the floor. Saix slowly fell back to the ground and looked at Larxene. She was on her knees and breathing heavily.

"Pathetic. You talk big, but can't back it up. I seriously expected more out of you."

"Go..fuck a duck." she huffed.

"Stubborn till the end I see. Fine. I've got something that will beat the stubborn out of you."

"What, you're gonna go berserk? We've all seen you go berserk."

"Then you should know how terrifing it is."

"Eh. You've seen one berserker, you've seen 'em all." She said.

Saix walked back towards the Kingdom Hearts Moon and started to glow again. Then he had enough power.

"How predictable." she said. She got to her fet and hid a Kunai in her sleeve and she would wait for Saix to get close enough to her, "Come and get it, big boy."

Saix rose into the air a nd his Claymore drifted behind him. He cradled himself and yeld, "Dance With The Devil In The Full Moon Light!" he explode in a fiery display of blue energy and fell back to the groubd, claymore in hand.

"Yes." she said with a smile. Saix charged at her, banging his claymore on the ground, creating blue shockwaves as he went. He got closer and closer to Larxene. Larxene tossed her hidden kunai at Saix head and he Howled in Anger and Pain. Larxene ran at high speeds around Saix and created 3 clones of herself. They flew around the stunned Saix, laughing, then flew into the air. The dashed downward, enveloped in lighting atnd hit Saix. Then the all started to fly around him again for the same attack, until Saix yelled,

"All Shall Be Lost To You!" he exploed in another blue explosion, and this time he charged all over the field, jumping and banging his claymore on the ground. Creating shockwaves and pillars of blue fire, he hit Larxene with everything as she screamed and hollered. Saix stopped his rampage, brushed his hair back along his head, putting out the fire and his Berserker stopped. He looked for Larxene and saw her holding onto the wall, breathing heavily.

Saix chuckled, "You're holding back. I can tell."

"Just for your sake." she laughed back. She ran closer to Saix and stopped half way. A bolt of Lightning shot down and struck her on the head. She absorbed it and lightning shot out all around her. She stuck out her arms and electric blue orbs appeared in a line. She spun around and lightning struck out all around the field. Saix tried to dodge each strike but the lightning was to fast. He got hit and fell towards Larxenes attack, causing him to yell out even more.

Her attack stopped and she chuckled, "Some second-in-command you are."

This caught Saix's attention. Larxene prepared to fire a kunai from her hand. Saix dashed at an incredible speed straight to Larxene. He caught her off-gaurd when he grabbed her hand and held it upward, stopping her attack. He stared at her and she stared back. He couldn't tell if there was fear in her eyes or anger, hate?

"So beautiful and yet...so strong and surprisingly fragile." said Saix, "Admit it. You want me."

"Oh, please," she said, a smile on her face. She got closer to his face, "If I wanted you, I could have.", she looked down, "Besides you're not enough of a man to satisfy me."

"Am I barking up the wrong tree. It figures. I always figured you as a lesbian."

"What are they saying? I can't hear." said Roxas.

"Saix just called Larxene a lesbian." said Xinck

"Oh. Should've known."

"Oh no. I'm not a lesbian. " said Larxene to Saix, "But, I always figured you as gay. You know, the way you are always riding on Xemnas's boner."

Saix tightened his grip on Larxene's wrist, "You dare insult me like that!?"

"Yes! What are you gonna do? Hit me? Stab me? Kill me? Do you have the balls!?" she said with a smile.

Saix punched her in the stomach. She leaned in pain, beaing held up by Saix grip. The he kneed her in the face. She yelled. Then Saix spun around and threw Larxene into a near-by wall and he chuckled.

"Oh? Said Saix, "Is this it for the Nymph? No more lighting?"

Larxene growled, "Lightning?! I'll show you lightning!" she got off the wall and took a stance and started to twist and twirl her fingers around, electricity gathering at her fingertips. She tucked her elbows in and put her fingers together. She aimed and shot out a huge bolt of lightning at Saix, hitting him in the shoulder and exiting through his back. He yelled and was thrown into the air by the force. Larxene quickly dashed to below Saix and and called force dozens of bolts of lightning down on Saix. He yelled and screamed with every volt. He could'nt absorb the moon because Larxen's attacks were too quick.

"You're just a toy!" she yelled. Saix was still high in the air. She jumped high and Landed directly on Saix's chest. He could'nt move and as they fell Larxene repeatedly punched him in the face. She held up her hand towards the sky and lightning struck her and in her hand was a small ball of electricity, and she placed it directly on Saix's chest and it stuck.

"What...what is that?" he groaned.

"Shock grenade!" she backflipped off of Saix body and landed on the ground just as Saix's body exploded in an electrical display. Then he hit the ground and didn't move.

"Larxene wins." said Xemnas.

"Wow," said Demyx, "She took down Saix."

"Yeah! Beware the all-mighty uterus!" yelled Larxene walking back to the sidelines. Saix got up and also walked back. Folding his arms and closing his eyes, he put his back up against the wall.

"Wow. I did not see that coming." said Xemnas.

"Maybe, you should reconsider who your second-in-command is?" suggested Xigbar.

"Will you get over that!"

"Yeah, Xigbar, get over it. It was 7 years ago" said Xaldin.

"I'll never let it go!"

"Who's next Decidulator?" said Xemnas. The machine beeped and two more names appeared, _"The Key of Destiny Vs The Silent Hero."_

_Roxas vs Lexaeus_

Lexaeus slammed his tomahawk on the ground in a threatening manner. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be." Roxas replied.

"Good. Because I'll be using you to test my strengh." Lexause started to shake and the ground started to temble. He howled and red, yellow and black energy enveloped his shoulders, radiating outward. Before he could attack, Roxas had started running towards him. Lexaeus tossed his tomahawk into the air and punched the ground, rocks jutting out from the ground around Roxas had stopped him from running. Lexaeus punched the ground again and a rock flew up from below Roxas and threw him into the air. His claymore came back down, he grabbed and slammed it onto the ground, throwing more Rocks into the air and each one hit Roxas.

"_Damn,"_ he thought, _"He's strong!"_

Roxas recovered in midair and flipped, with his keyblades, creating a curved ray of light around him. He brought down his attack on Lexaeus, but he blocked with his tomahawk. Roxas fell back to the ground and started to attack Lexaeus, but the energy around him was defending him. He was taking damage but it wasn't effecting him. Lexaeus swung his tomahawk and caught Roxas in the ribs, sending him smashing into a wall. He raised his Tomahawk and smashed it on the ground and huge pillars of Rocks came erupting out of the ground at Roxas, smashing him into the air as he yelled.

"Damn." said Axel, "He's not doing too good."

"He's fine. You worry too much for someone who doesn't have a heart." Xinck said

Lexaeus curled over, then shot out more red, yellow and black energy. His energy level was raising more and more as he fought. Roxas recovered and ran towards Lexaeus. Lexaeus prepared to swing his tomahawk, but Roxas blocked the attack, twisted around Lexaeus and hit him in the back and immediatley, the energy around Lexeause had stopped. Roxas attacked and this time Lexaeus reacted with howls and yells.

"I got you!" Roxas threw his keyblades sideways and they spun around him in a wide circle of light and cut at Lexeaus. But Lexaeus quickly recovered and punched Roxas in the stomach, shoving him to the ground. He coughed up blood and Lexaeus stomped his foot on the ground and Roxas flew into the air. Lexaeus got into the air and placed his Tomahawk on Roxas's back and threw him back down on the ground. Roxas slowly staggered to his feet, just in time to see Lexaeus fall back to the ground.

"And here I thought you would have been stronger."

"Yeah, well, you caught me on a bad day." Roxas huffed.

"Alright then, I'll go ahead and end your day." Lexaeus curled up and even more energy was being sucked into him, enough energy to almost pull everyone in the room towards him. He bellowed and burst out with even more energy than he had last time. The red, Yellow, and Black energy waves on his body were now reaching the ceiling of the room, and his energy force was putting pressure on everyone in the room. Enough force, that anyone who hadn' seen him like this before was surprised.

"My God! His power level It's Over 9000!" yelled Xinck.

"We're helping him!"Axel declared.

"But it's one-on-one.

"Don't you remember what Xemnas said?" He turned to Xinck and grinned, " There are no rules."

Roxas was injured, bleeding and he was sure one of his ribs was broken. Lexaeus jumped high into the air and he chuckled the farther away he went. Roxas couldn't defend against this. Lexaeus was still glowing with energy and he glowed like a comet as he came crashing down back to the field. He hit near Roxas and he went fly against the wall, Rocks and other debris exploded into the air and hit him. He slowly slid from the wall and to his feet. Lexaeus was still covered with his energy and he walked slowly towards Roxas.

"It's over." Lexaeus rushed to Roxas, who was too beaten to defend himself. He raised his Tomahawk, prepared to strike, but it was instantly stopped by an obsidian black shield. Both Roxas and Lexaeus looked at the shield in wonder. And a familir voice called out, "Ha-ha! Saved you!"

"What the hell?!" yelled Lexaeus

"What the hell?!" yelled Roxas.

"What the fuck?!" yelled Xigbar.

The shield dissolved and in it's place a flaming circle appeared and struck Lexaeus in the stomach, with enough force to send him back a few feet. Two figues appeared next to Roxas with their weapons drawn. To his Right was Axel, with his cocky smile acros his face. On his left was Xinck with a sleepy expression on his face.

"What are you two doing?" Roxas asked.

"Saving you. Duh." said Axel.

"But, it's a one-onone fight."

"Well, if you fought one-on-one with him, you would have died, "said Xinck, "But with a Three-on-one fight, you just might walk away with all of your limbs."

"Wait! Superior, this can't be allowed!" said Zexion.

"Mmm, I suppose you're right. This isn't fair." said Xemnas, "Axel, Xinck, you cannot-"

"Wait, Superior," said Lexaeus, "It is alright with me if I fight Three-on-one. More foes to fight means more bones to break"

"Fine."

Roxas, Axel and Xinck stood around Lexaeus. Xinck started and charged at Lexaeus. He jumped into the air and prepared to stab him from above. Lexaeus grabbed Xinck in midair and hit him in the back with his Tomahawk, sending him across the field. Axel came up tossed his Chakram at Lexaeus. He blocked and banged his weapon on the ground. Rocks shot up straight under Axel , but he used the Rocks and jumped off from the top. In the air, Axel shot down fireballs from his hands, catching Lexaeus in the face.

"Raaah!" he yelled. Roxas came up and dozens of blue nobody symbols appeared in the air, shooting lasers at Lexaeus. Roxas ran up while he was distracted and hit him several times in the stomach. Lexause growled and prepared to raise his Tomahawk, until out of the corner of his eye, he say a short sword with a chain hooked to the bottom of it, wrap around his arm, stopping him from moving. He followed the chain with his head and saw Xinck holding it behind him.

"You think you've got me? WRONG!" Lexaeus grabbed the chain and started to pull at it, drawing Xinck closer and closer. Axel ran over to Xinck and started to pull on the chain to help Xinck. Roxas joined in and it turned into a game of Tug-o-War.

Lexaeus dropped his tomahawk and was now pulling on the chain with both hands. He would pull and they would go forward, they would pull and he would go further.

"Okay, I've got a plan." whispered Roxas

"Does it involve Vietnamese prostitutes?" asked Xinck, struggling with the chain.

"What? No, on the count of three..." Roxas told them his plan and they agreed, they didn't really have a choice because it was the only plan they had. Roxas, Axel and Xinck tugged one last time and Roxas counted off, "1..2..3!"

Immediatley, all 3 of them let go and Lexaeus went tumbling over on his back, still holding Xinck's chain sword. While Lexaeus staggered to his feet, all three of them shot out attacks at Lexaeus; Xinck fired a blast of black and white fiery darkness. Axel flipped in the air and a huge plume of fire shot from his foot at Lexaeus: and Roxas fired a ray of light from the tip of his keyblade. All the attacks hit Lexaeus square in the stomach.

"OOHWAHHH!" he yelled and fell over in a very anti-climactic fashion.

"Roxas-er-Those three win." said Xemnas. He walked over to Lexaeus and looked at him, "Wow. You three were very thorough, but from now own no one can have three-on-one fights. Dusks, take Lexaeus to the infermary/animal hospital."

After 20 dusks appeared and dragged Lexaeus away, Xemnas had ordered the next fight. "Now, that everyone has fought, it is time for the Preliminaries or the Finals, I'm not sure how this Tournament crap goes."

"So, who's next to fight?" asked Luxord.

"They only one's left are Myself, Axel, Zexion, Roxas, Larxene and Xinck. Since we are at such a small number, I will pick the fighters. Xinck and Zexion are next.

"You're not too tired to fight are you?" asked Roxas.

"Of course not. Watch, I'm gonna have fun with this."

_Zexion vs Xinck_

Zexion and Xinck stood apart from each other. Except Xinck who wasn't standing, but kneeling on the floor with one hand on the ground for balance and the other in his hair, scatching his head. "Zexion, your life is a chip in my pie."

"What? What does that mean?"

"I don't know. I heared it in a videogame."

"Why are you sitting? Stand up and prepare yourself."

"I don't wanna."

"Stop being a baby and stand up!"

"_Tu Madre esta un Pollo Loca!_" Xinck yelled back.

"I didn't know Xinck could speak spanish." Axel said to Roxas.

"I guess he can."

"What the hell does that mean?" asked Zexion, getting irritated.

"Your mother is a crazy chicken. That's the literal translation." said Xinck

"My Mother Was a Saint!"

"Slutty Saint."

"Thats it!" Zexion threw his book into the air and it started to float. He waved his right hand and a dark-blue light appeared and formed into a copy of one of Xinck's swords. Zexion charged at Xinck with his book still in the air. Xinck got up and summoned his swords, just in time to clash with Zexion. Zexion put down more pressure on Xinck and managed to make Xinck buckle under the pressure.

"Your stronger than you look."

"You can think about that when you're dead!" Zexion pushed of from Xinck and grabbed his book. He read out a spell and 3 Zexion clones appeared with a replica of Xincks sword in their hands.

"Dammit." Xinck said.

Xinck started to run towards Zexion and the 3 clones. The real Zexion was distracted and was looking for a spell in his book while the clones attacked Xinck. The clones were slashing and thrusting their swords at Xinck, who kept blocking each attack. Xincks swords extended and he spun them around in a huge circle around him, catching 3 of the clones in the stomachs, but they did not die.

Zexion was watching and reading his spells at the same time. He had and idea for an attack, but he would need more energy. He looked over at Xinck and saw that he was gaining the upper-hand against the clones. The real Zexion quickly glided over to behind Xinck, wrapped his arms around his waist and lifted him into the air.

"What the hell?! Get of me!"

"Dammit, Xinck, you're heavy. Now, your End is near!" black and red thorns wrapped around Zexion and Xinck and Zexion started to absorb Xincks energy. Xinck started to radiate black and white smoke then exploded in a ball of Dark energy, throwing Zexion off of him.

"Damn. It's alright I have enough power to do this!" Zexion grabbed and opened his book and it started to glow a yellow light. Xinck was caught in the light and it started to pull him in. He launched his chain swords into the ground to try and keep him from going inside the book, but the force was too strong and Zexion snapped the book shut, sealing him in. Zexion opened the book again and he steeped in laughing.

"Where'd they go?" asked Demyx.

Inside the book, Xinck was floating inside a huge whirlwind and books and pages were flying around, trying to cut at him. He had seen Zexion do this before and he knew all he had too do was find the book that Zexion was hiding in. He started to attack at random books, striking and destroying any book he could find. He hit one book and it exploded, sending him flying backwards. Then hundreds of pages came flying at him and started cutting at him. He burst out in black flames and burned away the pages and out of the corner of his eye he saw one book, floating harmlessly in the void. He knew it had to be Zexion because it had a dark green shadow right behind it.

"Got you!" Xinck threw a blast of Dark fire at the book and it started to scream, "Holy fucking shit, that burns!"

Xinck was enveloped in another light and then found himself back in the Addled Impasse room with Zexion and his clones.

"Zexion," Xinck said with a french accent_ ", Je Vous Tuerai_"(Fr:I will kill you)

"Oh? You speak french to?"

"Just bits and pieces. I also know how to say 'shit' in Japanese, but that's a story for another time. Here I come!" Xinck started to charge at Zexion.

"I won't give you the chance!" Zexion flipped through his book and quickly found a new spell, "Ah, here we go, 'Catastrophe'"

Zexion and his clones floated to the center of the room. They started to float a few inches in the air, then they raised their hands toward the center and white energy started to shoot out and form in the center a growing ball of energy.

"See My Illusion!" Zexion shouted and him and the clones started floating around the energy orb as it grew with power. Then they stopped and Zexion jumped into the air and prepared to strike the orb.

"Damn! No, you don't!" Xinck also jumped into the air, close to Zexion. He launched his sword chain at Zexion and it caught and wrapped around his waist, catching him of guard.

"This can't be good." Zexion said as Xinck pulled on the chain, pulling Zexion closer to him. When Xinck was close enough, he let go of the chain and pushed Zexion down towards the orb.

"No!" Zexion yelled as he hit the orb. It exploded and instantly incinerated the clones and bathed the field in a blinding white light. When the light cleared, Xinck got back down to the floor and saw Zexion flat on his back.

"Oh. That sucked!" groaned Zexion, "Okay, I give up. You win."

"Shut up, Zexion!" yelled Xemnas, "I say it, not you! Xinck wins."

"Well, who didn't see that coming. This is boring, can we leave?" asked Xaldin.

"Yeah, we already lost. There's no point in us being here anymore." said xigbar.

"I'm still in so much pain." said Luxord, who was now in a sitting position.

"No you can't leave and Luxord, it sucks to be you. Now, " said Xemnas, "Who is next? Let's see, Let's see. Ah, Axel and Roxas."

_Axel vs Roxas_

So far the fight had been going on for 5 minutes and no one knew who was winning, because Axel, at the start of the fight, had set up a huge fire wall around him and Roxas and no one could see the fight, except for the random flare of fire or light out from the top of the wall.

"Dude, Axel is winning." said Xigbar.

"How can you tell?" asked Xaldin.

"It's obvious. Axel is stronger and did you see how he handled Vexen? Whoo, poor Roxas."

"But you forget, Roxas is a KeyBearer. Which means his strenght is formidable."

"I think I am going to pass out from this Sunburn." said Luxord. His skin was now as red as a tomato and stretched across his face, giving him the appearance of a red Zombie.

"You know, "said Zexion to Larxene, "It doesn't matter who wins or loses, but the next fight would e between you and Xemnas."

Larxene gulped, "Uh..no way."

"Way. And unless you are a Masochist and enjoy physical pain, he is going to kill you."

"Bu...but," Larxene looked down against the wall and saw Xemnas staring up at the Kingdom Hearts Moon. She couldn't help but think of all the things he had down during her time in the Organization. She also wondered what this extremely powerful being was thinking.

It turns out, Xemnas was thinking, _"I wonder if they still make that shampoo I like."_

"_He's so menacing!" _Larxene thought, _"I am not putting myself through that!"_

Demyx was standing next to Xinck, trying to talk, except Xinck was paying attantion to the unseen battle.

"Why are you just staring at the firewall? Talk to me!" yelled Demyx.

"Shut up, Demyx." Xinck said, annoyed, then he turned back to the firewall. _"They're good at faking a fight."_

Inside the Firewall, Axel and Roxas were playing Rock, Paper, Scissors and Roxas was losing.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" they both yelled. Roxas had Rock and Axel had Paper.

"Ha! I win!"

"This game is stupid! How the hell does a piece of paper beat a rock?! It doesn't make sense!"

"It's simple, everyone knows that Paper covers Rock."

"But a Rock can tear up a piece of paper. Whoever made up this game should get shot....in the face."

Axel shot out a plume of fire over the wall, so that everyone thought they were still fighting.

Then Roxas shot out rays of pure light as well.

"Well, we should probably finish this up." said Axel.

"Yeah. They might notice something is up."

"You wanna win?"

"What?"asked Roxas.

"You can go on ahead, I'm tired of tournament crap."

"Alright."

Axel got down and laid on his back and the firewall started to die down, "Make sure you kick some names and takes some ass."

"You mean-nevermind."

The firewall died down and everyone saw Axel laying on his back with Roxas standing over him with his keyblades in hand.

"_Cheaters."_ Xinck thought to himself and chuckled.

"Roxas wins." said Xemnas, he walked over to Axel and looked down at him, "You don't look hurt."

"I'm hurting on the insides. He..uh..stabbed me...in the inside."

Xemnas sighed, "Whatever." then he turned towards the sidelines, "Larxene, I guess It's you and me now."

Larxene looked nervous, "Uh, I can't."

"Oh? Why not?"

"I..uh..," she quickly summoned a kunai in her hand and stabbed herself in her thigh, "I just found a kunai in my thigh! Saix must have grabbed it during our fight and stabbed me when I wasn't looking."

"You lying Jezebel!" yelled Saix.

"Fine, "said Xemnas, "If you don't want to fight, then you are disqualified. Which only leaves Roxas, Xinck and Me. Interesting"

"What do you mean, Superior?"

"I know. A three way battle between Me, XIII and XIV. A battle between the 3 Eternal Elements. Light vs. Nothing vs Darkness."

"My God," said Zexion with wide eyes, "It's On like Donkey Kong."

"No," said Xigbar, "It's On like Michelle Kwan."

"Oh, I got one!" said Demyx, "It's On Like Elton John!"

"Okay, That one was stupid." said Axel.

* * *

NEXT chapter will be up soon as possible and Don't Forget to REVIEW


	13. Crush My Battle Opponents Balls Part 3

_Xemnas vs Roxas vs Xinck_

Xemnas, Roxas and Xinck stood far apart from each other, with their weapons drawn. Xemnas's hands were crackling with energy, Roxas had a small glow of light around him and Xinck was smoking with Darkness.

"_Alright,"_ Thought Xemnas, _"Who should I take out first? I could get Roxas but he might see me coming and move, he's too damn fast. But Xinck isn't, then again, he can teleport away just as fast. Mmm, descisions, descisions."_

Roxas was thinking, _"This shouldn't be too hard, I just have too catch them off guard and hit 'em hard. I should probably start with Xinck. Wait, maybe Xinck won't attack me, maybe we could team-up and get Xemnas. What is he thinking?"_

Roxas looked over at Xinck and saw that his stance was different from his. Instead of his short, dark gray swords pointing upward like they should, they were pointed down towards the floor. On the bottom of the swords, which are now pointed upwards, had a black arrow shape, like one of the points off the Nobody Symbol. _"When did he start doing that?"_ Roxas thought.

"_I could just go all out and kill them both,"_ Xinck thought, _"But Xemnas might not be much of a problem if Roxas doesn't decide to attack me. He didn't fight Axel, so why should he fight me? Xemnas is merciless he might be able to take both of us out without much effort."_

"WAIT!" yelled Xigbar, running out onto the field.

"What is the meaning of this, Xigbar," said Xemnas, "Can't you see that we are thinking?"

"How can you see thinking?"

"....Those are the questions that keep me up at night." said Xemnas.

"So, anyway, I have an awesome idea. When you guys are fighting, you all name your attacks."

"Why? That's so stupid." said Roxas.

"Because, everyone knows that giving an attack a name can increase it's power."

"By how much." asked Xinck.

"A lot." said Xigbar.

"Okay, I'm convined, I'll do it."

"Agreed." said Xemnas,"Roxas?"

"Alright."

"Sweet." Xigbar said, running back to the sidelines

"Alright, so we all name a major attack before we use it. Now," Xemnas said, his hair and cloak wavering as he unleashed a small surge of power, "Any pre-battle threats you want to say before we begin?"

"I do!" said Xinck. He twirled his blades above his head, then brought them down in a threatening manner, "If you're just gonna stand there, you'll die!"

"I got nothin'" said Roxas.

"Me neither." said Xemnas

"Aww, now I feel weird." said Xinck.

Then, the fight started. Roxas prepared to explode and bathe the entire field in Light. Xinck was going to launch his chains at both Xemnas and Roxas, but they both stopped in their tracks when Xemnas appeared in the space directly between Roxas and Xinck. He quickly held out his hands and black, white and gray thorns shot out and ensnared them both.

"You shall go together." Xemnas said. He spun around and tossed both of them high into the air. Neither of them had enough time to recover as Xemnas made his way up and attacked. He constantly teleported around and hit Roxas in his torso and back. He hit Xinck several times in the stomach and side. They yelled out in pain, then, Xemnas teleported away and started flying towards them to attack. Roxas saw this and quickly grabbed Xinck on the shoulders and moved him infont of himself. In a split second, Xinck mouthed the words, 'Son of a bitch.' and Xemnas landed a hit directly in his stomach. Then Xemnas raised his heel and kicked Xinck in the face. He raised it again and brought it down on Xinck's back, sending him plummeting to the ground, head first, into a large crater.

Xinck slowly got up from the crater and coughed up blood. "And people wonder why I'm crazy." he looke d up in the air and saw that now Roxas was fighting back, matching every attack from Xemnas with a block.

Axel called out from the sidelines, "You alright?"

"I'm fine. I'ts them you should be worried about." Xinck dashed to directly to the spot under where Roxas and Xemnas were fighting in the air. He placed the tip of his sword on the ground and a black and white flame appeared. He did this 4 more times until there were a total of 5 flames on the ground, in the shape of a pentagon. He looked up and saw them directly above the the pentagon and yelled out, "Black Star!" and Roxas blocked and attack from Xemnas and looke down to see him and Xemnas consumed in a black light. Roxas and Xemnas yelled as the light faded and they fell towards the ground.

"Dammit." moaned Xemnas as he fell. Xinck reacted, he launched both of his chain swords at Xemnas. They wrapped around his arms and Xinck shot up to the air and met Xemnas. He kneed Xemnas in the stomach, then summoned a small black diamond shaped object in his hands and placed it on Xemnas's chest. The diamond quickly expanded in a black blur and Xemnas dissapeared.

Xinck landed on the ground and saw Roxas slowly stagger to his feet from when he fell.

"Okay...I can explain."

"You can explain about turning me into a human shield?! That fucking hurt!" Xinck yelled back.

"Well...yeah, but it's a three-way battle."

"Fine. Be that way!" Xinck quickly punched the air and it was consumed in a dark portal. The portal reappeared by Roxas's head and out came Xinck's fist in his face.

"Ow! That fucking hurt!" Roxas yelled.

"Revenge!" Xinck yelled back, his arm coming back from the portal.

Roxas shot over to Xinck and hit him several time with his keyblades. Roxas aimed for his head, but Xinck blocked with his sword, so Roxas brought up his Oathkeeper and aimed to stab Xinck, but he blocked it and kicked upward into Roxas's torso, throwing him into the air. Roxas recovered and in midair and yelled, "Heavenly Retribution!". He tossed his Oathkeeper sword like a javelin at Xinck, then seven white portals appeared over his head and out shot seven spears of Light and they all hit Xinck as blood spurted out from his wounds.

"Take this!" Roxas shot down from the air directly above Xinck and several lasers were orbiting vertically around him. Xinck staggered back and thought he hit a wall, but instead he ran into Xemnas. He turned around and saw Xemnas with an angry expression on his face.

"Shit. I knew you would be back, I just didn't know this soon." said Xinck

"Do you even know where you sent me?!"

"...T.G.I Fridays?"

"No! Fucking Barney world! Do you have any idea how annoying that purple dinosaur is!?"

"As a matter of fact, I do have an Idea. He didn't try to touch you in a private place, did he?"

Xemnas raised two fingers up to Xinck's shoulder and before he could react, Xemnas said, "Nil Lightning." From the tips of his fingers, a blue and white bolt of Lightning shot through Xincks shoulder and almost hit Roxas if he hadn't moved out of the way. Xinck staggered backward and started yelling out in pain. He moved his arm, and luckily, it wasn't broken.

"Damnit! That was a cheap shot!"

Xemnas ignored the comment and lunged at Xinck with his aerial blades. Xinck rolled backwards and just as Xemnas was directly over him, he kicked upwards into Xemnas's chest, sending him flying upwards. Xinck rolled back onto his feet and swiped his extended sword at Roxas, but Roxas had dodged out of the way. Xinck started to move to the center of the field as he glowed a dark aura.

"Okay, lets try something new." Xinck shot out his arms, and small dark portals started to envelope his arms, all the way up to the elbows. Then, in mid-air, two new portals appeared and out poured two huge, jet-black arms.

Xinck had a smug look on his face as he said, "Brazos Oscuros del Guarda."(Spanish-Dark Arms of The Guard)

"Whats up with you and the spanish?' asked Roxas.

"I don't know, I'm a language geek. I named a lot of my attacks in different languages. Now, if you're not too busy, DIE!"

Xinck's right dark arm quickly made it's way to Roxas and grabbed him. The arm smashed him directly into a wall and he coughed up blood. Xinck saw Xemnas running towards him. He moved his left black arm at Xemnas with a fist. Xemnas caught the fist in mid-stride and started struggling to hold off the arm. Xemnas, with as much strenght as he could use, threw the fist into the floor. He jumped onto the arm and started running on top of it, towards Xinck. Xinck saw this and quickly moved his right arm off of Roxas, dropping him to the floor, and shot it at Xemnas and punched him. Xemnas went flying off the arm and flew towards the sidelines and landed on someone.

"Oh my God, did I hit you, Zexion?"

"No, I'm alright. You hit Demyx."

"Oh, nevermind, then." Xemnas said, flying off of Demyx's unconscious body and back to the battle.

Roxas got up from the ground and shot towards Xinck. He dodged the right fist and made his way for the left. His hand started to glow with light and he punched Xinck's Left arm and the entire arm shattered like dark glass.

"My arm!" Xinck yelled, "Well, at least I still have the right-" before he could continue with his sentence, he saw that Xemnas had completely destroyed the right arm. "Why can't I have nice things!" Xinck yelled as his real arms came out of the portals.

Xemnas, Roxas and Xinck charged at each other, weapons drawn. They collided and started attacking and blocking each others attacks. Xemnas dodged a blow from Roxas as he took a hit in his leg from Xinck. Roxas was hit in his shoulder as Xinck took a keyblade in the back. Eventually, there was more blocking and dodging, then there was damage.

"Fascinating." said Vexen, who had come back from chipping of his dead burnt skin.

"What is it?" asked Lexaeus.

"All three of them are actually learning while they are fighting."

"It's not that fascinating."

Roxas glowed with a bright light and Xemnas and Xinck had to stop. His keyblades dissapeared and he held out his hands and a large sword made of light appeared. He attacked both Xemnas and Xinck, striking and slashing at them as they yelled. He raised the sword up and smashed it down on the ground, creating a large shockwave and sending Xinck and Xemnas down to the floor.

Xemnas quikly got to his feet and jumped high in the air. He stopped and started to glow with a pale light with energy zooming around him. He dove straight out of the air towards Roxas. Roxas raised up a shield around himself. Xemnas hit the shield head-on and instantly smashed it. Roxas fell on his back as Xemnas stood over him. He summoned his aerial blade and held it at Roxas's throat.

"Now, that I have beaten you--"

Roxas yelled out, "TESTICLE ATTACK #49!" he shot his fist diectly into Xemnas's crotch. Xemnas's eyes bulged and he let out a small squeal and bent over.( I've noticed that almost every chapter someone gets hit in that general area). Roxas rolled out from under Xemnas, got up and quickly dashed over to Xinck. Roxas raised his keyblade and Xinck blocked his attack. He brought up his other keyblade from the side and Xinck blocked that. Then Roxas started to move at high speeds, attacking and stabbing as Xinck tried to block.

"At first, "Xinck started as he struggled to block Roxas's attacks, "I thought you weren't that strong, but you're good."

"You're not still mad about me using you as a shield, are you?" Roxas swiped at Xinck's feet. He jumped straight up to avoid the attack, then swung his own sword down on Roxas's head, but he blocked and they continued to fight.

"Nah, I'm not mad, besides I was gonna do the same thing. So let's just make this a friendly duel. Don't hold back!"

"Don't hold back, huh? Alright." Roxas said as his and Xinck's swords clashed in an 'X' shape. Roxas exploded in a huge burst of light, blinding Xinck.

"Aah! My beautiful eyes!" Xinck yelled, holding onto his eyes.

Roxas smashed his keyblades into Xinck and unloaded combo hit after combo, Xinck yelling as he went. Then Roxas backflipped and jumped into the air, a shining light, glowing from him as he rose into the air and on the ground a strange insignia made of light appeared. Roxas cupped his hands and pointed them at Xinck as his Oathkeeper and Oblivion keyblades orbited around him and a pair of wings made of light appeared on his back.

Xinck's vision came back just in time for him to see Roxas in the air. He only had enough time to say, "Jesus, Tap-Dancing..."

"Roxas yelled, "Rising Fallen Angel!" out from his hands shot out a huge concussive force of light at Xinck. It hit him square in the stomach and he tried to fight back, but the blast was too powerful. The blast shot him all the way to the Great Glass window in the room and forced his back up against it, as small cracks appeared on the glass.

"...Christ!" Xinck yelled as the Glass window broke completely and he went flying through and fell to the Abyss below.

Roxas's attack stopped and he fell back to the floor and looked out the window, "Maybe I over did it."

"Invitation to Nothingness!" Xemnas came out of nowhere and and right behind Roxas, zapped him with blue and white energy. Then he enveloped himself in a dark portal. The portal did not dissapear, but instead zoomed over to a near-by wall, Xemnas emerged from the portal and jumped all the way up the wall and settled on a small ledge.

"Come Closer." he called out from the ledge.

The energy around Roxas wasn't doing much damage, but he thought he had better confront Xemnas. He ran to the wall, and Xemnas's spell faded away. He jumped up and started running up vertically. Xemnas saw this, summoned his aerial blades and jumped staright down towards Roxas. They got closer and closer, and at the last minute clahed their weapons against each other. Locked in a stalemate on the vertical side of the wall, Roxas side-stepped behind Xemnas and struck him in the back, sending Xemnas toward the ground. Roxas pushed off from the wall and came upside-down to Xemnas's level. They clashed swords and Roxas managed to push Xemnas's blades away and had just enough time to attack him in the stomach, and smashed him into the wall and coughing up blood. Roxas flipped in the air and landed back on the ground.

"So," said Xemnas, gliding back to the floor, "It wasn't a fallacy."

"What wasn't a fallacy?!" Xigbar yelled from the sidelines.

"What-nothing, I was just being dramatic." Xemnas reached the ground and started to walk towards Roxas, who stood his ground. _"Roxas and Xinck are not like Marluxia,"_ Xemnas thought, _"Roxas's light and Xinck's darkness are actually able to augment their fighting skills. I'll have to kick it up notch. I will not be beaten by mere Children!"_

"Storm of Judgement!" Xemnas held up his hand to the sky and a ball of Nothingness appeared in his hand. It shot out hundreds of bolts of energy into the air and rained down in random spots of the area. Roxas doed the first bolt and the second, but the third and fourth hit him directly over the head, causing him to stager a little.

"Now's my chance!" Xemnas aid he dissapeared and reappeared by Roxas. "Here!" Xemnas yelled, flying around in a circle, small rods of energy surrounding Roxas, "Fire!" and the energy shot at Roxas, hitting him in the torso several times.

"Roxas!" Axel called out.

Xemnas caught Roxas off-guard and kneed him in the stomach hard enough to throw him far enough to the ledge of the broken Glass window. He almost went over, but he grabbed the edge at the last minute. He looke down and saw the emptiness that surrounded the rest of the castle, the wind whipping past his hair. Xemnas appeared above Roxas and stepped on his hand.

"Well, this tournament comes to an end with me as the victor."

"What was the prize anyway?! You never told us what we would win." Roxas said, struggling to keep his hands on the ledge.

"I didn't say anything about a prize."

"Yeah, you did."

"That doesn't sound like me. Oh well, the prize probably would have been a Gift-Certificate to Sharper Image."

Xemnas failed to notice a sword-tipped chain shooting past Roxas and wrapping around Xemnas's neck. He started yanking at the chain, but it would not let loose. He looked far down the side of the tower and saw Xinck with one of his swords in the side of the Tower and the other extended around Xemna's neck.

"He's Mine!" he yelled and tugged on his chain, pulling Xemnas over the edge and he free-fell towards Xinck, yelling.

Roxas struggled to pull himself back up, but then he saw all the fighting happening down below. Shadows wavered as Xinck attacked and Energy surged as Xemnas yelled with his attacks.

"Need some help?" yelled Axel from the sidelines.

"Nah. Watch this." Roxas grabbed the ledge, pulled up his legs and backflipped off the tower. In midair he summoned both his keyblades, then shot straight down into the battle, a streak of light shining behind him.

Everyone who was on the sidelines came running to the broken glass window to see the fight. Huge explosions and bursts of Light came shooting up from the fight. Then a huge explosion shook the entire castle and rubble came falling down. Zexion rolled out of the way of scrap metal falling from the ceiling.

"If they keep this up, they'll destroy the whole castle!"

"Who cares?! I've got my munny on Roxas!" yelled Luxord over the noise.

"No way! Xinck is gonna win!" yelled Xigbar.

"I beg to differ!" yelled Vexen, "Xemnas is unmatched!"

Down below, Xinck was hanging off the side of another tower with one of his swords in the side. He had cuts and bruises, but he was fine. Roxas came shooting past him as he had just taken a hit from Xemnas. Xinck aimed an open palm at Roxas and yelled, "Ebenholz-Böe!"(German-Ebony Blast)

And a Dark blast of energy shot from his hand and to Roxas, but he blocked with his keyblades at the last minute. He stuck his Oblivion keyblade into the side of another Tower and hung on.

"You speak German too?"

"Bits and Pieces!"

"What's it mean?"

"It means Die! Fucking die!" Xinck jumped off from his Tower and shot towards Roxas. Roxas spun around on his keyblade, pulled it out and jumped straight up, just in time to dodge out of the way of Xinck impacting the Tower and dark energy shot out from the side.

Roxas landed on the flat, circular roof of the tower. He looked around and as the cool night air passed by him, he saw to his left the Main Tower where he, Xemnas and Xinck had fallen out of. He could see all the other members at the broken window, watching him. Roxas saw Axel and waved. Axel responded by Mouthing some words, but because he was so far away, Roxas couldn't hear him.

"What?!"Roxas said, holding a hand to his ear.

Axel yelled, "I SAID, HE'S COMING!"

Xinck flew high over the edge and above Roxas, Darkness smoking off him as he landed a few feet away.

"I can't believe you shot me out of a fucking window!"

"You said don't hold back. So I didn't hold back."

"You could've given me a warning!"

"Alright, alright, fine, I'm sorry. Are you happy?" he said sarcastically.

"No." Xinck huffed. He raised his left-hand sword and Roxas instantly reacted. He quickly swiped at the air and instantly an electric-blue Nobody symbol appeared in the air and shot down a laser. The laser quickly moved to Xinck and sliced off his left arm. Ropes of blood fell from the wound as the arm, that still held onto the sword, fell limply to the ground.

Xinck's eyes went wide as he gave Roxas the "I Can't Believe You Just Cut Of My Arm' look.

"Dude, you just cut OFF MY ARM!"

"It was accident!"

"Accident my Ass! An Accident can get cleaned up with a towel and some bleach! I'm missing my fucking arm!" Xinck started to wave his bloody nub of an Arm at Roxas as he continued to yell.

"Let me fix it!" Roxas ran over to Xinck and grabbed his nub and Xinck screamed(In a surprisingly high voice)

"AHHH! Don't touch it, Don't touch it, Don't touch it! Is this how you treat your friends?! Cut off their arms!? If you did this to me, I would hate to see what you did to Axel!"

Roxas backed away, "I didn't mean to! I thought you were about to attack me!"

"No! I was just about to scratch my back! Oh, first you use me as a shield, then you blast me out of a window, then you cut off my arm."

"Can't you fix it, or heal or something?"

"No, you just can't-actually," he said as his tone went down, "Yes, I think I can."

"See? And you were crying for nothing."

"Shut up. I wasn't crying, I was shedding manly tears. Now, watch this." Xinck took his right-hand sword tip and placed it at the tip off his bloody nub.

His blade started to glow black as he muttered, "Resurreccion Oscura."(Spanish-Dark Resurrection). Instantly his nub started to glow black and his severed arm, on the ground in a puddle of blood, started to dissapear. Xinck's arm finally grew back, the sleeve and the glove as well. He picked up his fallen sword on the ground, twirled it, then got into his stance. "Ready?"

"Alright." Roxas said, getting into his stance.

Before they could attack each other, a voice came out from the sky, "Zero Sweep!" Xemnas jumped from the air and and smashed on the ground, sending a huge blue and white shockwave of Energy. Xinck and Roxas were struck over the side of the ledge, but they stabbed their weapons into the side of the ledge, to keep from falling over. Then they quickly climbed back up, and saw Xemnas standing in the center of the roof. His cloak was damaged, just like Roxas's and Xinck's and he was bleeding in several places, just like Roxas and Xinck.

"So," said Xemnas, "It's come to this. All three of us are almost at our limits. Lets finish this."

"Gladly!" yelled Xinck. He jumped into the air and dissapeared in a cloud of black smoke. He yelled, "Master of Chaos!" and teleported around Xemnas and Roxas, dissapearing and attacking with punches and kicks and he was too fast for them to keep up. He teleported above Roxas and kicked him in the face 3 times, saying "This is for the window and this is for my arm!"

Roxas staggered backwards, wiped the blood off his face and said, "Okay. We even?"

"Yes!" Xinck yelled as he attacked Xemnas. He punched in him in the face, teleported behind him and kicked him in the small of his back.

Xemnas fell to his knee and Roxas run up to him and attacked, landing a combo, the he yelled, "Event Horizon!" his Keyblades glowed and changed into one long shining sword. He struck at Xemnas, bashing and slashing as he groaned with pain. Roxas ended his attack and Xemnas fell off the edge of the Tower.

"Uh-oh. I think I over did it." Roxas said.

Xemnas dug his aerial blades into the side of the Tower, and slowed down. He was angry as he looked up at the top and could see Roxas and Xinck talking.

"I will not be defeated by children," he growled, "It's time I pull out the big guns." Xemnas started to glow with an angry red aura and blue energy started shooting around him. His presence shook and rang out from his position, and even shook the Castle.

Back on the top of the Tower Xinck walked up to Roxas, "So now what? Is this over?"

"I don't know, Xemnas is the one who says who the winner is, but he's down there...."

" I'm tired. What was the prize for this stupid tournament anyway?"

"A Gift-Certificate for Sharper Image."

"What? Thats it? Fuck it I don't care. You can win."

"I don't want a crappy Gift-Certificate."

Suddenely, Xemnas made his way to the top of the ledge. He pulled himself up and Roxas saw that he was wearing a different cloak. This one was white with black designs all-over it in a symmerical pattern. Ropes of light-blue energy flowed fom his shoulders as he settled himself on the tower. A whole ocean's worth of pressure was pressing down on not only the entire Castle, but on everyone in it.

"You're both strong." Xemnas said, red electricity shot around him, " But, you are nowhere near as powerful as me. And that is what it is all about. Power. Infinite power. Now allow me me to show you the manifistation of my power."

"What..what are you doing?" asked Xinck, overwelmed by Xemnas's presence.

Xemnas chuckled and rose into the air, He outstrectched his arms and said, "Now....Exist..." And a blue light shot out around Xemnas, leaving a trail behind it as it went. It circled around the Tower and around Xemnas, growing in size and speed, then shot into the air. As the pale blue light grew towards the sky, it became wider and wider until the light was almost half the size of the castle itself. The light shot past the clouds, obscuring it's next move from view. Behind the Curtain of Clouds, impossibly huge wings formed and almost poked through the clouds. The Lights faded and behind the clouds(unseen by everyone else), 1000 Ft into the air and 2 and a Half Miles, A Metallic Dragon's tail was circled around Xemnas, the Tower and The Castle in huge Circles. The tail led up to the sky and to the body of the Dragon. It had no legs, but a slender body, decorated with the Nobody Symbol on it's chest. Huge Metal arms, almost closed over the entire area. Each forearm was carrying a large Semi-circle shield, also with The Sigil of The Orgainization, almost covering the start of its long slender fingers. The wings of the dragon were long and pointed, like an advanced Techo-version of The Symbol of The Nobodies. The wings were large enough that they stuck out from behind the barrier of the clouds with their Half-mile wingspan. Twin, enormous Laser-Gun Barrels, six on each side, flowed weightlessly from under the Wings, and its long neck loomed high above The Castle. And it's enormous head, which was also had Nobody Symbols on it's sides, had no eyes, but Razor sharp teeth spiked from it's open mouth.

------**_MU_**--(Japanese-Nothingnes. Chinese-Nothing Can Come From Nothing)--Nothing, Naught, Nihil. Whatever you want to call it, it is all the same-The Energy, And Power At The End Of it All. When All That Is is Over, Only Nothingness, The-Yet-To-Be-Born God Of The World, will tame The Chaos and start anew.

"My God." said Vexen, staring with awe at Xemnas's Creature. He had fallen to his hands and knees due to Xemnas releasing his own overwelming presence, "This Power..It's incredible!"

"Thats a biggun'" said Xigbar.

"Well, what are your little friends gonna do now, Axel?" asked Xaldin, grunted as he tried to stand withought his back bending.

"You're bothering me. I'm trying to watch." Axel replied, brought to his knee _"He wouldn't kill them. Well, he might kill Xinck, but he still needs Roxas."_

"He..he did his Redux?!" yelled Roxas, stepping back to try and take in the whole picture.

"It's huge." said Xinck.

Xemnas straightened up and cleared his throat, "Go ahead, Roxas, Xinck, do your Reduxes and Mine will make quick work of them both!"

"Fine, Then!" Xinck raised his swords into the air, now glowing a Black Glow, "Cry Ha-!" Roxas bumped Xinck's Shoulder and he stopped.

"Don't let him goad you. We don't need to do a Redux to beat him."

Xinck lowered his Swords and they stopped Glowing, "Fine. But If I I die, it's your Fault."

"Noted."

" Ha!" Xemnas laughed, "I won't kill you so that you live to regret not taking the chance to do your Redux. Go!" Xemnas yelled and the Dragon moved it's mighty hand down towards Roxas and Xinck. It stabbed its large fingers into the roof of the Tower, missing the both of them as they dodged out of the way. Roxas and Xinck jumped on top of the large Hand and started to run up it's mighty arm.

"All this for a Gift-Certificate?!" Xinck yelled as The Dragon's Defenses activated with snowflake-shaped Nobody Symbols made from energy and shot thin beams of energy from their centers.

"Just keep moving!" Roxas yelled. They made it past The Dragon's Shield, ascending higher and higher as they ran and Dodging beams of energy from the Snowflakes. A beam shot past Roxas and hit the The Forearm, underneath Xinck.

"Wah!" Xinck yelled. He watched as the beam barely hit him and didn't see as another came out of Nowhere and hit him in the chest. "Gah!" He fell from the arm and back towards the ground and he hit the roof of a different Tower with a Thump. He hit his haead, fell unconscious and his swords disappeared.

"Aah! Xinck!?" Roxas Looked back and saw Xinck unconscious on the ground. Roxas thought he was alright, he would die that easy. Roxas continued running towards the head of the Dragon, ran past and jumped over the Shoulders and started to aggresively attack the base of it's large and thick neck. Xemnas chuckled uncontrolably as he watched Roxas try to destroy his Dragon. He laughed so hard, that he started moving around the roof. He moved backwards and his heel hit the ledge. He lost his balance and started to fall back over.

"Damn." He fell over the ledge and the Dragon started to fall with him. Roxas stopped attacking the Neck as he noticed the Dragon was sinking lower, farther from behind the clouds, destroying other smaller towers of the Castle as it went. Eventually, another light enveloped the Dragon and slowly dissolved it, until there was nothing left, meaning Xemnas had sent it away or he had been knocked out.

Roxas fell back down to the battle-damaged roof and looked around. He saw Xemnas laying on his back on another Tower down below, his normal black cloak covering his body. He saw Xinck laying face-down a few feet away from him. Roxas was the last one standing. Xemans's incredible Presence had disappeared and, because of his Redux, had decimated several parts of the Castle. The entire Fight had almost destroyed The Castel, but he won. "I win?"

2 days later, after Xemnas had given Roxas his Crappy Sharper Image Gift-Certificate for winning the tournament, The Castle Oblivion Team stood at the front door of the Castle, carring sacks filled with their own material goods. It was strange that they all had gathered here to see them all off, but no one bothered to bring this up to Xemnas, they all rarely got together like this for something that wasn't a meeting. Their was also several nobodies zooming around the castle to repair the damage done by Xemnas, Roxas and Xinck.

"Marluxia," Xemnas said, "Lord of Castle Oblivion, you are taking with you Larxene, Axel, Xinck, Zexion, Vexen and Lexaeus to our other Fortress inorder to Conduct research on Behalf of the Organization."

"I shall do what is expected of me." said Marluxia.

"I still say I should be Lord of Castle Oblivion." said Luxord.

"Will you get over that!? I won, besides, your place is here. Who else would drink all of the Rum, then complain about it the next day, saying, 'Why is the rum always gone?'"

"Thats not the point! I'm a master of cards and in Castle Oblivion, you have to use Cards!"

"Make sure you feed my fish." said Axel said To Roxas

"Right." Roxas replied.

"And stay out of my room. I've got dirty videos in there and I don't need anyone judging me." said Xinck.

"Okay." said Roxas, "You two have fun."

"We're going there to work, not have fun." Axel said, " It's just gonna be the same boring crap we do here, except it's at Castle Oblivion."

"How long are you supposed to be there?"

"Couple weeks, probably." said Xinck.

"What am I supposed to do while you guys are gone?"

"You're a teenager, you'll figure it out." said Axel.

"But stay away from my videos." said Xinck.

"No one wants to watch your dirty porn videos, Xinck!" said Axel

"Don't judge me!"

"Hey! Come on you two!" called Larxene, heading out the door, "Hurry up or I'l slice off your balls and make you eat 'em!"

"Wow! Where's all this hostility coming from?" said Axel, grabbing his bag, "What did you have for breakfast this morning, Carnation Instant Bitch?"

Larxene smiled, flipped him off and walked out the door. Xinck and Axel soon followed. As Marluxia, Larxene, Axel, Xinck, Zexion, Lexaeus, Vexen, walked down the front path, Larxene walked up to Marluxia and ave him a look. Then he mouthed the words, 'Very Soon.' Marluxia held out a hand in front of him and a swirling mass of shadows collected in front of him and his group. They all disappeared into the Corridor Of Darkness

Back in the castle, Xemnas was walking bak to his office with Saix queitly walking behind him.

Then Saix broke the silence, "Are you sure we don't know who the Traitor is?"

"I'm sure, but our Insurance policy will find out and eliminate whoever it is."

"But how can you be so sure that Axel will follow through?"

Xemnas chuckled, "Oh, Saix, I am more than sure that some of our members will not be coming back."

* * *

Review!

Review!


	14. SEX! Now That I Have Your Attention

I know you were thinking the next thing would be Castle Oblivion, but I had this lying around and I thought I might as well put it up. So here is this, It's just a bunch of Random stories I had thought About since I started Writing

So READ ENJOY and REVIEW...or angels will kill you in your sleep. I Don't Own anything

* * *

This one is about Xinck and it takes place after he was demoted to the 15th and Xion was the 14th and after they were friends. Surprisingly, he had a small crush on her.

Xinck was staring outside his window in a huge room. The room had windows on either side and a huge fireplace burning at the end of the room. Then he started to sing.

"_Beata, Maria. You know I am a righteous man. Of my virtue I am justly proud."_ he started walking to the fireplace and he stared deeply into it.

"_Beata know I'm so much purer than the common, vulgar, weak, licentious crowd_ (not really)._Then tell me, Maria, Why I see her dancing her smold'ring eyes still scorch my soul!"_

"_I feel her! I see her! The sun caught in her raven hair is blazing in me out of all control!" _Then, as if he saw something in the fire, he stepped back in shock, _"Like fire! Hellfire! This fire in my skin, this burning....Desire Is turning me...to...sin!"_

He fell down to his knees and behind him, red robed figures appeared along the wall. Xinck stood up in a panic and started running around, like a chicken with it's head cut off, thinking that the figures were accusing him of something.

"_It's not my fault!"_ he sang, _"I'm not to blame! It was that perfect girl, that witch who set this flame! It's not my fault! If in God's plan, He made the Devil so much stronger than a Man!"_

The figures dissapeared and he bent down, as if he was sick. Then he turned his head upward and continued to sing, "_Protect me, Maria! Don't let this siren cast her spell! Don't let this fire sear my Flesh and Bone!"_

He threw his hands into the air, _"Destroy that girl, Xion, and let her taste the fires of Hell!" _Out of the fire, came an aparition of Xion floating towards Xinck and he sang, _"Or else, let her be mine and mine alone!"_

At the end of the room, the door opened up and the aparition dissapeared. Xinck turned around and saw it was one of his Reapers.

"_Superior, we've lost Superior Xion._" The Reaper thought into Xinck's head.

"What?"

"_She's nowhere in The Castle._"

"But, She-Nevermind. Get out, you idiot!"

"_I'm not an idiot!_"

"Get out!" Xinck turned back to the fire, "I'll find her, I'll find her even if I have to burn down the entire World That Never Was!"

"_Wait. You're going to burn down an entire world just to find one girl?_"

"Yes, Dammit!"

"_Isn't that a waste of time? I mean, you don't have a heart, which means, you can't feel._"

"Look, Xeircivio(he named this Reaper Xeircivio), Do you mind? Because, I'm tyring to do something here!"

"_Are you even Catholic?_"

"No. It just adds for dramatic affect. Now, get out!"

"_But...."_

"Get out! I'm having a private moment!"

"_Fine!_" Xeircivio turned to leave and muttered under his breath, "_Weirdo._"

Xinck turned back to the fire and continued singing, _"Hellfire! Dark Fire! Now Xion, It's your turn! Chose me or your pyre! Be mine or you will burn!"_

Xinck started to cower in a corner as Shadows danced around him like fire. _"God have mercy on her. God have mercy on...me. But, She will be mine, or She...will....Burn!"_ he ended his song by holding the last note, then collapsing on the floor.

The next Morning, after Xion had returned to the castle, she was sitting in the kitchen. Xinck walked in and he looked like crap.

"Wow, Xinck," said Xion, "You look like crap."

"Yeah, I know. I had a.... rough night." he took a seat Next to Xion and stared at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing, nothing." he said, "So, you wanna do it?"

"What?!"

"I know you want me."

"Go away, you Freak Pervert!" Xion got up to leave and Xinck started running after her. When he was close enough, she turned around and planted her boot between his legs and he fell to the floor holding himself.

"Perv." She said walking out the room.

"Ahh! It's burning! I-I think I'm gonna blackout!"

* * *

Luxord was a drinker. Im sure everyone assumes this. Luxord also controls Time. With this power he can make it stop and go forward and backward, but he knows how fragile time is and, when in battle, will mostly only freeze time. But one power he has, that he doesn't even know about, will only work when he passes out from drinking too much. This power is the ability called Absolute Vision, meaning he can future and present events, even if he isn't there.

And one night after he had had a little too much to Drink with Xaldin and Xigbar....

"Damn, he's heavy!" said Xigbar, holding Luxord by the arm as he and Xaldin carryed him to his room.

"It must be all those fish and chips he eats."

"Fish and chips? You mean like potato chips?"

"No. In England they call fries chips."

"Really? Why? That's so stupid." Xigbar said as they made it to Luxords room. They kicked open the door and saw Luxords room. It was basically the size of a Studio Apartment, with hardwood floors, beige furniture, a large King-sized bed, a large window on a wall and a Tv against another wall.

"Just throw him on the bed." said Xaldin. He and Xigbar walked Luxord into the room and tossed him on the bed. They missed and Luxord's head hit the side of the bed, and he fell to the floor and Xaldin and Xigbar walked to the door to leave.

"The British need to eat more American food. Like Huevos Rancheros." said Xigbar.

"Aren't we Japanese?" said Xaldin, closing the door behind him.

Luxord, still on the floor, grabbed the covers of the bed, pulled them dow and wrapped himself in them like a coccon.

"Dogs Bollocks." he mumbled and he went to a druken sleep.

But just as he went to sleep, his power kicked in and he saw random scenes of future events. He saw faces of people he knew and a few he didn't. The ones he did see were Marluxia, Larxene, Axel, Xinck, Zexion, Lexaeus and Vexen. And he could only hear what they were saying at the exact moment he saw it.

"No! Wait, Axel, Please!...."

"Good-bye...."

"I'll break you!..."

"Larxene! I _will_make you suffer for this!....."

"More Pain for you means more fun for me!....."

"Then I shall make you see...that your hopes are nothing! Nothing but a mere illusion!...."

"Drown in the ever-blooming Darkness!....."

"Let the flames burn you!...."

"His darkness is stale, weak and impure. I can...help you, if you want...."

"As if you have a heart to speak of yourself....."

"You tried to have me killed!..."

"...payed the price for disloyalty when....dissapeared. You must do the SAME!"

"Don't mock me!...."

"I really should stop talking to myself...."

"My show now, Keyblade Master. Oh, who am I? The name's Axel. Got it Memorized?"

"I'm Larxene. So, are you enjoying you stay in Castle Oblivion?"

"....And end up becoming Marluxia's pawn!"

"I, Lexaeus, will not yeild to the heart of an infantile coward."

"My Names Xinck and yes I know it sounds like the element Zinc, but it's spelled completely different. Now, come on, but remember, I can't promise I won't try to kill you...."

"I am Vexen, and I'm here to collect your debt, Sora...."

"Break the curse with your cards..."

"Your Heart shall be judged!..."

"You're just a toy!..."

"Don't make me mad!...."

"Here it comes!..."

"Feel the freezing chill!..."

"Come! Try your best!..."

"Your End Is near!.."

Luxord woke with a fright. He quickly got up and ran out the room. He ran up and down several flights of stairs, down long hallways. Then he got lost and remembered that he could just use a dark portal. He exited out of the portal and in front of the refrigerator. He opened it, looked around, then his face sank in despair and he fell to his knees and yelled,

"Why!? Why is the rum always gone!?"

* * *

Axel was in Castle Oblivion, walking the hallways towards Marluxia's room. Due to the ruls that Marluxia had set in the Castle, It was Axel's turn to wake Marluxia from his 'Beauty Sleep'. To pass the time, he sang himself a sang.

"_I am Axel, I am Great! I am XIII's Number Eight!_"

Axel eventually came to a door with an elegant white floral design on the Doorway. Obviously Marluxia's room, because Axel had white fire designs on his door, Lightning over Larxene's and Skulls over Xinck's and so on and so forth.

"Okay. Here we go." he sighed. He opened the door and in a dark room he saw a huge pillar-like structure raised in the center of the room. The structure had a spiral staircase twirling down the side and a beautiful fur-lined curtain concealing the top of the pillar.

"Drama Queen." Axel said. He didn't enter the room, but he flipped a switch on the wall near him and he started to leave. But before he left, he said the phrase that Marluxia had instructed everyone to say when they woke him.

"Time to get up, Marluxia. Your public awaits." and he shut the door behind him.

The switch had been flipped and it caused the curtain around the top of the pillar to move around, revealing the top of the structure. It was covererd in a palete of multi-colored pillars and in the center of it was Marluxia, stirring in his sleep. As the curtain moved away, Marluxia slowly got up. He was wearing a long robe around his body and he had curlers in his hair and he scratched his head and yawned as he walked down the spiral staircase.

He made his way down the stairs and as he walked, light started to fill the room and it could be seen in it's entireity. The room had pale beautiful yellow walls and a large window/door that lead to a balcony. In the corner of the room was a large vanity mirror, a counter lined with various beauty products and a chair for sitting.

Marluxia walked over to his vanity mirror, crawled onto the chair and then he got a good look at himself. He gasped at how he looked in the morning and he started rubbing his face and singing.

"_Boy, we've got work to do._" he grabbed several hair and beauty products, "_Pass me the paint and glue_."

He quickly applied all of his products to his hair and face with such proficiency that could only be achieved through years of practice. When he was finished and he looked the way he always did and he smiled into the mirror.

"_Perfect isn't easy, but..It's...me!_" he continued singing, shaking the curlers out of his hair, "_When one knows the world is watching, one does what one must."_

He got up and danced gracefully towards a statue to himself, "S_ome minor adjustments darling, not for my vanity, but for humanity!"_

He continued to dance around the tiled floor of his room, "_Each little step and pose, shows how the breeding goes!_" He threw himself on more pillows surrounded by pictues of himself, "_Sometimes it's too much for even me! But when all the worlds say 'Yes' then who am I to say 'No'. _

He started to dance again, "_Don't ask a mutt to strut like a show girl! No, girl, you need a pro!"_

He made his way over to the balcony window, opened it and several blue birds flew in, "_Not a fleet or a flaw,"_ he sang, "_Take a look at that paw! La la la la la! Perfection becomes me, nest ce pas?"_

He ran over to his closet and ran inside it and he started to change clothes, singing as he went, "_Jaws, drop. Hearts, stop. So classic and classy, we're not talking Lassie!"_

He burst out of his closet wearing his black cloak, except he had on a long flowing pink cape floating carelessly around him and he glided over to the balcony and the birds followed, flying around him. And he sang out the window at the top of his lungs.

"And....LA..AAA! AROO! AROOO! ARUFF RUFF RUFFF!"

In the kitchen, Axel, Larxene and Xinck could here Marluxia barking all over the Castle

"Is he barking?" asked Larxene

"Yep. He does this every day." said Axel, "Same song and same choreography."

"It's creepy." said Xinck, "We should videotape it and put it on YouTube!"

"Yeah, It'll be bigger than 'Chocolate Rain' and 'Numa Numa' put together!" said Axel.

Marluxia jumped back into the room fro the balcony and started dancing towards the door

"_Tho' many covet my face and grace, They're barking up the wrong tree! You pretty girls all over the city, I have your hearts and you have my pity!"_

He walked out of the door, birds still flying gracefully behind him, towards a set of stairs, _"Pretty is nice, but still it's just pretty! Perfect, my dears...." _He started sauntering gracefully down the stairs as they birds danced around him and he held the last note of his song all they way until he got to the bottom of the stairs, "_ ...is Me-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e!"_ he reached the bottom of the stairs and struck a pose.

Then Marluxia walked into the kitchen with Axel, Larxene and Xinck at the table. "Alright," Marluxia said, "Xinck you get to wake me up tomorrow and I'll be singing Promiscuous Girl."

"Oh, joy. Lucky me." he replied sarcastically.

* * *

This one is about how the Residents of Dark City reacted to the Organization taking up residents in their city. In short they were not happy about it.

"Yeah, I'd like 6 large Pepperoni Pizzas with mushrooms and Canadian Bacon." said Xigbar, ordering a pizza, "Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah. The Address? It's a Huge, floating white castle at the edge of Despair street. You can't miss it. Alright, bye."

Xigbar hung up the phone and started walking way, then the phone rang again. "Hello?" he said, picking up the phone, "No, there's no Baron Von HugenDong here-"

"Xigbar, Xigbar, Xigbar!" called Xaldin, snatching the phone away from him and talking into it, "Yeah, baby, I'm here. Naked."

Xigbar shuddered and summoned a Dark Portal around himself and disapearing. But elswhere in The Dark City, in the Community Center, the city was holding a meeting to discuss the New residents of the city. At least 300 people had shown up to the meeting.

"I want them the fuck out of my city! Rabble! Rabble, rabble, rabble !" yelled one out-raged citizen. He was standing up in his seat, trying to get the mayor of the Dark City, Mr. Bare Derrière, to Order those 'Monsters' out of the City.

"Look, people, " said Mayor Derrière, "I spoke wih their Leader and he said that they have no intention to cause any harm to our World. I don't see what the big deal is."

"The Deal is that they are Murderers!" yelled a woman

"Monsters!" yelled a man.

"Heathen!" shouted another

"Their giant castle destroyed the strip club I used to go to!" yelled another man, "Now where am I supposed to go and get awy from my wife and two girlfriends?!"

"Think of the Children!" yelled a woman.

"I knew no good would come from 'Those' Types!" yelled Old-man Jenkins(Everyone place has an Old man Jenkins)

"Have you not seen that giant-heart thing at the top? They are obviously planning somethin!" shouted an old lady, "A nude love-in, perhaps? I'm game!"

"Rabble!" shouted a man, causing everyone else in the room to start chanting, "Rabble, Rabble, Rabble, Rabble!"

"Well," started the mayor, " Shouting, 'Rabble, Rabble', isn't going to solve anything. What do you all suppose we do? Even if we asked them to, theere is probably no chance that they would leave."

"Then we shall make them." came a voice. The entire meeting hall turned towards the entrance of a room to see a man standing in the niddle of the doorway. A tall, well-built man with fair skin, black beared and hair. He was wearing a black outfit, with a long jacket, giving him the look that he was wearing a cape, hanging over his body. And he had various weapons stapped around his body.

"Radcliffe Leroux." said the Mayor, "What are you doing here?"

"I am simply here to serve my community." he said in a sophisticated voice. "I've seen their kind before and all you can expect from them is pain and turmoil. If we are to live in prosperity, then we must strike first and end it before it becomes too late to stop them."

"Now, Radcliffe, there is no need to resort to viole-"

"I agree with Radcliffe!" shouted a man. And he was quickly joined by the majority of the Room. And they chanted his name, "Ratcliffe! Ratcliffe! Ratcliffe!"

Radcliffe walked up the aisle and to the stage. He pushed the mayor away from the podium and sang to the people, _"What can you expect? From filthy little heathens? Their whole disgusting race is like a curse. They are a hellish dread, they're only good when dead, they're vermin, as I said and worse!... _

Members of the meeting stood up and shouted, _"They're Savages! Savages!"_

"_Barely even Human!" _said Radcliffe

"_Savages! Savages!"_

"_Drive them from our shore!" _he continued, _"They're not like you and me, which means they must be evil! We must sound the drums of war!"_

Radcliffe and the entire Meeting Committee started marching out of the Community Center to gather weapons, guns, knives, torches, pitchforks and other pointy objects to Kill Organization XIII and they sang as they got their equipment, _"They're Savages! Savages! Dirty Wretched Devils! Now we sound the drums of War!"_

They had gathered their weapons and were now headed towards the Castle for an assualt.

"_This is what we feared. The Dark ones are demons. The only thing the feel at all is evil."_ Sang Radcliffe

"_Beneath their jackets hides, their emptiness inside."_ sang an old lady, holding a Nine Millimeter hand gun.

"_I wonder if they even bleed?!"_ yelled a man.

"_They're Savages! Savages!" _they all sang, _"Barely even Human! Savages! Savages!"_

"_Killers at the core!" _yelled Radcliffe, _"They're Different from us, which means they can't be trusted!"_

"_We must sound the drums of war!" s_houted an old man.

"_Lets go kill a few, men!_" shouted Radcliffe. Then they all sang as they approached The Brink of Despair, _"No we Sound The Drums...Of...WAR!"_

They halted at the edge of The Brink of Despair, The Castle that Never Was looming over them. Radcliffe, at the head of the angry mob, started shouting at the Castle.

"Nobodies! Come out and face us! We want you out of our City! Now! Nobodies! Show yourselves!"

At the top of one of the Many Towers of the Castle, a figure appeared. He was to far away to see, but his voice was very loud and carryed all the way to the Ears of the Angry Mob.

"What?" shouted the figure in a surfer accent, "Dude, are you the Pizza guy?!"

"What?-No!" shouted Radcliffe, "We are here to eliminate your kind from the face of our World! Come down here and bring your friends so that we can use the Pimple Cream of Justice and Righteousness to Destroy the Pimple of your kinds existence off the face of Existence!"

"So, your not the pizza guy?"

"NO!"

"Alright then." the figure disapeared and then reapeared in the same spot. He held something over the edge of the Tower, something resembling a gun. Then out from the gun, thousands of red laser bullets rained down from the Tower and onto the mob, killing them all in a quick and brutal way.

"See? This would have been a lot easier if you had just brought pizza!" yelled the figure.

* * *

This next one is about a story idea I had that I mentioned earlier a few chapters ago. But I said I couldn't do it because I didn't have anywhere to go with it, so heres the only part I could come up with.

30 fans of Organization XIII, a mix of both boys and girls, had been given the oppurtunity to meet the Organization. They had been magically transported from their world to the World That Never Was. They were given the insrtuctions to wait at The Brink of Despair and wait for a member to come and greet them. Of Course they would have to wait because the Castle is Floating above a giant ditch. The entire group was taking up the entire area of The Brink of Despair and they were giddy with excitement. Some were dressed in latex black robes and had colorful hair styles to mimic their favorite member and others just had on T-shirts with sayings like, 'Xigbar can have my Bigrax' and 'Mansex and Saix 4ever'

One girl, who's name was Penelope, was a chunky, brown-haired girl who looked a fat version of Ugly Betty. She was wearing a fake black cloak and was carring a a pink card-board cutout of Marluxia's scythe. She was acompanied by her older sister, Val, who was wearing all black and had a goth motif, complete with dark eyeliner. She was obviously not happy to be here.

"So," said Val, "When are these Freaks of Nature supposed to be here?"

Penelope gasped, "They are not freaks! I finally have a chance to meet Marluxia, Axel and Roxas! Why did you come here anyway? You don't even like Kingdom Hearts."

"I came, because I know little fanatic freaks like you will pay big money for a lock of hair of that Roxas kid and I'm running low on my Cigarette funds."

"I wouldn't try that if I were you. They might kill you."

"Oh, please. As if some kid with a house-key is gonna kill me."

Suddenly, out from the crowd, another girl with blond hair and a white T-shirt that read, 'Roxas, Roxas, Rox and Nox my Sox!' jumped up and down and yelled in a valley girl accent, "Like, Oh Em Gee, like, when are they coming? I want my BF, Roxas, like, seriously!" This girls name was Brittany

"Tool." said Val.

Then, a rumble shook Th Brink of Despair. And it stopped as soon as it had came and music started to play, seemingly out of nowhere. The Organization's Theme Song. Some were excited and others were a little frightened.

"Look!" yelled one girl, pointing towards the Castle Door. A dark light was heading towards the Brink and the Fans stood back as the dark light made contact with the ground, creating a bridge wide enough for everyone to walk up to the Castle door. Then a voice called, "Walk. If you dare."

No one moved for a minute, then the girl Brittany stepped forward, saying, "Like, I totally don't know about the rest of you, but, like, I'm going to get my Hubby!" and she started to make her way up the pathway and soon the othe fans followed suit.

Halfway up the path, the voice spoke again, "Continue walking. If you dare." and everyone started walking faster. Evntually the voice came back and said, "Dare. If you dare." everyone was a little confused, but continued walking until they finally made it to the Grand Door and stopped.

Brittany had sunk back into the crowd and now only a few fans were up front, directly in front of the door. They were just teenagers, with pimply, pale skin. Only two of them were wearing Organization coats. One had a white wig, obviously trying to mimic Xemnas. He even had Star-Wars lightsabers taped to his wrist on the inside of his jacket. He would even look just like Xemnas if he didn't look so damn pathetic. His build was nowhere near Xemnas's and his skin was too pale. About as pale as the fat Larxene next to him, with yellow painted plastic knives between her fingers.

Then the voice called out again and everyone fell silent. "Welcome to the Castle that the Damned call home. Here in this World...of Nothingness!!!

Everyone cringed, thinking that a blast of Energy was going to kill them all. Instaed, a Corridor of Darkness opened up and out stepped a figure with his hood up. And immedietly they all started cheering and randomly shouting out names of the Organization.

The figure tried to calm and silence everyone. "Okay, okay, calm down..."

They continued to cheer

"Settle down everyone. I am...."

The continued cheering

"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU FUTURE BURGER FLIPPERS!!" shouted the figure and everyone instantly shut up.

"Now," continued the figure, "I'm sure that all of your checks have cleared and if they did, then you get to Tour the Castle and meet the Organization. Lucky you."

The figure started walking closer to the crowd of fans and looking everyone over. People tried to peer into his hood to get a closer look at his face, but they couldn't see inside his hood. After looking the crowd over, he made his way back to the door. He was about to speak again, until...

"And, like, who the hell are you?" asked Brittany.

The figure turned around, took of his hood to reveal Jet-black hair and light brown skin, "I'm Xinck. Number 14."

Xinck revealing himself was met with murmers and whispers, like, 'I've never heared of Xinck' and 'Wow, he's kinda hot.'

"Uh, like, BS, I, like, totally read the Organization's Article on Wikipedia and there is no Member named Xinck. Xion is the 14th member." yelled Brittany.

"Well, like, Mrs. Valley Girl," said Xinck, doing a perfect imatation, "One thing they won't tell you on Wikipedia is that the Organization had a lot of 14th members and they all either died or were abandond by the Organization. I just so happened to have lasted longer and Xion, well....thats a different story."

"Like, whatever."

Xinck started walking back to the door after muttering, 'Annoying Bitch.' Then he noticed on his right shoulder a plastic red tube. He turned around and saw it was the pale Teenager that had dressed like Xemnas. Xinck turned and faced him.

"Halt there." said Pale Xemnas, "As your Superior, I order you to show me your power as the 14th member."

"Dude, you look nothing like Xemnas at all."

"Yes, I do!" he yelled back, breaking character.

"If Xemnas had a heart, he would be weeping because of your pathetic attempt to imitate him."

"Oh." said Pale Xemnas, dejectedly, "Your words, they stab at my entrails."

"It's a good thing." said Xinck. He started walking back to the Door, when he noticed the fat Larxene.

"Huh? Oh, pity....HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Xinck laughed derisively. He opened the door and led everyone inside into a huge white and gray room, with pieces of the metal fixtures visible through the floor. The room was decorated with pillars and random tubes that ran through the walls and ceiling.

Xinck talked and led them through the room, "This is the Main Entrance Hall of the Castle known as The Abysmal Beginning. It wasn't seen in Kingdom Hearts 2 because, from what I hear, Sora entered in from the side entrance. Now if I can direct you over here-"

"Do you know Roxas?" asked a random teenager from the crowd.

Xinck sighed, "Yes. Now, if we can go over-"

"What's he like?"

"He's a very complicated teenager."

"Are you two friends?"

"Yes."

"What about Axel?"

"He's my friend too. Now, if we can continue on with the tour-"

"Like, no one cares about the tour!" yelled Brittany, "We want to meet the Organization!"

Xinck sighed again, "The Organization will join us on the Tour when we get to the designated points."

"I want Roxas to Tour us! Your not even really part of The Organization!"

Xinck growled and ran over to Brittany, "I've been to Hundreds of Worlds, taken a countless number of hearts and slaughterd Thousands of people by the Order of the Organization! You can't tell me I'm not part of the Organization, you stuck-up, pompous mall-shopping valley-girl!"

Brittany scoffed, "Like, do you know who I am? I'm Brittany Lindermins of the California Lindermins. My daddy can sue the shit out of your ass!"

"I've strangled people with their on entrails. What makes you think I won't do it you?!"

"You don't have the balls. Besides, you can kill me, but you still won't be part of the Organization. The truth is, you're ugly and you're just some weird black guy that weasled himself into The Organization. You probably should have just died with those other 14th members." she said smugly, looking Xinck up and down. Judging him with he eyes.

Inside, Xinck's blood boiled and he growled, small sparks of Black Lightning zooming over his hands. Then he immedietly calmed down and a cool expression washed over his face and he spoke with a calm tone.

"Hey, your name is Brittany, right?"

"...Like, yeah."

"And I bet that you are a huge Roxas-fan?"

"Like, Oh my gosh, totally!" she said, her expression becoming lighter.

"Well, why don't I take you on a special tour. I'll show you where Roxas takes a shower."

Brittany started screaming and jumping up and down and hugging Xinck, "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Like, yes, yes, yes!"

"Come on. This way," said Xinck, leading Brittany around a corner and hiding themselves from view of the other fans. "If you're lucky, you might be able to find one of his pubic hairs."

"Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!"

Xinck's and Brittany's words were the only things that the other fans could hear. Then they heared Xinck's voice again. " This is what you get for calling people ugly!" then they heared the swirling of energy, Brittany screaming loudly and the peircing of a sword, cleaving flesh and bone. They heared and saw the splattering of blood against they walls and floor.

Xinck came out from around the corner whistling a tune. The left-side of his face was covered splattered with blood. Not his. And parts of his cloak also had blood on them.

"Anyone else want to question my rank in the Organization?"

Everyone shook their heads, 'No'

"That's right. I graduated from 10th grade and I don't have to take shit from anyone. Now, if we can continue with the tour...."

Eventually, the tour group had made it to The Hall of Empty Melodies.

"And I think you all would love to know, that The Hall of Empty Melodies was named by Demyx." said Xinck.

Another fan raised their hand.

"Yes, you, guy that tried and failed miserably to dress like Luxord." Xinck pointed to him.

"How old are you? And did you die in Chain of Memories or Kingdom Hearts 2?"

"I'm 15, and at this point in time I'm not allowed to say which game I died in."

"Well, why didn't they put you in the game?"

"Tetsuya Nomura said that no one would be able to relate to me and that I was too...um..what's the word?"

"Psycho?" came a random voice.

"Who the fuck called me pyscho?! I'll kill you!"

Out of nowhere another figure jumped of the ledge and directly in front of Xinck and the fans. Roxas. He was greeted with the usual response that someone like him would be meet with; cheering and screaming.

"Okay. Okay. Calm down." said Roxas and everyone quieted down at his word.

"Kiss-Asses!" yelled Xinck.

"Why are you covered in blood?" asked Roxas.

"Oh, you know me, I killed someone."

"Oh. I thought you had a period."

"Kiss the fattest part of my Ass."

"Hey, Roxas, are you gay with Axel?" asked another random voice.

"No! You sick pervert!"

"Roxas, have my babies!" shouted another fan from the crowd.

"Yeah, I'm gonna pass on that. Now, I'll do the tour. If everyone can follow me this way." Roxas said Leading the tour group farther into the Hall.

"I'll follow you to hell and back." said the fat Larxene, staring at the back of Roxas's head. The Tour continued onward, each member appearing in order from Roxas to Xemnas. When they got to Larxene, she almost died laughing at the Fat Version of Herself. The fat Larxene commited suicide 5 days later. When Marluxia had arrived at the Tour, some fat girl, carrying a cut-out Scythe, almost died from a heart-attack. When Luxord, Demyx and Axel came around, all the fans yelled out, 'I'd rather we skip the formalities.' and 'Dance, Water, Dance!' and of course, 'Got it Memorized?'. When they came across Saix, they kept asking him to go Berserk. No one cared or seemed to notice that Zexion, Lexaeus,Vexen, or Xaldin joined the tour( they just stood n the back and complained). When Xigbar joined, everyone asked him to take off his eyepatch or shoot them for fun. Then, they got to the Alter of Naught....

"Okay,' said Xigbar, "Everyone be quiet and wait for Xemnas to say something."

"Of course. We all ways have to wait for him to finish brooding over his Kingdom Hearts." said Axel.

Walking up the outside spiral staircase to The Altar of Naught, Xigbar held up his hand, giving the signal for everyone to stop and shut up. Then he whispered, "I'll see what he's doing."

"WHAT?!" yelled Vexen from the back of the Tour, "Speak up! I can't hear you from back here!"

"Shut up, old man! You're gonna ruin everything!" yelled/ whispered Axel.

"You don't get to talk to me anymore, Axel!" yelled Vexen, "You..uh...you!" he turned to Zexion, "Zexion give me an insult to yell at Axel."

Zexion whispered something in Vexen's ear. Then Vexen yelled back, "You, Axel, are a...uh.. homosexual!"

"Just shut up, old man! We're trying to do something here!"

"Ha! You are so angry that I just questioned you're sexual orientation!"

"SHUT UP VEXEN!" yelled the entire tour group. Then Vexen finally shut up.

" 'Bout time." said Xigbar, "Now...." he teleported away from the group and appeared at the top of The Alter. Xemnas was at the edge, worshipping his Broken Kingdom Hearts.

"Yesss, Kingdom... Heartssss." Then Xemnas lowered his hands behind him and scratched his butt. Xigbar clapped a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing and teleported back down to the tour group.

"He was scratching his Ass!" yelled Xigbar., laughing. Everyone joined in the laughter. Then after everyone had gotten the funnies out of that, the walked up to The Alter, where Xemnas greeted them.

"Welcome to My Castle, " said Xemnas, "I hope you all enjoyed the tour. Now, I'm sure that you all had questions that were not answered by the Other Members, and if you read on your flyers that if you pay extra, we will allow a quick Q&A. So, who brought their money?"

Everyone raised their hands full of Cash.

"Excellent. Cash-o-matic, Go!" Xemnas waved his hand and a huge vacuum-like machine appeared and sucked away everyone's money. The money reapeared in Xemnas's hands and he counted it.

"Yes. Everything seems to be in order. On to the Q&A." Xemnas waved his hand and dozens of chairs appeared. 14 of them for the Organization and the rest for the tour. Everyone took their seat and Xemnas spoke again, "Now, who would like to start?"

All of the fans raised their hands in eager anticipation and Xemnas pointed at one. She was a regular girl dressed in a white shirt and jeans with a Nobody-symbol necklace around her neck.

"My questions for Roxas. Why are you still with the Organization? Didn't you join back with Sora?"

"I did, but we had irreconcilable differences." said Roxas.

"Like what?"

"We had different ways of spelling irreconcilable."

"....But that doesn't make any sense."

"It doesn't have to. Next question." The girl sat down and Roxas picked another girl with her hand up. She stood up and spoke, "Hi, my name is Karen and my question is for Everyone. How old are you all? And tell the truth!"

"What a strange question, "said Xemnas, "I'm 35"

"I'm 29! Ha! Told you i'm not just any old dude!" said Xigbar.

"31" said Xaldin, "And still kicking ass!"

"I'm Ancient! Duh!" yelled Vexen.

"32." said Lexaeus.

"24." said Zexion.

"22" said Saix.

"22." said Axel,

"19! And still young!" yelled Demyx.

"26." said Luxord

"21" said Marluxia "A beautiful age."

"19." said Larxene.

"15" said Roxas.

"15" said Xinck, "Although, I'm pretty sure I said that earlier. Next question!" Xinck pointed to a guy who was wearing his hair blond hair like Axel's.

"Yeah, uh, my Question is for Xinck. If you were in a yaoi couple, who would you want to be with? Xemnas, Marluxia or Saix?"

Xinck's jaw dropped, "Uh...What?"

Roxas, Axel, Demyx, Xigbar, Luxord, and Larxene burst out laughing.

Then Xemnas turned to Xinck, "Yes, tell us, who you would want to be with."

"You can't be serious."

"Answer the question, Xinck!" yelled Marluxia, "Who would you want mounting you?!"

"AH! Don't say it like that!" Xinck yelled.

Xemnas said, "I think I would be a top. But I could be a bottom. A reluctant bottom."

"Answer the question, Xinck." said Saix, trying not to make eye contact with anyone.

"Uh..uh" Xinck stammered, "Okay, okay. Um..I guess Saix."

Everyone started laughing, except Saix who pulled up his hood, got up and left. Then Axel was able to calm down a little and ask, "Why?"

"Well, "started Xinck, "Xemnas seems like the kind of person who would love you and leave you, y'know, like, a One-night stand. And when were we done with it, I would ask him, 'Why wouldn't you look at me during?' and he would ignore me, leave and I would stay in the bed and cry. And Marluxia looks like he would be a selfish lover. Only concerned with his satisfaction, like he would just use me and not even ask how was my day or anything. But Saix looks like he has something deeper going on, like he would actually try to romance me, then we do the business and when we were done, we'd cuddle."

"Gay." said Xigbar.

"You're Gay!" yelled Xinck, "Next fucking Question!"

The Q&A continued, each member being asked specific question about themselves. Everyone except Lexaeus. Poor guy.

"_This is unacceptable!"_ thought Lexaeus, _"I'm funny! And no one asks me anything! I'm hip. I'm cool. Do the children still say cool? Damn, I need to get back in the loop, so that the next time something happens, I won't be left out of the loop! Hahaha! Now, what can I do to get their attention? Mmmm... I know! I've got it!...._

"...And thats why I decided to..." Marluxia glanced at Xemnas, "'Try' and overthrow the Organization." he looked at Xemnas again, "Now that I think about it, the whole thing just seems like pure idiocy and madness."

"No," said Lexaeus, standing up, "This isn't madness. THIS IS SPARTA!!"

Everyone started at Lexaeus in silence. Then, Xemnas broke the silence, "Riiiiiiggghhht. Number V if you can just settle down-"

"It was from 300."

"I know. I saw the movie."

"It was a good movie."

"Once again, I know. I-"

"It was not historically accurate."

"Go Away, Lexaeus."

"Okay." Lexaeus pulled up his hood and walked away.

"Next question." said Xemnas. He picked a boy who was a greasy, pale, teenage version of Xemnas. The boy ran up closer to The Organization and got down on his knee.

"No one likes a kiss-ass." said Xinck.

"My Lords and Lady," he said, acknowledging the males and female, "My question is for Superior II. May I please ask this question, Lord Xigbar?"

"'Kay." said Xigbar. "Wow, I wish the real Xemnas would bow to me."

"Oh, go suck a fat one, Braig." said Xemnas.

"My Lord, Xigbar, My question is this. What is behind your eypatch?"

Xigbar chuckled, "Alright. I'll show you what's under here, but be warned, those with weak constitutions who have gazed behind the eypatch have either died, crapped their pants or died crapping their pants. Of course when you die you crap your pants, but either way there will be some serious crapping."

"Thats how we lost one of the first members who was named Analsex." said Axel.

"Yeah," said Larxene, " I remember that guy. Nice guy. Bad luck, though."

"Here I go." said Xigbar, placing a hand around his eyepatch. He started to slowly move it and everyone leaned in closer, waiting for him to take it off. Then he ripped it off to reveal....his other golden/yellow eye.

"Ha! What'd you think it was?" said Xigbar.

"But, My Lord, if you have both eyes, why the eypatch?" asked greasy teenage Xemnas.

"Dude, my eyepatch has 2 functions. 1 if I'm facing one way and my target is behind me, I can shoot my vision all over the field. Thats how I can aim so perfectly behind me. 2 it makes for a good disguise in Port Royal." he put the eypatch back on, "Arrg, ye Bitches!"

"AAAHH!" yelled Demyx.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Luxord.

"My pants! I crapped 'em! Aaah! I crapped 'em!" Demyx yelled, running out of the Alter, holding the back of his pants.

"Well," said Xemnas, "That was stupid. Let's continue. Next Question, please."

A girl raised his hand and stood up, wearing a good Xemnas costume, " This one's for Zexion. Will you kiss me?"

"Mmm, Okay." Zexion casually walked over to the girl and and kissed her on the cheek. She giggled, then kissed him on the lips. He looked her in the eyes, then started French kissing, loudly and obnoxiously. Tounges and spit flying in every direction.

"Uh," said Zexion, barely taking taking his mouth off to breath, "I'm just gonna go to my room! Oh, yeah!" Then he teleported himself and the girl away.

"His gonna go and make babies, isn't he?" asked Roxas

"I always thought Zexion was gay." said Axel, "Next question."

A boy stood up, wearing a T-shirt that said Organization 13, said, "A question for everyone. What do you do when you think no one is looking? And be honest!"

"I sing _Viva La Vida_ by ColdPlay," said Xemnas, "I don't know why, I just do."

"I bite my nails." said Xigbar.

"I play with my favorite dreadlock," said Xaldin, It's the one right behind my left ear. I call him Harry."

"I...pick my nose." said Vexen.

"I tap my foot to songs from the Sweeny Todd movie." said Axel.

"I pick my ears...then sniff it," said Luxord, "I am ashamed of myself."

"When people aren't looking at me I am secretly more beautiful than they can imagine." said Marluxia, "I know it probably doesn't make sense to you but it makes sense in my head."

"I bite my lip." said Larxene.

" I don't know," said Roxas, "If anything, I guess I just stare blankly into space."

"Sometimes, when I think no one is looking," said Xinck, "I rub AND touch myself. I have problems."

"The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem." said Luxord.

"I just did."

"ADMIT IT! Next Question!"

A girl stood up, wearing a Blue wig, an homage to Saix, and said, "Vexen, you're a scientist, right?"

"Yes, I suppose." he replied.

"Well answer me this, If a tree falls down in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

"Uh..uh.." Vexen stammered, "Well sound is...when...the ears receive soundwaves but if no one is around to hear it...it...uh..I DON"T KNOW!!!" Vexen started shaking.

"What is the sound of one hand clapping?!" yelled the girl.

"AAAH! I can't answer that, either!" Vexen yelled, then his hand started shaking uncontrollably, "Ah, crap, here comes a seizure!" his eys went wide and he fell to the floor, shaking.

"Well, "said Xigbar, standing up, walking up to Vexen and placing his foot on Vexen's Seizing body, "It's been a time and a half and I'm sure no one wants to see an Old Man Die."

"Too True," said Xemnas, standing up and disapearing into a Dark Portal, "I grow bored of this Q&A. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."

"But, how are we supposed to get home?" asked someone from the group.

"It's not my problem." said Xigbar, "Matter of Fact, Xinck, you handle it. Massive Effect Teleportation."

"Okay." Xinck held up his hand and a dark ball appeared and quickly all of the fans started disapearing in clouds of black smoke, until all of them were gone.

"Where'd you send them?" asked Luxord.

"_Je ne sais pas_," said Xinck in perfect Fucking French, "Hell, probably. But there's always a 75 percent chance that they went home."

"What do you guys wanna do now?" asked Axel, "We have a day off."

"I don't know," said Roxas, "What_ do_ we do on Days Off?"

This wasn't cannon to the story, just something I was thinking about.

* * *

Well Thats It, I guess I'll go and Start on Castle Oblivion. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!


	15. Castle OblivionPart 1

AAAAHH! 358/2 Days has to hurry up and come out! I can't take it anymore! I'm serious, the wait is literally killing me! And I'm trying to keep myself from looking up SPOILERS! It's hard! And Writing a Fanfiction is not helping that much anymore!

Anywhoo, Heres The Castle Oblivion chapters, I don'y know how long it will take, but...whatever, just read it.

READ, ENJOY AND REVIEW!!

* * *

Within the past few weeks of The Organization occupying Castle Oblivion, Sveral events have taken place. Vexen, fed up with Marluxia and the constant disrespect from Axel, Larxene and Xinck, has taken Zexion and Lexaeus to the Underground part of The Castle, to handle their own research.

Since Vexen has been in The Castle, he has been working on a project known as The Replica Project 2. he says that it should be completed within a few more days. All he has to do is input the remaining necessary data, that determines appearance, personality, memories and power.

Marluxia and Larxene have been, for weeks, planning to take over the Organization using Sora and Namine. They say that they are willing to let Axel and Xinck in on their plans, but are wary in trusting them. Marluxia has said, only to Larxene, that it is less likely that The Underground would betray Xemnas, so when they have Sora under their control, he'll order Sora to kill them.

Axel has been watching Their behavior and is already growing more suspicious of their Plans. He says that he will do whatever is necessary to 'Sniff out the Traitor'. Even if it means taking out a friend. He secretly hopes it doesn't come to that.

As of yet, Xinck does not know everything that is going on and has not had the chance to ask any questions, because Larxene, trying to distract him from getting in the way and possibly ruining their plans, has ordered him to 'Make sure the Castle stays free of Dirt and Shit.' so he has been cleaning for weeks. Xinck's hatred for Larxene and his indifference to the other members has caused him to only trust Axel, his only confirmed friend in the Castle.

Axel was walking through one of the main rooms of the Castle. The rooms that are all the same on all 25 floors of the main building. He was thinking of Xemnas's order to Marluxia to study the Keyblade master. What was the point? To get their Hearts back in the end? What about Namine, what will we do when her usefulness has run out? Then there was Marluxia and Larxene. Saix had told him that there was a traitor in the Castle and he had to find them and end them. Axel was already suspecting something was up with those Two, but he needed proof first. And there is also the possibility that Someone in The Underground is the Traitor.

Then there was Xinck. Axel stopped in the middle of the hallway and continued thinking. Xinck wouldn't be the traitor, would he? Xinck was Axel's friend and he couldn't figure out if Xinck would betray the Organization or not. Could I kill him if it came down to that?

Axel continued walking, trying not to think of killing Xinck. He walked into another plain white room and saw Xinck on his hands and knees, scrubbing the floor.

"Hey, Xinck." said Axel.

"Not now. These stains are impossible!"

"The floor looks fine to me."

"It would seem at first glance that the floor is clean, but, upon closer inspection you can see this huge black spot, right under me! And look, there's one under you!"

"Thats called a Shadow. You're Umbrakinetic, you should know a shadow when you see one."

Xinck chuckled and got up off the floor and walked over to Axel. "Yeah, I was just kidding. I'm just pretending to clean so that Larxene will get of my ass. She's officially on my shit list."

"Your what?"

"My Shit list. My revenge list. I'll not be soon forgetting the outrages I have suffered in this Castle! I won't forget..these outrages!...Because these outrages-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, outrages and all that. Now I have something serious to ask you."

"What is it?"

"It's-"

Before Axel could ask his question, Marluxia emerged from a dark portal with his hood down. He walked over to Axel and Xinck.

"Good evening you two." he said, a half-smile on his face, "Xemnas's order for us to Research the Keyblade master is about to begin. Sora is near the Castle and I am on my way to 'entice' him to come. So I want you two to go to The Observation Room with Larxene."

"What could The Superior hope to accomplish by bringing Sora to the Castle?" asked Axel with a grin.

"Any and all data concerning the means by which we will become whole again is always welcome," said Marluxia, "If The Superior requests we study Sora and his power, then all we can do is oblige him and obey."

"Mmm" Axel replied.

"Marluxia, I have a question," said Xinck, "The card system of the Castle. Could you explain it to me again?"

"Sure. You have Magic, attack and Item cards. Each card is marked with a number 0-9. if you use an attack card and your opponent does use any cards, then your attack will be successful. But if he uses a card marked with a higher number, then your attack is negated and you'll receive damage, unless you play a Zero marked card. Zeroes negate everything, but only after you play it after your opponent plays a higher card."

"Mmm. So the Zero acts as a trunp card?"

"Yes," said Marluxia, "But only if you play it after your opponent plays a higher card."

"Alright. I think I got it."

"Good. Now you two go to The Observation Room. I'm going to Sora." Marluxia said as he pulled up his hood. 3 Dark Portals appeared for Axel, Marluxia and Axel. Marluxia disappeared first and while Axel and Xinck vanished, Axel whispered, "We'll talk later."

Nighttime. Out and faraway from Castle Oblivion in a green Meadow, was a boy and his two friends, who were already fast asleep. Sora. He was lying in a clearing, thinking of his other two friends that. The one that he had already saved and the one he was going to save. Then he raised his hand and in it, he summoned his weapon, the Keyblade. He had had this weapon for awhile now and he still often wondered, "How the hell does this thing cut anything?" but he never asked that question often. Suddenly he sat straight up and saw far ahead of him a man in a black cloak, slightly hovering above the ground.

Sora sat up and looked closely at the man, but he couldn't see his face which was obscured by his hood. Then the man spoke.

"Ahead lies something you need," said The Hooded Man as he started to fade away, "But to claim it, you must lose something dear to you."

Then he was gone.

"Wait, what?! Come back!" Sora said, looking around frantically.

"Behind you." Sora turned around and saw the man standing behind him. Sora ran to him, but he quickly disappeared again and left Sora alone with his sleeping friends.

"Ahyuck." said one of them, Goofy, "Beans, beans, the magical fruit. The more you eat 'em the more you poot." he sang in his sleep as he farted.

"Eww! Goofy, stop polluting!" yelled Sora.

Goofy woke up, rubbed his eyes and said, "It's my gas, I'll do what I want with it."

Goofy and Sora started arguing, louder and louder, until they woke up their other friend, Donald, "It's too early for you two to be yelling like retards!"

"Donald, your not supposed to say retard. It's offensive to some people." said Sora.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Donald, "I didn't know your mother would take offense."

"My mother was a saint!"

"Retarded saint."

"Grr!" Sora ran up to Donald and Donald ran up to him, about to fight. But Goofy stepped in the middle to stop them, "Guys, guys, stop! Calling people Retarted Saints is not very Disney-y. Apologize."

After everyone had made up, they continued on their Journey to find Riku and their King, eventually realizing that the meadow was getting thinner and thinner and the road was starting to get narrower.

"Hey, the roads getting narrower." said Donald.

"As we keep going? Yeah, I've noticed." said Sora.

Later they came across a large structure, situated on a strip of land in front of a cloudy background. Probably a Castle. It had a menacing look to it, with it's Dark yellow/gold and blue outside and it's monstrous statues at the top of it's Towers. They wondered what kind of Monsters live here.

Donald started walking in the opposite direction as soon as they got close to the castle.

"Where're you going?" asked Goofy, "I thought we were going inside?"

"You two can go inside all you want. Not me."

"Why not?" asked Sora.

"Ive seen places like this in movies and they always end up bad. Have fun dying." he said as he continued walking away.

"What's the matter? Chicken?" asked Goofy. Before Goofy could react, Donald was in his face, "I knew me and the King should have had you neutered."

Goofy gasped, "You said, you'd never mention that ever again!"

Donald chuckled and started walking towards the Castle, "Lets go in the Fucking castle!"

Goofy and Sora followed, with Sora saying, "He sayed Fucking. Thats not very Disney-y."

"We might find the King here." said Goofy

"_Maybe I'll find Riku here."_ Sora thought.

"It could be a trap." said Donald.

Donald and Goofy knocked at the door, thinking someone on the inside might open it. When no one came, they just opened it and went inside. They walked into a large white room, with floral designs everywhere and large columns in the corner.

"Wow, what a dump!" yelled Donald, "Looks like Nobody's home.(....Foreshadowing?)"

"Are you sure we should just barge in like this?" asked Sora. Then he imediateley stopped in his tracks.

"What's wrong, Sora?" asked Goofy.

"I don't know. It feels like I dropped something."

"Did you lose your wallet or something?" asked Donald.

"No it's not that."

"Welcome To Our Castle." came a voice. Sora, Donald and Goofy turned around and saw The Man with The Black Coat.

"You're The Black Coat Guy!" yelled Sora.

"How could you get us in a trap like this!" yelled Donald.

"I didn't know it was a trap!"

"Dumbass! When I said that a I've seen places like this on Tv, why didn't you listen to me!"

"You're are not being very Disney-y right now!"

"It must be a Heartless." said Donald, pulling out his wand, "I'll just use some magic. Fi-! What happened?"

"I am not a Heartless." said The Hooded man, "And I should think that it is obvious, that the moment you stepped foot in this Castle, you began to forget. Every spell and ability that you ever knew." said the Hooded man.

"...You're right! Does that mean Dodge Roll is just a Somersault now?!" yelled Sora.

"Like I'd know.... But the forgetting doesn't end there. To find is to lose and to lose is to find."

"1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8...." Goofy counted.

"What are you doing?" asked Sora.

"9 10 11 12". Huh, I still remember my numbers!"

"PAY ATTENTION!" yelled the Hooded Man, "In this Castle, to find is to lose and to lose is to find."

"He repeated himself." said Donald.

"I guess he likes that phrase." said Sora

"I just thought you weren't listening." said The Hooded Man, "That is the way of Castle Oblivion. In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find."

"Again?" said Goofy.

"Here you will find people you know, people you miss."

"You mean Riku? Riku's here?"

"What about the King?!" yelled Donald.

"Can you feel them? Their presence? If you want to see them..." The Hooded Man flew at Sora, who didn't have anytime to React. The Hooded man passed through him like a gust of Wind and disappeared, reappearing ahead of Sora again.

"What...what did you do?!"

"I sampled your memories. And made this." said The Hooded Man, now holding a blue card. He threw it to Sora at high speed, and Sora caught it.

"Thats a good way to poke an eye out." said Goofy.

"What's this?" asked Sora.

"It's a promise of reunion. Use this card and hold it up to the door." The hooded man pointed at a door behind him. A large double door. "This card will open up a new world. Use it and press on Keyblade master." Then the Man disappeared.

Sora looked at the card, "Traverse Town?"

A small creature jumped out from behind Sora. A Cricket named Jiminy. "Wait! He said the moment we step foot in this Castle, we'd begin to forget! So does that mean, that the farther we go, the more we'll forget! Can somebody tell me!"

"Y'know, you are way too stressed out for a little guy." said Donald.

Sora picked the little cricket up and put him back on his shoulder, "i had a feeling, the moment we went in this castle, we'd find something."

"Me too." said Donald and Goofy.

"Dammit, Me too." said Jiminy.

"Come on, let's go find Riku and The King." Sora, Donald and Goofy walked up to the door. Sora held up the Card and it opened. They walked through.

Then, out of Nowhere, the hooded figure reapeared and watched as the Door closed behind them. "You'll understand, the further you go. You'll understand the meaning of 'To find is to lose and to lose is to find'

Then he realized that he had just repeated himself, again and that no one was there. "Shit. I really need to stop talking to myself." Then he disapeared again.

In The Observation Room, standing around a Crystal Ball situated on a three pronged apparatus, was Larxene, Axel and Xinck, watching Marluxia actions with The Keyblade bearer.

"Mmm. He's a lot shorter than I thought he'd be." said Axel.

"Well, Roxas is his Somebody and Roxas isn't that Tall." said Xinck.

"It doesn't matter how tall he is." said Larxene, "He's just a Toy."

"Look, He's going into the first door." said Axel, "So Far, so good."

"What's the first world he's going into?" asked Xinck.

"Traverse Town."

"Didn't that place fall apart after the Worlds were put back together?"

"Yeah, so was End of The World."

"One of us should get ready for him when he comes out." said Larxene.

"Oh?" said Axel with a smile, "And, what exactly do you mean, Larxene?"

"I'm just saying that I know you don't want to spend your time stuck in here." she said, smiling.

"I know I don't." said Xinck

"You don't get to participate. Me, Axel and Marluxia will handle it."

"Why not?!"

"Because we already have enough people to test Sora's value to the Organization." She walked over to Xinck and pinched his cheek, "And besides, we wouldn't want that cute little face to get hurt, now would we."

"Wet doe ob my base" Xinck mumbled. Larxene withdrew her hand., "Besides," she said, "You're cleaning the Castle."

"Why am I leaning the Castle!?"

"You're lowest in Rank. Which means you get the grunt-work."

Xinck growled, "_Sayonara, Akuseru_( Japanese- Good-bye, Axel)A portal started forming around Xinck and he grumbled, in almost perfect japanese, "_Anta no koto dai kirai, Rakushinu"_(basically it's Japanese for 'I hate You, Larxene') Then disappeared.

"I wouldn't be too antagonistic towards him." said Axel, "If and when he swears revenge on something, he follows through. And I've seen him be very thorough."

"I'm not afraid of him," she said, walking over to Axel and placing a finger on his nose, "Besides, he won't do anything. Now," she said walking over to the Crystal Ball, "Sora's almost finished with Traverse Town, you should go down there and greet Sora."

"Oh? And why don't you go down there and meet him?"

"I'll have my chance, but for now, It's your turn." she smiled

"Oh, your self-lessness is commendable." Axel said, disappearing into a portal.

"_Mm, Men without hearts are usually boring,"_ she thought, _"But Axel's...different."_

Zexion walked into Vexen's lab. He hated Vexen's lab, because it was always cold and filled with Vexen's small-minded hatred. The lab was filled with various experiments, test tubes, beakers and other mechanical devices that Vexen had already completed. On the far side of the lab, taking up most of the wall, was Vexen's huge, Hyper-Intelligent Super-Computer, which Vexen had named I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E.. Zexion did not know what the acronym stood for.

Vexen was sitting under a huge cylinder tube, filled with an eerie green liquid. Inside the liquid was a Humanoid figure with wires portuding from it and a mouth-piece so it can breath. The Replica. Vexen was punching data into a small console at the base of the Cylinder Tube and Zexion spoke.

"How goes the Replica?"

"Very well, Zexion. In fact it's coming along better than hoped. The Superior has given me instructions to give the Replica the appearance of Riku."

"Why? For what reason?"

"I asked that and he told me all would be revealed in time. I think it's because Riku has power in Darkness. But, thats just my opinion."

"Speaking of Riku, Sora is in The Castle."

"What?! Why didn't I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E inform me? Why, I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E?!" Vexen yelled at the Super-Computer.

"Oh, Sorry, " said The Computer, "Sora has entered the Castle."

"You're supposed to tell me when someone enters the castle, not an hour and a half later! Thats a bad I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E! Very bad I.N.T.E.L.L.I.G.E.N.C.E!"

"Sorry."

"Anyway, I thought you would like to know." said Zexion, heading to the door.

"Yes, thank you. In the meantime, I'm going to go have a talk with The Others. By, the way, have you seen Lexaeus?" said Vexen.

"He's in the weight-room." Zexion said, leaving the lab.

Exiting out of the Door of the First Floor Exit, Sora, Donald and Goofy remarked about how this floor looks exactly like the last.

"It's the exact same as the last damn room." said Donald.

"Wow, the decoration doesn't really change." said Goofy.

Sora said,"Yeah, you'd think they would put down some carpet or-OW!" He stopped when he bumped into a black wall. He jumped back, rubbed his nose, and saw the Hooded Man.

"Don't just appear out of nowhere!" Sora yelled.

"Oh...sorry," said The Man, "So, did you enjoy meting your memories?"

"It was nice seeing everyone."

"Mm. That Entire town you just saw, was merely an illusion."

They all gasped, "You mean, everyone, Leon and them were just..illusions of Sora's memories?!" yelled Goofy.

"Yes." said the man.

"I don't get it," said Sora, "What do you want from me?"

"What do you have to give?" The man started walking to Sora and Sora summoned his Keyblade. "Show me your power." said the Man.

Before The man could get any further, a pool of Darkness appeared behind him, and another Man with Blazing red hair appeared.

"Yo!" he said.

"What are you doing here?" asked the Hooded Man, not turning around.

"Just watching is boring. Besides, no hoggin' the hero."

"I suppose you'd like to test him."

"I'm supposing I would."

The Hooded Man turned and threw a blue card toward the man, who caught it with ease. Then he disappeared, leaving the Red haired man with Sora and his friends.

"My show now, Keyblade Master. Oh, who am I you ask? The Name's Axel. Got it Memorized?"

"Uh..Yeah, I guess." said Sora.

"Good. Know that we're on a first name basis.."Axel lifted his hands and they were engulfed in flames. Then in their place two circular, sharp-edged, disks appeared, "Don't you go dying on me now!"

A flash of light that bathed the entire room. When the light faded, Sora, Donald and Goofy found themselves standing on a large circular platform, with several small pillars floating over by the edge and Axel standing at the other edge of the platform.

"What happened?!" asked Donald.

"Oh, nothing the Castle does this sometimes we people start fighting."

"That doesn't make any sense." said Goofy

"It doesn't have to."

"But why?" asked Sora.

"Don't ask! Let's go!"

Axel lunged at Sora and tossed a Chakram at his head. Sora, Donald and Goofy ducked out of the way and scattered. Goofy tossed his shield at Axel, but he jumped out of the way and threw his chakram at Goofy, catching him in the stomach and throwing him to the ground.

"Goofy!" Donald yelled, he held up his staff and a green light glowed and above Goofy's head a small flower appeared and healed him. Then Donald held up his staff again and yelled, "Bllizzard!" and small Icicles sht at Axel and hit him in the back.

"Aa!" he Turned to Donald, "Alright, you first!" he shot towards Donald, but Sora jumped in the way and caught him in the stomach with a combo. Axel recovered and unloaded a combo on Sora. Sora jumped back and Axel teleported to the Center of the field and fire shot out all around him as he spun his Chakrams in his hands.

"Let the flames Burn you!" he yelled and a Fire Wall erupted from him, engulfing everything in fire. Sora and Donald recovered, but Goofy was knocked out. Donald came up at Axel. But Axel saw him and shot out a plume of fire from his hands, catching Donald on the Tail.

"AAAAHH!" Donald ran screaming away from Axel.

Sora ran at Axel and swiped for his head, Axel ducked and jumped back, throwing another Flaming Chakram at Sora. Sora dodged out of the way and Axel teleported behind Sora and grabbed the Chakram. Before Axel could attack again, Sora held out his keyblade straight ahead and started shooting around the field, hitting Axel as he groaned with every hit.

Sora dashed at Axel one last time and caught him in the stomach. Axel groaned and everything seemed to freeze as a light shown out from the point of impact.

"Ah, give me a break..." Axel groaned as The Light bathed the field in another Light. When the light cleared, everyone was back in Castle Oblivion, but Axel had disappeared.

"Did..did we win?" asked Sora.

"I think so. I don't see Axel-There he is!" yelled Donald, pointing to a corner of the room where the Red Head man was standing. He started walking towards them.

"Surprised to see me? Did you really think I'd give up oh so easily?"

"You were testing us!"

"And you passed! Good for you. You are now ready to take on Castle Oblivion." said Axel. He pulled out the Blue card that The Hooded Man had given him earlier and tossed it to Sora. "You'll need this to go on."

Soar caught the Card and looked at it as Axel spoke.

"You have lost sight of the light within the Darkness and you've even forgotten that you've lost it. You must ask yourself, 'Are the people you're searching for really the most important?'"

"Of course they are!"

"Oh? The answer you're looking for is in your heart. Keep going forward to find the truth. But...If you want a hint, I could tell you." he said, holding out his hand.

Goofy whispered to Donald, "I think he might be gay."

Sora thought it over, "No. I can figure it out on my own."

"No you can't."

"Yes I can!"

"No you can't."

"Yeah, you're right. Tell me."

"Sora!" yelled Donald.

"Yeah! He's right," said Sora, "I can figure it out!"

"Alright, alright." said Axel, "One more piece of advice. When your sleeping memories awaken, you may no longer be you."

Sora thought this over, until Axel yelled,

"Look! A Seagull!" Sora, Donald and Goofy quickly turned and saw nothing. They turned back around and Axel was gone.

Donald and Goofy walked up to Sora and Goofy asked, "So, now what?"

"We keep going."

In The Observation Room, Axel appeared and Larxene staring into The Crystal Ball to watch Sora's movements

"You went easy on him." she said.

"Well of course. I wasn't supposed to break him."

"Still, you could have had more fun with him."

"When you fight him, you can do what you want."

Larxene perked up.

"But you can't kill him." said Axel.

Larxene was still perked up.

"No permanent damage."

Larxene settled down, "So now what do we do? Marluxia's busy with his...stuff. So we won't see him for a while"

"Simple," said Axel, "We just sit back and watch. We'll wait for Sora to get a little further before we meet him again. Okay, Sound cool?"

"Yeah, whatever." said Larxene.

Out of nowhere, another portal of Darkness appeared and out stepped Xinck. He had taken of his Cloak, that was hanging over his shoulder, and the only thing on his torso was a black T-shirt and he was soaking wet and wearing pink latex gloves instead of his regular black gloves.

"What happeaned to you?" asked Axel.

"I was cleaning the Toilets. And you have no idea what unholy mess was left after we had Burrito/Nacho/Salsa night." he said.

"Why didn't you just use the dusks?" asked Larxene.

"Because The Superior is using them to repair the Castle after Me, Roxas and He fought in that Tournament."

"That sucks. What else do you have to do?" asked Axel.

"I-"

Larxene interupted him, "He has to sweep, mop and dust the Castle. Take out the trash, Vacuum, wash dishes, paint my room."

"You bitch! Why am I doing all this stuff? Why don't you do it? Your not doing anything!"

"I don't have to cause I'm telling you to." she said with a smile.

"Y'know if it wasn't for Marluxia, I wouldn't even know Sora was in the Castle! What's happened since he's been in Traverse Town?"

"Axel fought him." said Larxene.

Xinck turned to Axel, "You fought him?! Why didn't anyone come get me?!"

"Xinck, it's not that big a deal." said Axel.

"Yes it is! She's been fucking with me since we got to this Castle!"

"Xinck, I told you, "said Larxene, "I didn't want you to engage Sora in battle because I didn't want that little face to get a scar." she said with a smile.

Xinck growled, "So... It's back to that stupid static again. You think I don't know what's going on in here? I know what goes on in this Castle! It's a conspiracy." He said with shifty eyes, "And every one of you low-lifes is in on it. Just 'cause you can move around, you think you're better than I am. I'm not an invalid! I was designed to stick in the wall! I like being stuck in the stupid wall! I can't help it if the kid was too short to reach my dials... "

"Xinck, what are you talking about?" asked Axel.

"....It's MY FUNCTION!" he yelled, grabbing his head and twitching. Larxene was doubled-over in laughter at Xinck's strange outburst. Axel walked up to Xinck and started shaking him.

"Xinck! Xinck! Calm down!" Axel yelled.

Xinck calmed down and had that, 'What Happened' look as Axel looked at him, "I'm..I'm okay."

"What the hell was that?"

"I...I fell asleep watching The Brave Little Toaster last night, thats where that was from."

"You okay?" asked Axel.

"Yeah. I'm gonna go...do...somethin'. I don't know." Axel let Xinck go and he teleported away.

Unknown to Larxene, while she was laughing her ass off, Axel had slipped a note into Xinck's pocket before he teleported away.

"Get a hold of yourself, Larxene. It wasn't _That_ funny." said Axel.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! HE'S NUCKIN' FUTS! HAHAHAHA!" she laughed.

* * *

I'll get the nest one up eventually. In the meantime, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!


	16. Castle OblivionPart 2

Is Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Out yet?

.....No.

AAAAAHH! I can't take it anymore! In the Meantime, I'll continue writing this story. I'll probably take a break for a while when it comes out, but I'll continue writing until....well, I don't know. ENJOY AND REVIEW

* * *

Larxene was watching through the Crystal Ball as Sora progressed through the Second, and Third floor Worlds. Axel had taken a bathroom break, Xinck had gone somewhere else and Marluxia was in another Room, instructing Namine on what Memories to put in Sora's head. Larxene, as of now, was content to watch. But down in the Basement, The Hero of Darkness was emerging from the 12th Floor Basement world, Hollow Bastion.

Riku was walking out from the 12th floor basement. He had just emerged from a place where he heard a voice. The voice had told him, if he stays asleep, then the Darkness will be still, but if he decided to awake and seek the truth, then he would be forced to face it. He chose to wake up and when he did, he was given a card and a shining light transported him to the Castle called Hollow Bastion, there he met an illusion of his former boss, Maleficent. He killed her after she tried to tempt him back to Darkness and he vowed to take out anyone who 'Reeked of that Horrible Smell of Darkness'. After he emerged from that Card-world, he found himself in Castle Oblivion.

(Sorry if I'm going through all the stuff we already know, but I have to get it out of the way)

Riku didn't know where he was, but he was going to find out. Then suddenly, he heard a familiar voice.

"Why do you reject the darkness?"

"I know you heard every word I said to Maleficent."

"The darkness is your weapon. So why do you shun it?"

"Show, yourself, Ansem!" Riku yelled.

Out in front of Riku a huge mass of blue and black Darkness appeared and out stepped a man with dark skin, white hair and ember eyes.

"What it do, Riku." said Ansem.

"Ansem. Trying to pull me back in the Darkness, aren't you?!"

"Ye-"

"Aren't you!?"

"Ye-"

"AREN'T YOU?!"

"YES! If you would let me get a word in, you test tube baby!" yelled Ansem, "Anyway, I think you would make an excellent host. Don't you remember all that strength you had with me?"

"As if!" Riku yelled, taking a defensive stance.

"You really think you can defeat me while rejecting the Darkness? You can try to ignore it, but the Darkness will someday consume you. Light will no longer be able to reach you."

Riku fell to his knee and Ansem continued, "In the end, you will regret having rejected The Darkness!"

"Wrong!" came a high-pitched voice. A small speck of light came out of Nowhere, flew around Riku and landed on his chest, disappearing inside. "Riku, the light won't abandoned you, ever!" said the voice.

"Meddlesome Rat King." said Ansem. He pulled a tape recorder out of his coat pocket and spoke into it, "Memo to myself. Buy Mouse traps. Big ones."

"Riku in the deepest Darkness, you can always find the light." said The King. Riku stood up again.

"Oh, sure, comfort him with words." said Ansem. He waved his hand and another card appeared in his hand and he tossed it to Riku, "Go and explore the Card Worlds. Let them show you how meaningless this Crusade of Light is, and in the meantime, I'll watch as your pathetic hopes turn into crushing despair."

Riku caught the Card, "Alright, I'll go through the worlds, and if at the end, the Darkness hasn't taken me, I win."

"Win my foot in your ass."

"What was that?" asked Riku.

"Oh, nothing," said Ansem, "But, I have one more gift for you." He raised his hand at Riku and it looked as if it was pulling on invisible strings and on Riku's Chest, a small dark portal appeared and Riku fell to his knee.

"What! What did you do?! Did you-"

"Rape you from the inside? No, I'm not like that." said Ansem, "I merely tempered the Darkness in your heart. It will help you."

"You'd think I'd use it?!"

"Use it if you want. It's up to you. But, you should be aware of it and the smell of Darkness that you are soaked in." Then Ansem disappeared.

"Eh." Riku got up and headed for the stairs out of the first floor.

* * *

Zexion stood in the center of a dimly lit room by himself. He was in deep thought, using his advanced sense of smell to determine what was going on in the Castle. Then he looked up as a dark portal appeared and Lexaeus stepped out and remained silent until Zexion spoke up.

"Aren't you going to say hello?"

Before Lexaeus said anything another Portal appeared and Vexen revealed himself, "Alright Zexion," said Vexen, "So Sora is in the Castle, now what? Has anything else developed?"

"Nice to see you to, Vexen." said Zexion, "Such a shame. The Organization used to be the rope that bound us together."

"You are merely Number 6! How dare you-"

"Let it go, Vexen." said Lexaeus, "Continue Zexion."

"Thank you- wait, Vexen, I thought you were going to have a talk with The Others on the Above ground?"

"I was, but, I had a rumbling in my stomach and had to make a drop-off in the toilet and I got distracted. Why the hell did we have Burrito/taco/Salsa night?! Damn Axel and his spicy foods!"

"It was the beans that got me." said Lexaeus

" Anyway," said Zexion, " Sora's trek through the Castle is being monitored by Marluxia and his team, but right now, we have our own concerns. I've detected two scents in the Castle's lowest basement. One of the scents was Maleficent..."

"That evil bitch witch?! She is gone and cannot return from the realm of Darkness of her own volition." said Vexen.

"I've always wondered," said Lexaeus, "What does Maleficent smell like?"

Vexen and Zexion looked at Lexaeus. "She smells like leathery-burnt bacon, wrapped in tin-foil for 3 weeks, then covered in vomit. Plus cabbage." said Zexion.

"Eew."

"Continuing,"said Zexion, "The scent did not belong to the real Maleficent, but to a very convincing double. But I cannot say much more because the double is no more. Our other visitor saw to that."

"Well who is it?" asked Vexen.

"I have not identified it yet, but it has a scent very similar to that of the Superior."

"Impossible." said Lexaeus, "It must be perfume."

"Ah! Well, what kind of perfume would the Superior wear?!" yelled Vexen.

"Calvin Klein, obviously." said Zexion.

"Love." said Vexen.

"Jealousy." said Lexaeus.

"Touch." Zexion said.

"Forever." said Vexen

"Intense." said Lexaeus

"Passion." said Zexion.

They all whispered, "Obsession, Calvin Klein."

"But, "said Zexion, "It is not Perfume. As I said, the Scent was just extremely similar, but not the same."

"Mmm." said Vexen, "This truly piques my curiosity."

"Now-What to do?" asked Zexion

"We wait. See what developes." said Lexaeus.

* * *

Riku-11th Floor Basement

Riku continued through the Castle. Then in the middle of the Second floor entrance, he stopped.

"What's that smell?" he sniffed. He sniffed his armpit. When was the last time he took a shower? Deodorant? Then he smelled himself again and realized it was Darkness and it's smell.

"It's me. I reek of Darkness. What am I gonna do? Can I really make it to the light? What if I open my eys and all I see is Darkness?"

"Oh, shut up!" came another voice. Riku turned around and saw King Mickey, but he was see-through

"So what if you smell? Take a bath! And wash behind your ears and brush your teeth and wash your back to make sure a fungus doesn't grow back there! Because I've known people that have grown funguses on their backs!"

"Your Majesty?"

"Facing the Darkness will be painful, but even in Darkness you can always see a light. Promise me you won't lose sight of the light" he held out a hand.

"I promise." said Riku, holding out hs hand to shake, but the hands past through each other, because Mickey was transparent.

"What happened?" asked Riku.

"Oh, I could only show up like this right now, but I promise, I'll get there. Remember, take that bath. It'll be refreshing!" and he disappeared. And Riku walked on.

* * *

Back on The AboveGround in a room off the course from the main Floors, Xinck stood in the center of a room, thinking.

"_Damn Larxene. I can't stand her. Before this is over, I'll make sure she gets whats coming to her."_

Then, Xinck felt a vibration in his right Pocket, it was his Cellphone-Telephone. He pulled it out of his pocket and a slip of paper fell out as well. The phone read 'Luxord Calling' he flipped the phone open and spoke into it.

"Ahoy-hoy."

"Xinck! It's me, Luxord, now listen Carefully, This is a life or Death situation,"He sounded frantic, " I need to know, What is the difference between Ketchup and Catsup?!"

"It-" Xinck was about to answer, when he noticed a slip of paper on the ground with the words 'Zinc' on it. Obviously, someone didn't know how to spell his name, "Let me call you back, Luxord." and he started to close the phone.

"No, Wait! They're gonna chop my head off!" But Xinck closed the phone and slipped it into his pocket. He reached down to the paper, unfolded it and started to read. It was in Axel's handwriting. Xinck, over time, was able to distinguish the handwriting of some of the members(Example-Xemnas dots his 'I's' with Hearts).

The note read, "Zinc, this is very important, when I was picked to come to Castle Oblivion- Get your finger out of your nose!"

At the letters request, Xinck took his pinky out of his nose and continued reading.

"-I had several things I needed to do, the most important one is that there is a traitor here and I have to find out who it is. Right now, I'm sure It's Marluxia and Larxene, but I don't have any proof right now. And I need to know, are you working with them or are you willing to help me?"

"_Those ungrateful sons of bitches!"_Xinck thought, _"I should've known something was up! I knew I should should have killed Larxene when I had the chance!"_

_Flashback_

Larxene was hanging over a boiling river of Lava and was hanging by her hand on a a ledge. Xinck was kneeling on the ledge as Larxene tried to grab for him.

"Give me your hand!" she yelled frantically.

"First, give me the ring!" Xinck held, holding out his hand.

_End of Flashback_

"Alright, then." Xinck said out loud, "I'll join you Axel." Xinck turned around and saw the real Axel standing in the doorway. He walked over to Xinck.

"I'll join you," said Xinck, "But what makes you think I can be trusted?"

"Because, I've seen you. I know you and you hate Larxene with a passion and I know that you wouldn't be able to stand a partnership with her." said Axel.

"But what makes you think that that wasn't a ruse?"

"I've seen you write in a little blue notebook all the terrible torture that you would put Larxene through if you had the chance. There's no ruse that could cover that up. If anything, you might be more of a sadist than she is."

"Alright you caught me. So how do we go about getting evidence of their betrayal?" asked Xinck

"We wait for the opportunity to present itself. And if we have to, we'll do what is necessary for us to gain their trust. But for now, we need to just lay low and wait."

"Alright! Let's kill some traitors! What floor is Sora on?"

"He should be going into the Fifth Floor. Now, I'll go back to the Room with Larxene, you come in 5 minutes later to avoid suspicion."

"Alright." said Xinck. And Axel teleported away.

"Oh, this is getting SO juicy." Xinck chuckled.

* * *

Back in the UnderGround with Zexion, Vexen and Lexaeus. Zexion was deep in concentration and Vexen was pacing around while Lexaeus stood in place, Then Zexion spoke up.

"I have identified the scent. It is Riku."

"Riku, you say?" asked Vexen.

"Yes! Riku! Open your ears, old man."

"So, he's emerged from the Realm of Darkness. How come you could not identify him earlier?" said Vexen, ignoring the comment.

"His existence was once doubled in the Darkness, slightly changing his scent." said Zexion

"Interesting....that's why you mistook him for the Superior. Riku, gaining the Dark Power, was what aided his escape from it's realm."

"What I want to know is," said Lexaeus, "Is why he appeared here in the Castle?"

"Simple." said Vexen, "It's because his existence resonates with The Hero of Light."

"Sora?"

"Yes, and Marluxia is already using Namine's powers to manipulate Sora's Heart."

"Without even bothering to Consult us. That Ungrateful He-Bitch!"

"Yes, Ungrateful He-bitchery, indeed." said Vexen, "It would seem Marluxia desperatly wants the Keyblade Master for himself. Such a foolish plan. Sora's existence is not the least bit interesting. The being that holds true value is Riku, The Hero of Darkness."

"But, " started Zexion, "There's something about his Darkness, almost like it's being Dwaft by something."

"What do you mean?" asked Lexaeus.

"His Darkness seems to be surpressed, or it's trying to fight it's way out from under something."

"This calls for an experiment. Also, this will provided me with enough data to complete the Replica." Said Vexen

Sora-5th Floor

* * *

Sora, Donald and Goofy continued walking towards the 5th floor door, when Sora stopped.

"I remember!" Sora yelled.

"You remember your Camp Counselor doing the Bad-touch to you?" asked Donald.

"No! You pervert! I remember, there was another girl. On the islands where I used to live. I remember there was someone else on the islands that used to play with me Riku and Kairi"

"Oh?

"Well thats the first time you've ever mentioned her. Was she cute?" Jiminy asked.

"I bet she had a big butt." said Goofy.

"Hahaha!" Donald Laughed.

"Shut up! I'm trying to remember! I remember her going away when we were little"

"What'd did she look like?" asked Goofy.

"Well,...She had blonde hair, blue eyes..." Sora explained

"Nazi." said Donald.

"..And she always wore a white dress."

"That's strange. Why are you remembering all that now?" asked

"I don't know, but I just keep remembering bits and pieces as we keep going."

"Well, what's her name?" asked Goofy.

"I can't remember. I fell kinda dumb." he said lowering his head.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time." said Donald.

"Oh, wow, you really know how to cheer me up don't you?" said Sora, sarcastically.

"I'm a people person." said Donald.

"Well, There's no need to remember her now, not all at once. Let's just keep going, and you're bound to remember her just like all the rest." said Goofy.

"I guess so." Sora said. Then they continued to walk through the 5th Floor Door.

Riku- 10th Floor Basement.

* * *

Walking out of another Card world, Riku found himself in another plain white room.

"Damn. Another white room. This Castle is so plain."

Then in the center of the room a black portal appeared and an old man with Long dirty blonde hair stepped out from the portal.

"You're Riku, Right?" asked the Man.

"What do you want?"

"Will you come with me, please?"

"No way!"

"Oh?" the Man pulled something out from his pocket, "I have candy."

"Get lost." Riku said, walking past the man.

"_Yes!"_ thought the man, pulling out a notepad and a pen and scribbling stuff down,_ "This is excellent research data!"_then he shouted out loud, "Thank you, Riku!", then he thought, _"Wait, I need more data then this!"_

"Wait! Don't you want to know how to use your Darkness?"

Riku turned around, "What?! Are you with Ansem?!"

"You are half correct, let's say he is not the Ansem with which you are familiar with. He is Ansem and he is not Ansem, perhaps a Nobody best conveys the idea!"

"Riddles were never my thing." said Riku

"Oh? Then try this one. What is the sound of one hand clapping?"

"Get on with your point!"

"Alright, he belongs to neither the light nor the dark, but walks the twilight in-between. I see you are also walking in the in-between. It seems we all have something in common."

"Maybe..we do. But so what?!" Riku yelled and summoned his SoulEater Sword, "Darkness is my Enemy! And so are you for reeking of it!"

"Oh, a fight is it? Very good, then I shall take you on!" Vexen Summoned a Blue, spiked kite shield and held it up to his face.

Riku charged at Vexen as Vexen held up his hand and an Ice spike formed and he threw it at Riku. Riku flipped out of the way, side stepped to behind Vexen and hit him in the Back several times. Vexen quickly turned and struck Riku Several times with his shield and an Ice spike shot up from the ground, hitting Riku in the back.

"You are just an experiment!" Vexen yelled. He charged at Riku and Riku charged at him. Riku jumped in the air and landed his sword against Vexen's shield. He attacked and every strike was blocked by Vexen's shield.

Riku jumped back as Ice shot up around Vexen and he shouted, "I shall freeze you!" he thrusted out his hand as Riku front flipped out of the way just in time to avoid turning into a block of ice.

Riku rose in the air as black and blue energy circled around him, he shouted, "Darkness!" and he flipped in the air as his clothes turned into his Dark Form.

"Uh-oh." Vexen said. Riku reared back as a blue fireball appeared and he shot it at Vexen with enough force to blast past his shield, knocking Vexen back. Without warning, Riku shot all the way over to Vexen and attacked, striking and stabbing at a yelling Vexen.

"Now, feel the freezing chill!" Vexen raised his hand to the sky and a blue/clod energy bathed the field, ice and snow shooting around the area and hitting Riku. The energy orbited around Vexen and he unleashed the Ice in a huge shockwave, hitting Riku hard enough to knock him out of his Dark mode.

Riku slid back, then charged at Vexen again. He jumped high into the air as Vexen raised his shield. Riku's sword collided with the Shield, leaving him and Vexen in a stalemate, pushing their weapons against each other.

"I find coursing through you a Darkness of formidable power growing!" Vexen grunted against Riku's strength, "With this I have collected invaluable amounts of Data!"

Vexen pushed Riku off his shield and Riku landed away from Vexen. "Many thanks, Riku!"

"What do you want from me!?"

"Thats none of your concern. Now, I need you to turn around." said Vexen.

"For what!?"

"I need to disappear mysteriously."

"Fine then." Riku said. He turned around, heard a wooshing sound and turned back around to that Vexen had disappeared.

Riku growled, "Damn. It was a trick all along."

He didn't have a choice but to move on.

* * *

In The AboveGround Observation Room, Larxene, Axel and Xinck continued to watch Sora make his way up the castle. Larxene was listening and watching as Sora Exited out of the 5th Floor with his friends and Sora was talking with them about how he remembered More stuff about the girl he couldn't remember. He said that he was remembering her always drawing and watching him and Riku practice fighting. Then he remembered her leaving and him being very sad..

Larxene had no idea that everyone in that room was secretly against her and, but she was to concerned with the proof that Namine's powers were working on Sora. Axel was watching and paying close attention to what was being said, but mostly, he was thinking about how much longer until he can find Proof of Her Betrayal. Xinck was sitting in a corner, his eyes closed but his ears were listening to Sora's conversation, and the scibbling of Crayons on paper. Namine had been moved into the room just Recently, so that Marluxia could have his 'Me Time'. But Xinck barely opened his eyes, to the point that they looked like slits, when the Crystal Ball turned off and Larxene spoke.

"It looks like Sora's memories are taking effect just as we planned."

Axel replied, "We'll see how far this group will go. Think's it's time for another round?"

"How about I go?" said Xinck, walking to them from his corner, "I could use a work-out."

Larxene turned to him, "Isn't there a toilet or a floor that needs scrubbing?" she smiled.

Xinck looked at Axel and Axel gave the 'Just go with it look'. Xinck said, under gritted teeth, "Sure. I'll get right on that." he started to teleport away. He looked at Larxene and gave a white, pointed, shark-tooth smile and disappeared. Axel then commented that he heared large amounts of profanity echoing throughout the Castle.

"So are you going?" asked Axel.

"You had your fun on the first floor, now it's my turn. Give it." Larxene said holding out her hand.

"_If I had a nickel for everytime a woman said that to me."_He thought, trowing the card to Larxene. She caught the card, kissed it and walked up to Axel and grazed his chin with her finger. "Don't break him." he said.

"I'm not gonna break the toy, I'm just gonna play with it, that's all. I'm not dumb." She said.

"_I'll have to go out on a limb here. Now or never."_he thought, then he said, "Remember, Sora's the Key, we'll need him, if we're going to take control of the Organization."

Larxene put her finger to Axel's lips, "So, you're in on it to? Well keep it under your hood, till the time is right. Ta" she said, disappearing into a Dark Portal.

Axel was left alone in the room. He chuckled, "You would've been wise to have done the same, Larxene. This is gonna be fun."

* * *

In The UnderGround Lexaeus teleported into the UnderGround Observation Room, Vexen was not there, only Zexion.

"Zexion, What's happening to Sora?"

"Namine is using her unique powers to Manipulate Sora's memories. Marluxia might get his puppet after all. But His and Larxene's actions...they are not to be trusted."

"Then there is Axel," said Lexaeus, "Who knows what he is thinking...."

"Then, Xinck...." said Zexion.

"What about him?"

"Do you remember earlier when I said I sensed Riku's Darkness was struggling under something?"

"Yes."

"Well, at first I thought it was Ansem. But it's not, it's Xinck."

"Mmm?"

"Xinck's unique, extremely rare relationship with the Darkness is actually bearing down on Riku's Darkness, preventing him from reaching his full potential."

"What do you suppose we do? Kill him?"

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Xinck might be doing it voluntarily. You know how he is. But we can worry about that later. Our main concern is Vexen's replica, it is soon to be completed."

"Vexen despises Marluxia. Think of the mess that will make." said Lexaeus.

"So we must tell him. Isn't it better for him to clean up his own mess than to leave it to us?"

Zexion and Lexaeus decided to teleport right away to Vexen's lab. They exited their Dark portals into Vexen's lab, just in time to hear and see Vexen proclaim, "It's alive! IT'S ALIVE! Now I know what it feels like to be God!"

Lexaeus and Zexion looked closer and saw a white-haired teen standing by Vexen, wearing blue and yellow clothing.

"Is that the Replica?" asked Zexion.

"Yes! And I gave it a unique name! Riku Replica! HAHAHA!"

"Oh, sure," said the Replica, "Thats just buzzing with creativity."

"Shut up! You speak when spoken to! Now what do you two want?" he asked turning to Lexaeus and Zexion.

"We wanted to know what is the point of the Replica?" asked Lexaeus, "What do you plan on doing with it?"

"As you two already know, The Superior had ordered me to create the Replica. Of course I would have done simply out of interest, but in case something happens to the Real Riku or we are unable to obtain him, this Replica will serve in his place. Unlike the real Riku, he does not fear the Darkness. Other than that, I plan on making good use of him."

"You're going to create a mess." said Lexaeus.

"What?! Did the Replica piss on himself again?!" yelled Vexen, he pushed the Replica's head down to floor, pulled out a newspaper and hit him in the back of the head as he rubbed his nose against the floor, "What did I say?! Use the litterbox!"

"Get off!" yelled the Replica, pushing Vexen off of him. Vexen banged up against the wall and the replica summoned a SoulEater Sword and slowly moved to Vexen. Vexen, unharmed, stopped the Riku Replica just by looking at him and said, "Y'know, If your angry, I know someone with which you can take your anger out on."

"...Who?" asked the Replica, dismissing his sword.

"The Real Riku. As a test." Vexen said with a smile.

* * *

Riku- 8th Floor Basement.

Riku walked out of another world, but stopped in his tracks when he saw someone coming down the steps.

"What the Hell? What are you supposed to be?"

"Surprised? You should be, it's not everyday you met a your twin." said The Riku Replica, "To shocked to speak? Well here's some relief; I'm just a Replica created by Vexen."

"So..your a Fake me?"

"Not Fake! Just because your real and I'm not, doesn't mean you're better than me. We share the same body and same talents, but there are 2 ways to tell us apart."

"How?" asked Riku, getting annoyed.

"The first thing; I'm better looking!" yelled the Replica

"We look the same, dumbass!"

"Lalalalala! I cant hear you!" Replica yelled, putting his fingers in his ears.

"But-"

"LALALA!"

"You-"

"U-G-L-Y, you ain't got no alibi, you Ugly, yeah, yeah, you Ugly!" yelled the Replica.

"Idiot." said Riku.

"And the second thing; Unlike you I fear nothing!"

"Are you calling me a coward?!" yelled Riku.

"You are a coward, you're afaid of the Dark. The Darkness inside you scares you pissless!"

Riku growled.

"But I'M different, I embrace the Darkness and I can make it do anything I want," The Replica became shrouded in Darkness. When it dissipated, he was in his Dark Mode and his sword was in his hand, " Which means, I can wipe the Floor with you!"

The Replica charged at Riku and Riku did the same. Replica jumped into the air and brought down his sword on Riku, but he flipped out of the way. When Replica landed, he reared back and fired a Dark Firaga at Riku. Riku blocked with his sword and dashed at Replica, hitting him several times in the stomach.

Replica stepped back and countered, slashing at Riku in th Back. He reared back again and threw a Dark Firaga at Riku, hitting him in the Stomach. While Riku tried to recover, the Replica ran up, jumped and landed his sword on Riku, he jumped 5 times on Riku striking him with every jump. He landed and Riku was staggering.

"HA!' yelled Replica.

He dashed at Riku and before he got closer, Riku jumped in the air, Yelled "Darkness!". He flipped backwards and transformed into his Dark Mode. Before the Replica could block, Riku fired several Dark Firagas at him, knocking him off guard. Riku levitated in the air and glowed red and dark blue. He warped all around the room, striking the Replica with each hit. While the Replica was staggering, Riku appeared above him and pointed his sword downward.

"Vanish!" Riku yelled stabbing his sword into the ground and energy shot up all around the Replica striking and burning at his arms and legs.

"Dammit! How can I lose to you!" he yelled as he fell to his knee.

Riku changed out of Dark Mode as the Replica fell. "Hey, Fake, I thought you were gonna wipe the floor with me?"

"Don't forget, I'm still new. But I'll get stronger and stronger, then you'll be finished!" he yelled standing up.

"I won't give you the chance!" Riku jumped at the Replica and brought his sword down. His sword hit a shield of Darkness above the Replica and Dark energy shot out around Riku, throwing him back.

Replica laughed, "He ha he ha he! It's NICE having Darkness on my side. How can you be scared of something so trilling?!"

"Shut up!"

"Ooh! I'm so scared. Real Thing wants to be tough guy! See ya later!" Replica turned away and ran up the stairs to the next floor, while yelling, "It's so hard to be Good Looking!"

Riku Growled, "I'm not a coward..."

The Replica closed the Door behind him as he entered the UnderGround Observation Room with Vexen, Lexaeus and Vexen already there.

"So, how was the real thing?" asked Vexen.

"He's pathetic. In no-time at all I'll be stronger than him."

"Good. In the meantime, would you like to meet another who is considered a hero?"

"You mean Sora? I hear he's in the castle. Want me to take care of him?"

Vexen put his hands to his chin,"We'll see. I intend to make good use of you."

"Dun..Dun..Daaaah!" said Lexaeus.

Sora-6th Floor

* * *

Sora and his friends exited out of the Sixth floor world. When they closed the door to that World, they saw a blond woman in a black coat standing in the middle of the room. They summoned their weapons and Donald asked, "I bet you work with Axel!"

"Damn, your voice is annoying. Too clever," she said sarcastically, "I'm Larxene. So are you enjoying yourself here in Castle Oblivion? It's nice to peel away all the worthless memories and awaken the true memories that lie in your heart."

"True Memories?" asked Sora.

"But you're still forgetting something, aren't you, Sora? The most important thing. When that por girl hears you've forgotten her name, she'll be devastated!" Larxene said, faining herself.

"You know Her?! Tell me, is she.....here?"

"Yes..She..Is. You see, the bad guys have her locked up deep within the Castle an you just have to go save her! But then...."

Larxene ran at Sora and jabbed for his head, he moved out the way and she aimed for his chest, he dodged, but he took a kick in his stomach from Larxene's boot, throwing him across the floor. Something had fallen out of his Pocket.

"Sora!" Donald yelled.

"I'M a bad guy and you have to go through me!" Larxene yelled.

"Whats that?" Sora said looking at the object that had fallen out of his pocket. A Star Charm, "Is that mine?"

"Oh, what a shame, you've been wearing it all this time and you forgot? No, you couldn't have, that girl will be heartbroken! Don't you remember who gave it to you?"

Sora got up off the floor, "Na...Na...Na."

"Thats right free the Memory from your heart!"

"Na..Naomi Campbell!?" Sora yelled, looking at Larxene for confirmation.

"Na...Naomi Campbell?! What the fuck? Naomi Campbell! Try Harder!" Larxene yelled.

Sora started hitting his head, "Na..Na...Mi..Mi.. Miley Cyrus!?"

"Now you're not even trying. Try again!"

"Na..Mi....Ne. Namine?"

"That's right, Namine's the one that gave you that cheesy good luck Charm. Not that you remembered." Larxene moved forward and grabbed the Star good luck charm."No surprise, considering the fact that you didn't even remember her name. It'd serve you right if I SMASH THIS PIECE OF SHIT!" She raised it into the air.

"No!" Sora yelled, he dashed at Larxene and hit her hand with his keyblade, knocking it out of her hand and he caught it, "Namine gave this to me It's special!"

"Special?" she said, electricity zooming around her fingertips, "A few seconds agao you didn't even know what it was!" Lightning shot at her fingers and yellow and blue kunais appeared in her hands.

Sora ran at Larxene and slashed at Her, she ducked and back-flipped out of the way. She called a lightning strike at Sora, but he rolled out of the way.

Donald yelled, "Get the bitch with the fucked up hair! Fire!" he yelled and a burst of fire shot out from his staff, hitting Larxene in the stomach. She teleported right behind Donald and struck him in the back, then hitting him with lightning from the sky, knocking him out.

Sora came back up from behind with Goofy and they attacked her.

"You're just a toy!" she yelled, countering and surrounding herself with lightning, sending them back. She threw 3 kunais at Goofy and they caught him on his clothes, with enough force to pin him against a wall.

Sora recovered and dashed at Larxene, catching her off guard and striking her in the front several times.

"_Damn, that stings!"_ she thought.

She flew into the air, lightning dancing across her body. She threw her Kunai into the floor and Lightning rained down on the field, striking Sora. He recovered and shot out, from the tip of his Keyblade, a large shot of Ice at Larxene, hitting her, she yelled out from the attack as she fell back down to the ground.

As she was distracted, Sora ran up and unloaded a combo on Larxene, finishing the Combo by stabbing her directly in the stomach with enough force to make her cough up blood. Larxene recovered and jumped back, Sora chasing after her. She did a jump spin and threw a Kunai at Sora. He swatted it away with his Keyblade, jumped at Larxene and brought it down on her, but she jumped and landed far away from Sora.

"Wow, not bad. I guess you are a hereo. A heartless hero."

"Who asked you, asshole!" Sora yelled angrily.

"Oh, just coarse language! Does it hurt 'cuz it's true? Well if you're going to be a baby about it, then here you go," She tossed him a card and Sora caught it, "More cards from your memories. Be a good boy and say 'Thank you'.

She smiled and disappeared.

"Wait, Larxene!" Sora ran to the spot where Larxene had disappeared. "Where are you?! Show yourself! Don't you dare hide from me!"

"Sora, calm down! She's not coming back!" yelled Jiminy. Donald and Goofy ran up to him.

"Are you okay?" asked Goofy.

"I hate this," He said, "Why'd someone like that have to bring back Namine's Memory?"

* * *

Larxene reappeared in The Observation Room and saw Axel standing against the wall. Xinck was nowhere to be found.

"Whew! Throwing that battle wore me out!" She said, stretching her arms.

"Throwing? Looks like you just plain lost." he said, shaking his head.

"What?! How dare you! You don't appreciate the finer nuances of- Whatever. You know I hate kids! Kids and idiots!"

"Admit it, you lost because failure gravitates to you." Came an unseen voice. Larxene turned around and Axel looked up to see Vexen Teleporting into the Room.

"Vexen!" said Larxene.

"As you young people say, Thats my name, don't ware it out." he said.

"No one says that anymore." Axel said.

"Really? What about Radical, dude?"

"No. Stop it."

"Anyway," said Vexen, "I can't believe you are so humbled by someone of such limited Significance. You shame the Organization, Larxene."

She growled, "You pathetic old man!"

Vexen, chuckled and rubbed his ear, "You're going to have to speak up, dearie, this old ears do deceive."(He only did this because it got on Larxene's nerves)

"Yes Vexen you are old. Very old. Really, really, extraordinarily, mind-bogglingly-" She looked at Axel for a clue.

"...Dog-Fuckingly?" he suggested.

"-Dog-fuckingly old," she continued, going into a long rant and using a deep voice for emphasis "You are feebly, incontinently, desiccatedly, smelling-of-boiled-cabaggely old. You are brain-rottingly, balls-draggingly-"

"I get it! I'm Fucking Old!" yelled Vexen. Namine couldn't help but chuckle at Vexen, but Larxene shot her an eye and she quickly went back to drawing.

Axel, in an attempt to get on with the conversation, asked, "How can we help you, Vexen, It's not very often we see you topside."

"I came to lend you all a hand. It's obvious you think that the Keybeare has much potential. But I think he isn't worth all this, so I believe an experiment is in order."

"And here we go again," said Larxene, "We can't go anywhere without you having to do an experiment. Like the time we went to McDonalds, you said, 'What exactly makes this Special Sauce so Special? I believe an Experiment is in order.'"

"I'm a Scientist. Experimentation is what I do. It's my thing, or as you young people say, 'It's my Thiz-zang'"

"Stop it. You're embarrassing yourself and Me by association." said Axel, "But, whatever, you can do whatever you want, Vexen. But you don't have to lie, admit it, testing Sora is just an excuse to test your..thingy."

"Thingy? I'll have you know he is the produst of pure research."

"What he is, is just a puppet." said Larxene.

He turned to Larxene, "I see I'm wasting my time talking to you." He turned back to Axel, handed him a card.

"A gift to my Elder." he said, "Use it to keep the game fresh."

Vexen looked at the card, "Excellent. Oh, one more thing, where is that little Anti-Christ, Xinck? Zexion wanted to talk to him."

"I don't know," said Axel, "I haven't seen him for a while. He left after Larxene had pissed him off again."

"He's so sensitive." said Larxene, walking to the crystal ball, "I'll look for him." She went up to the Crystal Ball, and said, "Oh, Crystal, Crystal Ball on the floor, show me where is Xinck, that whore."

An image shown on the Ball, and Larxene watched it. Then her eyes went big as she shouted, "Son of a Bitch!"

"What?" asked Vexen and Axel in unison. The peered into the Ball and started laughing.

"I'll get him." said Larxene.

"No, no wait." said Axel, "Let's see this. Beside we have someone else to deal with now."

They all turned to see The Riku Replica walking into the room.

Sora-7th Floor.

* * *

"Sora, slow down!" yelled Goofy, him and Donald running behind Sora as they ran up the stairs to the Seventh floor door.

"We don't have time! They've got Namine! We've got to hurry!" Sora yelled back.

"He sure seems..Worked up about this." huffed Donald.

"Can you blame him?" asked Goofy, "He finally remembers Namine, only to find out she's being held prisoner."

"Good point. If we heard the king was in danger, we'd be upset to." said Donald.

They finally caught up to Sora at the top of the Seventh Floor entrance hall. He was just standing there watching something. They walked to his side and Donald was about to say something, when Sora stopped him and pointed to something in the middle of the floor.

He pointed to a guy in a black coat. He had black hair and was on his hands and knees, scrubbing furiously with a towel at the floor, yelling with every scrub.

"Damn these in-ground stains! Why the hell does Larxene eat string cheese in the middle of the day?!" he yelled.

* * *

Ok Next Chapter will be up soon, probably this weekend. Now, This is very Important, Press the button that says REVIEW so that you can tell me what you think about the story or you can Review On any other Chapter. EITHER WAY, REVIEW!! for every time you see a review button and don't press it, angel dies. BYE, NOW!! ;)


	17. Castle OblivionPart 3

358/2 Days is taking forever to come out, anyway...

Here's the Next Chapter, Read, Enjoy, and Review

I don't Own Anything

* * *

Sora-7th Floor Entrance.

Sora, Donald and Goofy were standing at the top of the stairs, watching as a guy in a black coat and black hair was scrubbing away at the floor, oblivious to their presence. He was on his hands and knees and scrubbed furiously at, what looked like an orange stain "Damn...Stains!" he cursed

Sora leaned back a little and whispered to Donald and Goofy, "Maybe we can sneak around him." They nodded and they started to tip-toe along the walls, around the guy in a wide circle and listened as he continued shouting angrily. "Nasty Stains! These are Impossible!"

They continued tip-toeing towards the door, making sure not to make any noises. Then they stopped dead in their tracks when the saw the guy sit up and sniffed the air. "What smells like wet dog?"

Sora and Donald looked at Goofy, who was sweating, and Donald yelled, "Dammit, Goofy Why are you sweating?! Now he knows were here! Stop Sweating!"

"I couldn't help it! That fight we had with Larxene made me sweat! Besides, it's a natural bodily function! Why don't you ask me to stop taking shits while your at it!?" yelled Goofy.

"Y'know, I'm pretty sure that dogs don't sweat." said Sora.

Goofy turned to Sora, " Then why don't you ask the duck why he's talking and walking upright on his legs?"

"Nevermind."

"So," said the guy, who was now standing up at his full height, "You must be Sora."

"Yeah, what of it?" Sora said, "you work with Larxene, don't you?" Sora, already knowing the answer, took a defensive stance.

"Unfortunately. Are you enjoying yourself in the Castle?" he smiled a pointed smile and stuck his hands into his pockets

"Where's Namine?! Tell me!"

"Maybe you could put a 'Please' at the end of your words. Your coming off as very rude."

"He asked you a question!" yelled Donald, pointing to the man

"Excuse me, Daffy, but the Humans are talking."

Donald's jaw dropped and he gasped, "Ah! I am shocked and appalled!"

"Now," said the Man, "Here in Castle Oblivion, I bet it's nice to peel away all those worthless memories."

"That Larxene woman already said that." said Goofy, lazily

"Oh, really? Ok, What about this. In your sleeping memories lies a clue for something you need. If you can't figure it out, I can give you a hint." He said, holding out his hand.

"That was that guy, Axel, he was on the first floor." said Sora.

"Really?! Dammit, Okay, Okay." Said the Man, rubbing his head, "I can think of something..um...uh...ummm..Ah!" The Man ran to the wall right next to Sora and started pounding his head into it, yelling, "Goddamn! Shit!" over and over again, "I can't think of anything! They took all the good ones!".

"This guy is CooCoo for CoCo Puffs." whispered Donald to Goofy, who nodded an agreement

"I'm only gonna ask you one more time, where's Namine!?" yelled Sora

The Man stopped banging his head, long enogh to say, "She's here, but don't worry, she's fine. She's not in any present danger. Note the word-Present."

Sora was about to charge at the man, When Goofy grabbed his shoulder, "We have to be careful. We don't know what he can do."

"Well, we have to do something. He's not just gonna let us pass." said Donald, looking at the Man, who was not paying attention to their conversation and was picking at his ear.

While Sora, Donald and Goofy were talking the Man was thinking,_ "Shit! I didn't know they would be here! I can't just let them go on ahead. Larxene might get angry, thats a good thing. So now my only option is to test him, but not kill him...."_

"Maybe if we just ask him politely, he'll tell us what his powers are." suggested Goofy.

"Now, when has that ever worked, besides that one time?" asked Sora.

"Hey, Sora and his Barnyard friends!" yelled the Man. They turned to the Man and saw that the he was back at the center of the Floor and from all corners of the room, Shadows were gathering at his hands while he talked. "My name is Xinck, yes I know it sounds like the element, Zinc, but it's spelled completely Different," The Darkness settled in his hands and formed two Shadowy Black short Swords with no handgaurds, "Now, Come on, but remember, I can't promise I won't try to kill you."

Sora, Donald, and Goofy got intp their stances.

"_Now for a little antagonizing,"_ Xinck thought, "Yes, do you feel your sleeping memories awaking the higher you climb the Castle floors? The floors I cleaned," he added, " Can you feel Namine in your heart?"

"Grr!" Sora growled and started running at Xinck, but stopped when Xinck shot a jet-black ball of Darkness at him. Goofy jumped in front of the blast and blocked it with his shield. The Impact blew smoke all around him as the blast dissipated. When the looked beyond the smoke for Xinck he was gone. Then Sora heard a two Voices behind him, Donald, further away calling, "Sora!" and another voice, a lot closer, whispering in his ear, "You might want to pay attention. You don't want to die just yet." It was Xinck, Sora tried to turn around, but he wasn't fast enough and Xinck grabbed Sora by the arm and threw him into the air.

"Thunder!" yelled Donald and a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky and hit Xinck, knocking him off guard. Sora came back down and landed a combo on Xinck and ending it with a stab to the stomach

"Dammit that stings!" Xinck yelled. Goofy came up to try and hit Xinck with his Shield. Xinck moved out of the way and tripped Goofy. Xinck ran after Sora and aimed for his head with his sword, Sora blocked the attack, but was hit in the side with Xinck's other sword. Xinck caught him off guard and hit him in the sides.

"Fire!" yelled Donald and a ball of Fire hit Xinck in the ass.

"Aaahh!" Xinck yelled. He jumped away from Sora and up the side of the wall, stabbing his sword in the wall for balance and he yelled at Doanld as he tried to put out the fire, "I'm gonna chop your feathers off and put you China so they can make Peking Pigeon out of ya! Damn!" Xinck shot, like a bullet, off the wall at Donald. Donald didn't hae time to react. Sora stepped in and Blocked Xinck's Attack with his Keyblade, he stayed there, in midair, pushing down on Sora with his swords. "Not bad." said Xinck, "But, you can do better!" Xinck front flipped behind Sora, high into the air, turned around and shot his swords at Sora. The chains wrapped around Sora's arms and Xinck started swinging him around as he landed back on the ground. Goofy finally recovered from Xinck tripping him. He got up and was knocked back down as Sora came crashing into him. Xinck pulled on the chains again and dragged Sora back towards him. Sora tried tugging at the chains, but they weren't moving. When Xinck had pulled Sora close enough to him, Sora kicked up his feet and landed directly in Xinck's chest, unraveling the chains around his arms. Xinck's back hit the wall as his chains shot back into his sword handles. "Agh!" he yelled. He got off the wall and teleported away towards the front of the room. He raised his hand and waved, yelling, "Sora! Over here!" Sora looked and Xinck disappeared, teleporting in the air next to Sora and hit him into the air, "Here!". He shot to the other side of Sora and hit him again, "Here!". Sora fell back to the ground, landing on his feet. He saw Xinck, slowly making his way toward him. Sora raised his Keyblade and threw it at Xinck, the keyblade caught fire as it went. It hit Xinck head on, knocking him off balance. Then it turned, in midair, towards Sora and hit Xinck in the back, then returned to Sora's hand. Xinck hung his head, stunned, and Sora and Goofy came running at him. Goofy smacked him with his shield, throwing Xinck into the air, Sora jumped and hit him again, throwing him higher. Goofy jumped even higher than Xinck and hit him back towards the ground. He landed on his front and slowly got up.

"Grrr!" he growled, blood dripping from several wounds. He flew into the air, the entire room growing dark as Shadows started shooting towards his hands. Huge amounts of Darkness were flying around him. "Now...Witness..REAL POWER!" he yelled.

Sora pulled out a Zero-Card from his pocket and played it. The Darkness around Xinck disappeared and he fell back to the floor. "Shit! I hate those Zero cards!" he yelled getting up. He was too distracted to notice Sora running at him, his keyblade ready.

"Uh-oh."

Sora stabbed at Xinck directly in the chest, with him yelling, "Damn. Should've seen this coming..."

Sora stepped back as Xinck fell weakly to the ground, clutching at the spot where his heart is supposed to be."Now tell me where she is!" yelled Sora.

Xinck coughed up blood and looked at his hand. It was fading."Oh, great, I'm fading and all you care about is Namine. A heartless Hero 'til the very end."

"Larxene said that too." said Donald.

"Whatever. Damn, I'm dying. It doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would." he said. He got on his knees, put his hand to heart and raised the other one up towards the sky as he faded away, he said, "Best death-pose ever..." Then he was completely consumed by the darkness and disappeared.

"Come on, we've got to go." said Sora, heading towards the door.

"Wait Sora." said Goofy, "Maybe we should rest a little bit. That last fight wore me out a little bit."

"We don't have time. Namine's still in danger."

"Didn't you hear what Xinck said? He said She's not in any present danger."said Donald.

"You never know." said Jiminy, "It might be better to just go on ahead."

"You might as well go ahead. Whats the worst that could happen?" came a voice.

The looked for the source of the voice and saw in the corner was Xinck. He was hanging upside down with his sword in the ceiling and him hanging from the chain.

"We thought you were dead." said Sora.

"Well, I can control the Darkness, I think I can fake fading into it every once in a while."

"Why don't you come down so we can finish this?"

"Oh, we're finished here." He turned upright and, unlodged his sword and landed on the ground, "Go on ahead. I won't stop you. Just keep on going and become Namine's knight in shining armor, or something similar." He waved and disappeared in a Portal.

"Come on let's go!" yelled Sora, running to the Door. He looked back at Donald and Goofy who hadn't moved. "Are you guys coming or not?"

Donald and Goofy looked at each other, then said, "Yeah, we're coming."

Xinck's portal reopened in The Observation Room. He expected to be greeted with someone calling his name in shock, but instead He saw a for the person in the room. He was wearing a black, red, and blue battle suit, with the heartless emblem on his chest and a blue and white shirt-tail falling from his waist.

"Who's the guy in the dress?" Xinck asked.

"Thats the Replica of Riku." said Axel. Then he quickly explained to Xinck everything that had happened while he was gone.

"Oh, I get it." said Xinck.

Vexen held up the card that Axel had just given him, the Destiny Islands Card. Axel came up to Vexen and told him, "Thats the card of Sora and Riku's homeworld."

"It's just a card. What good is that?" asked the Replica.

"With a little help from Namine,"Larxene started, " you'll have all the real Riku's memories. Maybe she'll even make it so you forget that you're a fake. In other words, It will be like your the real Riku, 'kay?" She smiled a fake smile that she gave to everyone who she deemed lesser to her. Which is everyone

"What do I want with the heart of a loser? The Real Riku is a bed-wetting piss baby, who's afraid of the dark!" yelled the Replica at the top of his lungs

"Any Objections, Vexen?" asked Larxene, completely ignoring Replica and his cries, "After all, you do want to test Sora, don't you?"

"You mean Tiz-zest, right?" said Vexen, "But, yes, it must be done."

"What?! How could you?! Are you betraying me?!" yelled Replica. He took a defensive step back

"I told you I would make good use of you didn't I?" said Vexen. He didn't even bother looking at Replica

"No-!"

"Don't worry, fake, I'm sure it won't hurt that much." Larxene said. She smiled again

The Replica growled and held up a hand, "I'll HURT You! Old Hag!" he yelled summoning his weapon and charging at Larxene.

"Old hag?!" Her smile disappeared and was replaced with a sneer. Larxene shot a huge bolt of Lightning at the Replica, hitting him square in his chest and knocking him against the wall. "I'll show you who's an old hag!" Larxene went to the Replica and grabbed him by his hair, as he struggled to get free. "Don't worry," She said, her sadistic smile returning, " I'm sure Namine will get rid of the memory of me knocking you on your ass and implant the loveliest memories you could hope for!" Larxene dragged the replica to the Desk Namine was using and threw him on the table, knocking off all her crayons and papers. Namine gasped at seeing Larxene and the Replica. Larxene held the Replica's head down and said to Namine, "Do it."

Namine voice timidly left her lips, "But..I.."

"DO IT! NOW!"

The Replica started to scream, as Namine started working her powers on him, "NO! NOOOOO!"

It only took Namine One minute to finish and when she was done, The Replica went Unconscious and he would stay like that for 30 minutes. Larxene had put the Replica out of the room, so that the fake memories would set in his head. After she had put the Replica away, Larxene went back to the Observation Room.

She walked up to Xinck and asked,"Didn't I tell you not to engage Sora?"

" Mmm?" Xinck was leaning up against the wall, so he had to look up to Larxene, " What was I supposed to do? Just let him pass?"

"You should've have followed orders and left him alone."

"Larxene," said Axel, walking closer to her, "Xinck fighting Sora had no real downsides to it. Give the kid a break."

"Or Briz-ake, as the young people say." said Vexen in the background

"No!" said Larxene, "The fact is, Xinck can't take orders."

"I followed Marluxia's order to test Sora's strength. Besides, I didn't do anything that you and Axel haven't already done. All I did was fight, test, and antagonize. And I got the same results as you two, which is; Our plan is working." said Xinck. He got off the wall and stood to his full height, which was 2 invhes taller than Larxene.

"That's not the point. You disobeyed my direct order. And to make sure you don't do it again, I'm sending you away."

"What?"

Larxene put her hands together and said, "Stone Centinel, Break." at her command, two huge stone pillars with the symbol of the Organization plastered on all four sides appeared on either side of Xinck. They leaned toward him, and before he could do anything, they absorb his arms into their stone, locking him in.

"What the Hell!? Larxene!?"

"Take him to the dungeon." she said to the Stones, waving them and Xinck away as she turned away from him.

"We have a dungeon?" asked Vexen, looking to Axel, who shrugged.

At her commaned, the Stones moved across the floor, heading to the door and down to the dungeon. With Xinck yelling and kicking his legs trying to get free, "Larxene! I _Will_ Make you Suffer for this!" Larxene smiled and turned back to Vexen and Axel. Axel looked at Xinck as he was dragged through the door. Xinck gave him a 'Your enjoying this, aren't you?' Look and Axel gave the 'Yeah' look. They made sure no one was watching and gave each other a quick thumbs up. Then they both gave the, 'No one does the thumbs up anymore' look.

30 Minutes later, The Replica had woken up, and, due to his false memories implanted by Namine, thought that whatever was hurting Namine, he would make it go away. He even showed her a fake Star good luck charm, that he thought Namine had Given him, and swore that he would protect her. Then he left the room to find Sora.

Sora-7th Floor Exit.

Sora, Donal and Goofy walked out of the 7th floor world. When Sora was out far enough, he saw a person walking towards them. He had on big white and blue shoes, wide jeans that housed smaller jeans on his legs. A skin-tight, sleeveless yellow shirt and white hair with peircing blue eyes.

Sora started, "Rik-"

"Hannah Montana!" screamed Donald, running out to the person and grabbing his hand. "Oh, my god, Hannah, can I call you Hannah? I'm gonna call you Hannah. I am your biggest fan!"

"Donald! He's not Hannah Montana! It's Riku!" yelled Sora.

Donald looked at Riku, then at Sora, "Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"Oh." Donald lowered his head and walked back to Sora.

"Riku..what are you doing here?" asked Sora, he walked up closer to Riku. Riku didn't look happy

"Surprised to see me?" he said, "Let me know if I'm getting in the way of something."

"What? No, I didn't mean-"

"Spare me. I bet you had all but forgotten about me."

"Are you crazy? I came all this way looking for you!"

"But not anymore, right?" said Riku, "Now, It's all about Namine, am I right? You don't care about me any more than you care about Namine's feelings."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I knew it. Never even gave it a thought, did you? Just because you want to see Namine...Sorry-it doesn't go both ways. To tell you the truth..."He looked at Sora and those peircing blue eyes peirced Sora's soul, " Namine doesn't even want to look at your face."

"Why?"

"Ask your memories why Namine left the Islands."

"Did I do something? Is it my fault?"

Donald whispered to Goofy, "It's probably because he farted one too many times. That'll drive anyone away."

"Mm-mm." said Goofy, "Remember when we went to Deep Jungle and he farted and all those birds fell out of the trees dead?"

"No, I don't remember that." said Donald, "But I do remember-"

"Can't you see we're trying to do something over here!" yelled Sora. He turned back to Riku and saw he became enveloped in Darkness. When it dispersed, he was in his Dark Suit.

"Go home, Sora. I'll look after Namine." Black and dark blue energy swirled around his hand, "And anyone who goes near her has to go through me!" His Soul Eater sword appeared in his hand and he jumped at Sora. He summoned his Keyblade and blocked Riku's attack.

"Riku! Stop it! We're supposed to be friends!"

"Oh, please, since when have you ever cared about me. Namine's not the only one sick of looking at you! So am I!" Riku flipped back and landed a few feet away from Sora.

"Riku, stop it!" yelled Sora.

"'Riku, stop it'!" Riku whined, imitating Sora, "After all this time, you still sound like a girl!" Riku lunged at Sora and his friends. He hit Sora several times in the stomach. Sora jumped back and yelled, "Thunder!" and lightning fell from the sky, hitting Riku on his shoulders. Donald and Goofy ran up to Riku. Riku sidestepped away from their attack and hit them hard in their backs, throwing them against a wall. "Useless." he said. Sora charged at Riku and attacked with the Keyblade, knocking Riku off balance. Sora jumped and brought down his sword on Riku's head. Riku recovered and countered with a quick hit to Sora's chest. Riku jumped back and summoned a Dark Firaga. Sora blocked it and ran at Riku. He twirled his keyblade around then pointed it at Riku. Sora started dashing all around the room, striking Riku from all angle's. The final dash, Sora hit Riku in the back and Sora landed a few feet away from him. Riku hunched over, trying to catch his breath. He raised his head and looked at Sora, then he turned and ran away up the stairs.

"Riku! No, Wait!"

Donald and Goofy walked up to Sora, who had his head down, "Wow." said Donald, out of breath, "Someone's got sand in their vagina."

"Why do you have to be so gross, Donald?!" yelled Goofy.

Sora-8th Floor Entrance.

Sora ran up through the stairway and looked around the Room, yelling, "Riku?! Riku, where'd you go?!" Sora got no answer and he held his head down.

Goofy came up and placed his hand on Sora's shoulder, "Sora...are you okay?"

"Don't worry about me. What happened....to Riku?"

"He sure was acting strange. Maybe it was Ansem again?" said Jiminy.

"No way. We already took care of Ansem." said Sora.

"But, I wonder what's wrong with then." said Goofy.

"Wait! Wait!" said Donald, " The King was supposed to be with Riku. If Riku's acting strange, then the King might be in trouble."

"Yeah.." said Sora, his head still down.

"Hey, " said Jiminy, " Riku's still your friend, that's no mistake. I know he said some awful things, but remember, we are in Castle Oblivion. People lose their memories in here bit by bit. Riku's probably just forgotten he's your friend. That's-"

"So, it's not that he hates me, he just forget?"

"That'd be my guess. Now, don't interupt me again, I'm on a roll. So instea-"

"Sorry." said Sora

Jiminy gave Sora the 'Do it again and see what happens' look, then continued, "So instead of being sad., let's figure out a way to make Riku remember. It's not like you to mope. Let's work together and get through this. Now you can talk."

"Jiminy's right, Sora," said Goofy, "Don't push your friends away."

"Yeah....okay." said Sora. Donald came up andpunched Sora in the nose. Sora grabbed his face and said, "Ow! What the fuck, man!"

"That's not how a keyblade master is supposed to sound like!"

"Huh? You're right." Sora raised his keyblade into the air and said, in a heroic voice, "I'll save Riku, namine and the King! I'll beat the bad guys and do it all blindfloded!"

"Yeah, that's the spirit!" said Goofy

"Heartless? Ha! They're nothing compared to me! HAHA!" said Sora

"Yeah, that's it!" said Donald.

"I'll save our friends, and we'll all live happily ever after! HAHA!" said Sora.

"Yeah, WhooHoo!" said Jiminy.

"Forces of evil, do your worst!" yelled Sora

"Okay, now you just sound like a douchebag." said Jiminy, "Let's keep going."

* * *

In The small Holding Cell of Castle Oblivion, Xinck sat in a corner. It wasn't a small cell, but it was large enough to hold up to 3 people. In Xinck's corner, he was rocking back and forth, singing the theme song to Rosemary's Baby to keep himself entertained "La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la ROSEMARY'S BABY!!" After he got bored with that, he resorted to talking to himself.

"What the hell is VooDoo Shiznit?"

"It's like VooDoo, but with Shiznit at the end of it."

"Oh, that makes sense. I never thought of that."

"You know, I tried making one of those 30 minute meals from the Rachel Ray show. But I actually saved 10 minutes by not being all phony and happy like Rachel Ray."

But after he got bored with that, he started trying to tell himself to shut up.

"Shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"Shut up!"

"Shut up!"

"Shut up!"

"Shut up!"

"Shut up!"

"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!!!"

"...."

"...."

"What's That?! The Wind!"

"Alright, I'll shut up. But here's some advice, Xinck. There's nothing magical keeping you in here."

"Huh. Thank's Xinck. That's good advice. You're real smart."

"Oh, thanks."

"And handsome."

"Oh, stop, You're embarassing me."

"We could...do it if you want."

"That's where I draw the line."

"What? It's not gay, It's masturbation."

"Just teleport out of here, Xinck!"

"Alright, alright, fine! I'll miss that sweet ass of yours."

"God, no wonder people think you're crazy."

"When we say 'you're' we really mean 'I'm'" Xinck stood up and stretched. He wiped the front of his coat, not because it was dirty, but just because it was a habit. He prepared to teleport out of his cell but stopped when he heard another Corridor Of Darkness closing behind him. He turned and saw Cherry Blossoms falling to the floor and a man in a hooded black coat standing outside his cell.

Sora-8th Floor Exit.

Sora and the others ran out the door and saw Riku walking up to the stairs out of the room. Riku sensed them.

"Take the hint. Go home Sora."

"Not until, I rescue you and Namine!" said Sora.

"What makes you think I need Saving?"

"Then think of Kairi. She's at the islands, waiting for us. Don't you remember?"

"You're the one who's forgetting. At Kingdom Hearts, when we sealed the Door to Darkness. I told you to take care of Kairi. Give it up, I'm not going back to the islands."

"It's not just Kairi! What about the others?"

"You can have those losers. Do you even remember what they look like?" asked Riku.

"Of course I remem-" Sora stopped to think, _"Let's see, there was Kid 1, Kid 2 and Kid 3...."_

"Don't feel bad. That's what happens when you stay in this forget all the useless stuff and remember for the first time what really matters. I remembered it, Sora. The one thing most important to me. I'm staying here to protect Naminé. Nothing else matters!"

Sora hesitated, then he summoned his keyblade, "Mind if I jog your memory?"

Riku chuckled a lttle, then got into his stance and summoned his Souleater, "You can try."

In The Observation Room, Axel was the only one watching the fight. He was in the room alone, except for Namine. Larxene had gone to the restroom and Vexen had more than likely gone to report back to Zexion. In The Crystal Ball, Axel watched as Sora and The Replica fought. It was the 2nd fight between the Replica and Sora and it was a quick battle, with Sora being the victor and the Replica running off deeper into the Castle. After the fight, Axel turned his head to the corner and looked at Namine with her head down and her hands on her notebook. She sat so still, even when no oone was in the room, she would barely move an inch. Axel walked over to Namine, who didn't even look up as he spoke. "Does it hurt, Namine?"

She said nothing.

"Does it hurt watching your two childhood friends fight each other because of you? Believe me, you have my sympathies from the heart."

Namine looked up at Axel from these words.

Axel looked away, "But don't get your hopes up. We nobodies can never hope to be somebodies. But think Namine, there must be something you can do....."

Sora-9th Floor Entrance.

Sora had just finished fighting Riku for the second time. He had won and Riku ran off and disappeared. So Sora had no choice but to continue onward through the Castle. Sora sighed as he spoke, "I don't get it. Me and Riku both want the same both want to help Naminé. So why are we fighting? I mean, Riku and I have bumped heads over stuff in the past, like this one time we had a fight about who got the last slice of pizza and we didn't talk to each other for six months."

"Wow, you didn't talk to each other for six months over pizza. Wow." Donald rolled his eyes

"Well the more you guys fight, the closer you two should be." said Goofy.

"Yeah, but Riku doesn't seem to feel that way." said Sora.

"Oh, come on now, you guys used to be inseperable," said Donald, "You, Riku and What's-her-face."

"Yeah, What's-her-face." said Goofy contently

"Oh no." said Jiminy, "Our memories are slipping fast. This is awful, Sora. We'd better hurry. Besides, I'm sure you and Riku can talk things out."

"You're probably right," said Sora, "We were never apart. Me, Riku and Namine."

In The Observation Room, Axel, Larxene, who had come back from the bathroom, and Vexen, who had come back from The UnderGround. It had taken him only an Hour and a Half, but they were watching Sora finishing progressing through the 9th Floor World. Sora exited out of the door and he started looking around the room and No Riku Replica came out to attack him, much to Vexen's displeasure.

Larxene, in her mocking tone of voice, said, "So what's going on Vexen? Your Riku was supposed to counter Sora, so what's going on? Where is he?"

Vexen merely sneered and evilly eyed Larxene, who smiled at him. Axel with his arms folded, said "It's obvious that he's trying to lure Sora deeper into the Castle, right? I suppose we just leave it at that, y'know."

"A-ha!" said Larxene, sarcastically, "Oh, I see now! I would've never guessed that! So sorry, Vexy!"

"Grr! Silence!" Vexen yelled.

Larxene folded her arms, sighed and looked away, "Predictable response. Men without Hearts are so boring."

"I'd hold my tongue if I were you. As if you have a heat to speak of yourself." Vexen snapped back

Larxene scoffed at Vexen, "You are so half-baked. You're pathetic, old man."

Vexen was about to reply with a hard-hitting Verbal Bitch-Slap, but before he could say anything, a Dark Portal appeared directly behind Larxene and Axel. Xinck stepped out of the Portal.

"Thought you were in the Holding Cell?" asked Axel, turning to Xinck

"I was, but there wasn't anything holding me in there. So I thought I would come back."

"I'm pretty sure I told you to leave." said Larxene without turning around to look at him Xinck ignored her and leaned his back up against the wall and listened to the conversation.

"That's it, Larxene!"Vexen yeleld, "Get ready for a Verbal Bitch-Slap! Yo' Mama-"

"That's enough." came a voice.

From behind Vexen, another Dark Portal appeared. Outstepped a hooded man, he raised his hands to his hood and pulled it back, revealing pale pink hair and blue eyes. Cherry Blossom petals appeared to fall around him as he walked towards Vexen. The Expression on his face reminded every in the room of their Superior, who looked down on everyone as lesser than him

"Marluxia!" said Vexen. (Big Surprise.)

"Vexen," said Marluxian in his sweet, monotone voice, "The simple fact is that your project was a failure. You'd best not dissapoint us again." He eyed Vexen as if baiting him to give a reply.

"Dissapoint you?! You go too far!" Vexen pointed at Marluxia in dismay, " In this Organization you are Number 11! I am Number 4 and I will not have you-!" Marluxia's Scythe point aimed itself at Vexen's neck. Vexen instinctively stepped back, but his face gave off a hint of fear.

Marluxia continued as if nothing had happened,"Our leader entrusted this Castle and Namine to me. Defying me will be seen as treason against the Organization."

"'Traitors are Eliminated.'" Said Axel, chuckling from the back, "I believe that's what the rules say."

"In the end all traitors meet their end." said Xinck. He smiled his shark-tooth grin behind Vexen's back.

"Who needs a half-baked good-for-nothing anyway?" said Larxene, smiling and putting her hands on her hips.

Vexen growled and shot hate-filled glances at his Comrades.

"Vexen," started Marluxia, "In the name of the Organization, I pronounce your project a failure. As such I must report this to the Superior."

Vexen's eyes nearly popped out of his at the mention of the Superior. A bad report to Him would surely result in misfortune for Vexen, "Wait! No! There's no need to involve The Superior! Leave him out of this! Please!"

"Fine, then." Marluxia said. Everyone but Vexen seemed to Notice that Marluxia had dismissed the option of telling the Superior too quickly, " But the fact is you cannot defeat Sora."

Vexen seemed to regain his confidence, now that The Superior was to be left out. He smirked at little and ignored the pointy Scythe in his face, "Pity to be so ignorant. As you can only see the surface of things I wouldn't expect you to see my true might."

"Oh?" said Marluxia as he dissmissed his Scythe. "Then let us watch as you prove it."

"What?"

Marluxia turned his back to Vexen and the others as they watched him walk away a few feet, then stop. "None of us wish to be suspicious of a comrade."

Vexen scoffed "Your insencerity is comforting." A Dark Portal appeared around Vexen and he disappeared.

Axel stepped up, "You give a challenge like that to Vexen and he'll...seriously want to eliminate Sora." He sounded almost concerned for his Comrade

Marluxia replied, "That would be an unfortunate denouement." Marluxia astarted to walk towards Namine's corner. While Marluxia walked towards Namine, he realized he had just done the entire 'Evil Villain' thing perfectly. And all the while, his thoughts were on one thing, _"My God! I am So Beautufil! Do any of these fools in here realize this!? Gawd!" _He got to Namine and placed a hand on her shoulder. She didn't even bother looking up as Marluxia spoke, "What to do? Your hero is soon to be wiped from Existance. But he made a promise to you, isn't that right, Namine?"

"...Yes."

Marluxia removed his hand from her shoulder and walked back to the othe r3 members, before he could say anything, Larxene spoke up. "Marluxia, I think it's time we did something with Xinck...." Xinck raised an eyebrow at the mention of his name. "...I had told him to not fight Sora and he did it anyway. And when I told him to stay in his Cell he escaped."

"It's alright, Larxene," said Marluxia, waving the situation away with a flick of his hand "While he was in his Cell, I approached him with an opputunity." He turned to Xinck, "So how about it Xinck? Will you join us?"

Xinck grinned, "Of course."

Axel smiled to himself.

Sora-10th Floor Exit.

Sora and his friends Exit out of their 10th World. Which means they have lost Ten floors worth of Memories. As soon as they came out of the Door, they saw a man with a black coat and long dirty-blond hair and green eyes.

"Who are you!?" yelled Sora.

"Oh, great another freak in a black coat.." Donald crossed his arms

"You young people are getting ruder and ruder by the minute."Said the man. He sounded like an old man whose voice was in denial of its oldness, but at the same time sounded like he was an Aristocrat, "I am Vexen, and I am here to collect your debt, Sora."

"Debt?" said Goofy. He turned and whispered to Sora, "Sora, do you owe this guy something?"

"Of course not!" said Sora.

"Ah, yes you do! Don't you remember?" Vexen yelled, " Bangkok, 1997! I gave you 13 America Dollars so that you could by a tranvestite Prostitue! I want my money back!"

"WHAT!?"

"He he. Just playing, but seriously, you owe me for reuniting you with your former friend." He smiled a smile that made everyone feel uncomfortable.

"You mean..Riku! Then your the one that's been controlling him! What have you done to him!?"

"He he." Vexen chuckled. He moved his hand down and Ice and snow started to swirl around his hand as his Shield formed, "I see no need to give you that information." He held up his blue shield to his face, "Why trouble you In your final hour?" Sora summoned his keyblade and Donald and Goofy summoned their weapons. Vexen started off, he raised his hand and an Ice Spike formed. As Sora ran at Vexen, he threw the spike, Sora rolled out of the way and dashed at Vexen. He attacked and Vexen yelled, while Goofy and Donald came up and also landed hits on Vexen. "Get away from me! You all Smell like feet!" Vexen yelled and Ice and a frozen force pushed them all away. Sora was too distracted as Vexen came at him and attacked with his shield, hitting Sora twice and summoning an ice spike to finish. Vexen jumped back and was immedietely hit with Lightning from Donald. Vexen yelled as he hit the floor and Goofy came up and threw his shield at Vexen, hitting him in the face. "Gah!" Vexen yelled. He recovered and he raised his hand and a frozen force circled the air around him as he yelled, "You are pushing it!" He threw his hand to the floor and Ice Spikes shot out around him as dozens of Spikes shot from the ground towards Sora.

The first three spikes shot around Sora and hit him in the back of the knee and back. He ignored the pain and ran from the spikes. Donald and Goofy were able to avoid the Spikes as they joined Sora in running. Vexen got up from the floor and the Spikes around him disappeared and the ones chasing Sora and the Others stopped. Goofy took the opputunity to throw his Shield again at Vexen, it caught him in the back of the head and stunned him.

Sora ran up to a stunned Vexen and attacked. Vexen was knocked back with every hit to his body, then Sora fell back and from the tip of his Keyblade a ball of Fire appeared at Fired at Vexen as Sora yelled, "Firaga!" The ball hit Vexen head on and he fell back into the air. He back-flipped and slid across the floor on his feet. HE stopped sliding, stood up and dismissed his Shield and smiled, "As I expected. You're not one to die so easily."

"As if I'd ever lose to you!" yelled Sora, flailing his Keyblade out in front of him

"I wouldn't be so sure. Did you even notice? As we fought, I was delving deep into your memory. And look what I found." Vexen held up a card and It's face was of a world that Sora did not recognize. Vexen threw it and Sora caught it.

"It's a card I made from the memories deep in the other side of your heart." Vexen said. A dark Portal appeared and he disappeared.

"Come back!" Sora yelled, but it was too late. He looked at the card, "Other memories?"

"What the funk-n-waggles was he talking about?" asked Donald.

"It doesn't matter. We have to keep going, right Sora?" asked Goofy.

Sora looked back and smiled, 'Of Course."

In The Observation Room, No One was happy.

"What the fuck is he doing!" yelled Larxene looking at The Crystal ball, 'He's gonna ruin everything! When did he make a hidden memory card..."

"Looks like Vexen is letting it go to his head." said Xinck looking into the ball.

"What should we do?" asked Larxene to Axel, "Won't it be bad if Sora finds a 'hidden memory'?"

Axel crossed his arms and thought about it for a second "If he's just passing through, then we should go with it, but I don't know what Vexen will do."

Marluxia appeared out of nowhere and walked up to the three. He reminded them of fashion model who walked down the catwalk, except there were flower petals falling in the dozens as he walked. "Damn petals." Larxene said, brushing one out of her hair.

"Don't be hatin' on my petals, Larxene." Marluxia snapped, "We will not stand idly by as Vexen commits this treasonous act."

"Right."Axel said, " If Sora disappears, then that will put a stop to our plans."

"True." said Marluxia. He eyed Axel adn Xinck "So, Axel, Xinck, I trust that you know what needs to be done."

Xinck raised an eyebrow and Axel turned and smiled, saying, "Haven't a clue really. Maybe you can spell it out for us."

Marluxia walked away from them, in his ow mind he thought it was making him look more dramatic. He turned his back to them once again, "You must eliminate the traitor. If we leave Vexen alone, he will get in the way of our plans. And I want You and Xinck to take him out. Take care of it, in order to prove that You and Xinck aren't traitors."

Axel chuckled as he walked over to Xinck. He looked at Marluxia and said, "No taking that order back later. Let's go, Xinck." Axel disappeared into A Dark Portal.

Axel already left and Larxen and Marluxia looked at their former trainee. He nodded and got off the wall,"Keep on Truckin'! Truck, truck, truckin'!" Xinck sang and disappeared into his own portal.

Larxene turned to Marluxia, "Are you sure that those two can be trusted?" She crossed her arms.

Marluxia chuckled, "We shall see. Now, I have to go get more flower petals."

Sora-11th Floor Entrance

"Mmm." said Jiminy as they walked towards the door, "A card from the other side of your heart... I wonder what it does."

"It's obviously a trap." said Donald.

"It's so obvious, in fact, that we don't even have to mention that it's a trap." said Goofy.

"Oh, well. There's only one way to find out. Besides, it's the only card we have left." said Sora.

Sora walked up to the door and held the card up. The card shined and the Door opened as they walked through it.

They entered into a world that was unfamiliar. It was a world with buildings that basically had the same color scheme, Warm evening colors. Light oranges and yellows that were all over the place as the evening and warm sun seemed to set over the Horizon. The ground was an orange brink that was dotted with random street lights. But the street lights seemed completely unecessary as the sun hadn't even set. Sora, Donald and Goofy walked through the world the world, wondering when they had been here, because they didn't remember ever coming here.

"Wow, where are we, Sora?" asked Goofy.

"I dunno. I've never been here before." Sora said.

"Me neither." said Donald, "Although I might have been here when I went on that 3-Week Crack binge..."

"Oh, yeah!"Goofy said, "I can't believe I forgot that! I remember me and the King finally found you when we sent out fliers that said, 'Five o' Clock Free Crack Giveaway.'"

"Wait a minute! Up until now we've only been to places from Sora's memories!" said Jiminy.

"Maybe so, but I still don't remember this place." said Sora.

"Maybe you forgot it like all the other stuff." said Goofy.

"This is terrible," said Jiminy, 'Our memories are almost gone. Except the Free Crack Giveaway thing Goofy remembered."

"It'll be okay," said Sora, "Besides, Crak is whack. And also, I still have this." Sora pulled out his Star Charm that Namine had given him. "There's a special memory that goes with this. One night, when Naminé and I were little, there was this meteor shower. Naminé started crying. She said, 'What if a shooting star hits the island?' So I said, 'If a shooting star comes this way, I'll hit it right back into outer space!' I was swinging this toy sword around the whole time. Naminé just smiled and said 'Thanks.' And then she gave me this."

"Aww" said Donald, "Thats so....cheesy."

"Well, do you have any special memories, mm?!" said Sora.

"Of course! But the only one I can remember right now is this one time when Daisy and me were doing it and-"

"Eww! Donald, no on wants to here that!" Goofy yelled, nudging Donald in the arm.

"I do." said Jiminy.

"No. Trust me. You don't" said Goofy, turning to the little cricket on Sora's back, "Unless you're familiar with what a Dirty Sanchez is, you don't want to know. I know! and I don't even want to know."

They continued walking on through the Unknown world. Eventually, they found a trail, they followed the trail and ended up in a small forest. It didn't take them long to get through the forest, but when they came out, they found another trail that led to a Mansion. As Sora walked up to the mansion he got a feeling of Nostalgia. Then in front of the front gate of The Mansion, Vexen appeared. But, still walking through the World, looking for Vexen, Axel and Xinck made their way through the Copy of the world that they had seen hundreds of times.

"So is everything going according to plan?" asked Xinck.

"Yeah all we got to do is kill Vexen and we'll have their trust." Axel replied.

"Killing Vexen. Hehehe. Like we all haven't thought of that."

"Hey, we're only doing this so that we can get to Marluxia."

"I know, I know, but is it so bad that we enjoy it?"

"We're not supposed to enjoy it, Xinck."

"Yeah, I know."

They continued walkiing through the world for a few more minutes. As they walked, Axel looked up into the sky. He knew this world was fake, but he still remembered being here with another person. "What do you think he's doing right now?" Axel asked.

"Knowing him? Watching Tv or sulking." Xinck replied.

"Roxas doesn't sulk. Does he?"

"Yep. He looks really depressed when he tries to remember who he was. But he can't"

"If he knew that we were so close to his former life, he'd probably be mad."

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know." said Xinck

"I can't taste salt."

"Really?"

"Yep. Now you."

"Sometimes I don't blink."

"What?!"

"I don't blink, sometimes."

"Do you do this voluntarily or does it just happen?" Axel asked.

"Both."

"Weird."

They were getting closer and closer to where Vexen was. Now they were in the forest, a few yards away from the Mansion. While they were in the Forest, they heared fighting. It was Vexen and Sora fighting.

"We have to hurry. Who knows what Vexen has already said." Axel said, breaking into a run.

"Okay, but after we kill him we need to get rid of the witnesses." said Xinck, following close to Axel.

"You're right. When Marluxia's gone, we can't let Lexaeus and Zexion go. They might try and tell The Superior."

* * *

In front of The Mansion.

Vexen fell forward as Sora had just defeated him. Vexen tried to catch his breath after, for better lack of a phrase, getting his ass kicked by Sora. "Agh! You have such strength! Even at the mercy of your memory!" yelled Vexen

"I don't care about that! Just put Riku back!" yelled Sora

"'Just put him back'! He HAW He HAW! Fool of a boy! The Riku you know has but one fate, to sink into the Darkness!" Vexen staggered back onto his feet, "And you will share that fate, Sora! If you continue to seek the girl Namine. The shackles will tighten, you'll lose your Heart, and end up becoming Marluxia's pawn!"

"Marluxia?" said Donald, "What the hell kind of name is that?"

"Marluxia?" said Sora, ignoring Donalds idiotic comment, "What does that have to do with-"

A huge ball of Fire flew past Sora and landed square in Vexen's chest. "Gaah!" Vexen let out a blood-curdling scream and fell back to the ground. Sora looked back and Vexen looked up to see Axel and Xinck, with their Weapons summoned.

"Axel.." said Sora, stunned.

"Yo, Sora." Axel replied, giving him a salute "Did I catch you at a bad time?'

Sora looked at his companion, but couldn't remember his name, "...uh...uh..Other Guy."

"Oh, sure, you can remember everyone else's name except mine." said Xinck.

"I remember your name!" said Goofy.

"I don't care."

Vexen could be heard groaning from the ground, "Uuuungh...Axel,...Xinck...Why!?" He slowly started getting back up.

"We came to stop you from running your mouth." Axel crossed his arms

Vexen got back up and re-summoned his shield, "No! I will not fade away so easily!"

"This ought to be intersting." said Xinck.

Axel and Xinck charged at Vexen and Vexen came at them. Their weapons clashed against Vexen's shield and he pushed them away.

"No! Wait!" Sora yelled and he ran at the fight.

"Move, stupid!"Xinck threw up a dark shield in front of Sora to keep him away. Axel jumped in the air and threw dozens of fire balls at Vexen. He blocked and moved out of the way as Axel came crashing back down. Axel ran behind Vexen and attacked him in the back. While Vexen was in pain, Xinck came up to the front of Vexen and attacked him in the stomach.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Vexen yelled and Ice shot out from the ground around him, Axel jumped away in and Xinck took a hit on his arm. The Ice spikes fell back into the ground and Vexen came up and shot at Axel. He jabbed with the sharp part of his shield and Axel dodged out of the way and brought up his Chakram, hitting Vexen in the chest. Vexen jumped back and blocked another fireball attack from Axel.

"You shall die a peasents death!" yelled Vexen. He waved his hand forward and Ice shot from his hand at Axel. Xinck jumped between the blast and blocked with his swords.

"You talk too much, old man!"

"I'm only 52!" yelled Vexen.

"Never trust anyone over 30!" yelled Axel.

Xinck swung a blade at Vexen and the blade caught in Vexen's shield. He pulled on the handle and the yanked away Vexen's shield and tossed it aside. Vexen panicked and Axel saw this, Axel held up one of his Chakrams and it caught on fire, but this fire was almost a golden color. He threw it at the unprotected Vexen. The Chakram impacted and instead of, bouncing of of Vexen's black coat, it disappeared inside as Vexen fell back to the ground with a scream.

"No..Axel,..please!..Don't do it!" yelled Vexen, trying to pick himself up.

"You sure do like to talk a lot." said Axel, "We're Nobodies, Vexen, who have no one to be, yet we still 'are'. But, now you can be nothing, instead of just being a Nobody. You're off the hook." Axel smiled a little. Was he enjoying this?

"No..Please, don't! I don't want to.." Vexen looked at Xinck, who had no emotion in his face at all, "Xinck, please, Mercy!"

Xinck looked at Vexen with indifference, "Sorry, Vexen. Tragedies always end with tragedy, but life goes on, doesn't it? The Winter of our Discontent turns inevitably to the Spring of a New Adventure. Not for you, of course."

"Ooh, that was good." said Axel, chuckling

"Thanks. I try." Xinck and Axel both turned towards Vexen, who cowered and back away as they grinned at him. Axel held up two fingers."NO!" Vexen yelled and pleaded. "No! I don't want to-"

"Later, Senpai" Axel's fingers snapped and for Vexen that snap seemed to echo louder than his own screams. As if everthing slowed down, Sora turned his head towards Vexen(The dark shield disappeared). Vexen seemingly levitated in the air and quickly his skin started to turn red, and his eyes seemed to start melting out of his eye sockets. His tongue was blistering as he screamed and his teeth were shooting out of his mouth as the heat and pressure inside his body started building up. His skin got huge white welts the size of eggs and his eyes had completely dissolved back into his skull and blood was flowing out of his ears, mouth, nose and tear ducts.

Time sped back up and Vexen burst into flames, his hair caught on fire and his skin melted. His cloak was the onl y thing that wasn't affected. Vexen was dead and he died a painful death as the Darkness started to envelope his body then he quickly disappeared.

Sora looked on in horror as Vexen's image dissolved. He quickly turned around to Axel and Xinck and yelled, "What...What the Hell are you people!? Wasn't he your friend?!"

At this, Goofy couldn't help but think, _"What do you mean 'you people'?"_

At this questioned, Axel folded his arms and said, "Don't know that myself. Wish I knew. Here" Axel threw a card at Sora and he caught it. Sora didn't bother to look at it.

"Let's go, Xinck." Axel opened a portal and He disappeared into the darkness. Xinck stayed behind, put his hands into his pockets and he looked towards the sky. "Bye, Vexen." He said Innocently and he disappeared. Sora, Goofy and Jiminy were in shock at what had just happened, except Donald, who was just now coming out from behind a tree, finishing his business.

"So what happened?"

They all looked at Donald.

"What?" Donald asked, "I had to tinkle."

In The Observation Room, Axel and Xinck were greeted by Larxene. At Axel's request Marluxia nd Larxene had told them their plans and how easy it would be for the four of them to take over the Organization using Sora and Namine together. They had gained their trust. And now, Axel would take charge and all he and Xinck had to do is wait and look for an oppurtunity to Eliminate the Traitors.

But in The UnderGround Observation Room, Lexaeus appeared in front of Zexion.

"Vexen is no more." said Lexaeus.

"Yes. The scent of BenGay and Mothballs has disappeared. Axel and Xinck struck him down. Something I find deplorable." said Zexion, "Agants of the Organization striking each other down..."

"Our problem is Sora."

"Y'know, now that Vexen is gone, I can say this. That Vexen went out like a sucker. Punk-ass bitch played himself."

"Pay attention, Zexion! Vexen was no match for Sora and he's still under Namine's Control."

"But we cannot eliminate Sora, can we?"

"Correct. For our Superior. He is in dire need of the Hero of light. Wen light loses sight of it's path, we may find use for the Dark. What we must do is obtain the Darkness."

"Riku, of course." said Zexion, "But, because his Darkness is being overwhelmed by Xinck's, we must eliminate Xinck, so that we can use Riku."

"It must be done. But the only reason we don't simply use Xinck is because..."

"Xinck's Darkness is...too different. We should stick with what we know and that is Riku's"

* * *

REVIEW


	18. Castle OblivionPart 4

Wow, 358/2 Days is taking it's sweet time coming out. I don't think I can make it to September.

Anyway, Here's the next chapter. This is probably the second to last Castle Oblivion Chapter. So far, I think this is coming along nicely.

Read, Enjoy, Review.

I Don't Own Anything.

* * *

Sora-11th Floor Exit

Sora and his friends exited out of the 11th door and saw Riku standing there, his weapon at his side.

"Riku!" said Sora, coming to a stop

"If you go any further you'll hurt Namine." said Riku.

"What? Why do you still want to fight? Vexen's gone."

"I don't care about him. It's Namine that matters. I promised her I'd keep her safe. That's what my heart is telling me."

"You...did?"

"There was a meteor shower one night when she and I were little...Naminé got scared and said, 'What if a shooting star hits the islands?' So I told her, 'If a shooting star comes this way, I'll protect you and then-"

"You made a promise! And you had a toy sword!"

"Y-yeah! How'd you know?!" yelled Riku.

"Because that was MY Promise! On the night of the meteor shower, I promised that I'd protect her!" yelled Sora.

"Liar, Liar, Liar! With your pants constantly on fire! It was just me and her!"

"Oh, yeah? Then how come she gave me her good luck charm?!" Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out his Star charm and showed it to Riku.

"Her what?"

"See?" Sora said, holding up the charm.

"Where'd you get that?! Wait..I know. It's a fake! I've got the real one right here!" Riku reached into his pocket and pulled out his Star Charm. "See? It's obvious that you bought that one from Wal-Mart!"

"Mmm." said Donald, thinking, "Well, they do have wall-to-wall prices that you can't beat."

Goofy hit Donald on the back of the head.

"OW! That hurt, dammit!"

"Pay attention, this is important." said Goofy.

"What? Two of them?!" said Sora.

Riku raised his Sword, "It's obvious that Fakes should be destroyed!" He Charged at Sora and Sora summoned his Keyblade.

* * *

In The UnderGround Observation Room, Zexion stood in the center of the room. He had already sent Lexaeus to intercept Riku, but Zexion was not alone. Kneeling below Zexion, struggling to breath was Xinck, with Zexion's left hand wrapped tightly around his throat.

"You see, Xinck, "said Zexion, his hand squeezing tighter and tighter around Xinck's neck, "I don't know if you're aware of this, but you being alive is ruining our plans to stop Marluxia."

"Blah..!Ugh..aaaghh!", Xinck said, struggling to breath and beating his fist on Zexions legs.

"So" continued Zexion, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to.." Zexion raised two gloved fingers from his right hand to Xinck's forehead and out shot a black and rad energy beam, shooting through Xinck's head and out the back, Brains and blood hitting the wall as Zexion let go of Xinck and let his limp body hit the ground," ...Yeah."

As Xinck's body disappeared into darkness, Zexion thought, _"Now that Xinck is out of the way, Riku's Darkness should now be three times as powerful."_

The door to the Observation Room opened and Zexion turned to see Lexaeus and Riku standing there, "I'm guessing," said Zexion, "That Riku has fully embraced the darkness?"

"Completely." said Riku.

"All is going according to plan, Zexion, "said Lexaeus, "Is Xinck gone?"

"Yes. I took care of him. He came down here asking if I had eaten his potato chips and I easily killed him. With him gone, Riku should be more than powerful enough to kill Marluxia, Larxene and Axel."

"Alright then." said Riku, "So, should I do this now, or should we wait a while?"

"We will wait and let them fall into a false sense of security." said Zexion.

"Then what do we do in the meantime?" asked Lexaeus.

"Mmm." Zexion said as he thought, "Oh, I know! Let's have a party! Don't you be tardy!"

Zexion, Lexaeus and Riku started to dance as they sang, 'Let's have a party! Don't you be tardy!' Zexion was doing his world famous cabbage patch, Lexaeus was doing a disco dance, and Riku was doing one of those dances from _Charlie Brown_(You know the one).

"AAGGHH!" Zexion screamed as he woke up from his dream. He looked around and realized that he had fallen asleep standing up, again. He gathered his nerves and sniffed around a little. So far every Scent was in the Castle except Vexen who was dead. Zexion had no idea why he had suddenly had a dream about killing Xinck and then doing the cabbage patch. Then he remembered that he had sent Lexaeus to find Riku so that they could use him against the traitors and that they were going to have to kill Xinck, so that Riku will be at full power

Zexion started to think about the killing of another member. 'If we killed Xinck, then would we be any better than Axel and Xinck when they struck down Vexen? Once we obtain Riku, we'll be able to use him and set him off against the traitors. But, right now Riku isn't at his full potential. If he embraced the Darkness now, he'd be powerful, but he would still not be powerful enough to escape the pressure that Xinck's Darkness is putting on him. I wonder if Riku can even feel it. Probably not. Ansem is probably trying to keep Riku from noticing that something can surpress his Darkness's full power.'

Zexion stopped pacing around the room, 'Xinck. The Fallen Deviant. The Deviant part suits him. The Darkness he uses is unlike anything I've seen. Everyone in the Organization can control just a tiny portion of Darkness, and our general use is just the Dark Portals. But we can only use dark powers so much before it tires us out and we have to stop, even The Superior. But not Xinck, his darkness is not just limited to all of our shared abilities. He can manipulate any Darkness around him, shadows included and even make shadows out of thin air. What the hell is he?'

Zexion started to chuckle, "He has all of that power. So much power, I bet he could rival or even surpass the power of an experienced Keyblade Master. All that power is his, except, he is completely lazy and will barely use it the way he's supposed to. He's a disgrace and because he is so slothful with his power, it is only fitting that we end him, so that we can use someone with real dark potential.'

Zexion chuckled, "This is a good plan."

* * *

In The AboveGround Observation Room, Axel stood alone. Larxene and Marluxia had gone off somewhere to handle business. Axel was left to watch Namine, who was still sitting in her corner, in her chair, not even moving an inch.

Axel had stopped watching what was going on in The Crystal Ball. The last time he checked, Sora had just walked out of The Twilight Town World.

Not too far from Axel a Dark Portal appeared and Xinck stepped out. He walked over to Axel, who was leaned up against the wall.

"So, can we do it now?" He asked.

"No. we still have to wait." said Axel, "We'll wait a little longer, then we'll let Namine go." Luckily Namine wasn't paying any attention to their words.

Xinck raised an eyebrow and looked over at Namine, then at Axel, "What makes you think she'll go?"

"She wants to see Sora. And by doing this, Marluxia and Larxene's plans will be ruined."

"Good point." Xinck walked over to Namine. When he got to her, she didn't look up, even when he spoke.

"You okay?" he asked as he squatted down in front of Namine. She said nothing, but she did raise he head to look at him.

"Blah!" Xinck shouted as he placed two fingers in his mouth, stretched his cheeks, crossed his eys and stuck out his toungue. She didn't say anything.

"_Damn." _Xinck thought, _"What would Roxas do?"_

Xinck held out his hand and a ball of darkness appeared. He squeezed it and formed tiny little figures on his open palm. Little bears made from pure darkness were dancing around on his hand. Namine looked at the tiny black bears dancing around as Xinck said,

"_If you go out in the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise. If you go out in the woods today you'd better go in disguise. For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain, because Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic."_

Namine chuckled a little.

"There we go." Xinck said. He squeezed the tiny black bears together in his hand and they formed the medium-sized black ball again, "Here, take it. You might be able to use it later."

Namine reached out and took the ball from Xinck. She looked at it, then placed it into her right pocket. Xinck got up and walked back over to Axel.

"What the hell was that?!" Axel asked.

"I dunno. That ball I gave her will help her see Sora."

"How?"

"I overheard Marluxia and Larxene say that the next world Sora goes into will have an illusion of Namine inside. If Namine uses that ball I gave her, she'll be able to project an image of herself in that World."

"Alright, but it had better not ruin anything." said Axel.

Before they could continue their conversation, another Dark Portal appeared and outstepped Larxene, "Hey, Wingus, Dingus."

Axel nudged Xinck on the shoulder and said, "You're Dingus."

"Shut up, Wingus."

"Hey," said Larxene, "Marluxia told me to come and get you guys. He wants to show us something."

"If it's his High School Musical Dance Number, tell him we already saw it." said Axel.

"It's not that. Come on." She said.

Axel and Xinck started walking towards a dark Portal that Larxene had made, when Axel asked, "What about Namine?"

"She'll be fine," said Larxene, as she stepped into the portal, "Besides, where's she gonna go?"

Larxene, Axel and Xinck stepped into the Portal and left Namine alone. They reappeared in front of Marluxia who was standing in the entrance of the Amphitheatre Room, a room off course from the main Castle Floors. The Amphitheatre Room was basically 20x larger than The First Floor of the Castle. Directly behind Marluxia was a large structure covered in a large black cloth to hide it from view.

"Welcome, my Comrades." said Marluxia, "I'm glad that you all could join me here."

"Why are we _here_anyway?" asked Xinck, "Sora isn't going to watch himself."

"Don't worry," said Marluxia, "Sora is occupied with fighting the Riku Replica."

"Again?" asked Larxene.

"Yes, but while Sora is busy, I thought I would show you all what I've been working on." Marluxia walked to the structure behind him and pulled the black cloth to the floor, revealing 4 tall marble white thrones. Marluxia jumped high and landed in the seat of the tallest Throne. This was his throne and it had a white blooming flower as a head rest of the thrones almost looked like the Thrones in The World That Never Was, but these they were different. The inside two were the tallest, with the one Marluxia was sitting in being the taller of the two, and the two outer ones were a lot closer to the ground.

"So you've been working on chairs all this time?" asked Axel.

"Not Chairs! Thrones!" yelled Marluxia, "For each of us. Each throne has a different design, mine has flowers, Larxene's has lightning, Axel's has fire and Xinck has skulls."

"Why ae mine and Axel's the lowest?" asked Xinck.

"Because, you two joined last and I'm the leader." said Marluxia.

"Hey! I thought we were all gonna be the leader. Like a Democracy." said Axel.

"Does this look like America? I'll have the most power, Larxene will be Second-In-Command and you and Xinck will have equal power."

"What about Sora?" asked Larxene.

"I don't know. We'll give him a Fold-out chair or something. Maybe a rug."

Larxene, Axel and Xinck started arguing about who should have the most power. Larxene was arguing that because she was the first to join with Marluxia that she had the right to be second-in-command. Axel was saying that he should be Second-in-Command because he had more power than Larxene and Xinck combined. Xinck was saying Larxene couldn't be Second-in-Command because she was a girl and would be too concerned about her ovaries to uphold her responsibility and that Axel wouldn't even know how to handle being in Second-in-Command.

Getting annoyed, Marluxia yelled, "Idiots! You are all bickering over the least important details. After we have obtained Sora completely, we will have to be prepared for when we take The Castle That Never Was by force!"

The room started to get darker and a hint of dark pink smoke filled the room as Marluxia jumped back down to the floor and music started to fill the room.

"Aw, Dammit," said Axel, "I feel a song coming on."

Marluxia went up to The Three and inspected them as he sang, _"I know that your powers of retention are as wet as Demyx's backside."_ He placed a hand on Xinck's shoulder, who was twiddling away at a piece of string sticking out from his cloak, _"But Thick as you are, Pay Attention! My words are a matter of pride."_

Axel and Larxene had made it up to the top of their thrones and were laughing as Marluxia waved a hand across Xinck's blank face, _"It's clear from your vacant expession the light are not all on upstairs."_

Marluxia backed away from Xinck, who stuck out his tongue behind Marluxia's back. Marluxia sang, _"But we're talking power and successions.."_Marluxia jumped up to Axel and Larxene's thrones, catching them off guard and making them fall off screaming, _"..Even you can't be caught unaware!"_

Marluxia fell back down and started to strut around the room, _"So prepare for the chance of a lifetime. Be prepared for sensational news! A shiny new era is tiptoeing nearer!"_

Larxene came up, _"And where do we feature?"_

Marluxia caressed her cheek and shook it, _"Just listen to teacher."_

Marluxia jumped away from Larxene as she rubbed her cheek and landed on the very top of his throne, _"I know it sounds sordid, but you'll be rewared when at last I am given my dues. And, injustice deliciously squared, Be Prepared!"_

"Yeah, we'll be prepared!" yelled Xinck, "For what?"

"For The Death of The Superior!" yelled Marluxia.

"Why, is he sick?" asked Axel, smiling.

"No, fool, we're going to kill him and anyone else who gets in our way, too."

"Great Idea," said Larxene, "Who needs a Superior?" She, Axel and Xinck started dancing around in a circle, singing,_"No Superior! No Superior! La-la-la-la-laa-laa!"_

"Idiots! There will be a Superior!" yelled Marluxia.

Axel replied, "Yeah, but you said-"

"I will be Superior! Stick with me and you'll never be without a heart again!"

Axel, Larxene and Xinck all yelled, "Yaay! Alright, long live Marluxia!"

All around the room, Nobodies appeared, Dusks, Creepers, Assassins and Reapers al shouted, "Long live Marluxia! Long live Marluxia!"

The Dark pink smoke took on a more threatening Red color, as The thrones moved up against the wall and Marluxia watched as Larxene, Axel and Xinck started to March in a Nazi-esque fashion with the hundreds of Nobodies marching behind them in perfect rows, chanting as they went, _"It's great that we'll soon be connected by Someone who'll be all-time adored!"_

Marluxia watched from high on the wall as they marched on and he sang,_"Of course, quid pro quo, you're expected to take certain duties on board."_ Marluxia made a slitting motion across his throat, _"The future is littered with prizes, and though I'm the main addressee, the point that I must emphasize is.."_

Marluxia jumped from the top of his throne and landed in front of a random Dusk nobody. The floor started to crack open as Marluixa yelled,_"...YOU WON'T GET SHIT WITHOUT ME!!!" _the Dusk fell down through the giant cracks and it seemed the entire room was starting to come apart. Random parts of the floor started raising and falling, the nobodies desperately looking for a place that wasn't sinking into the floor.

Marluxia started jumping from one part of the floor to another, with Larxene, Axel and Xinck following him as he continued to sing,_ "So prepare for the Coup of the century! Be prepared for the murkiest Scam!"_

They jumped to the four tallest raising parts of the floor, Marluxia at the top, Larxene at the second highest, Axel at the 3rd highest and Xinck on the bottom section.

Marluxia continued, _"Meticulous planning, tenacity spanning, decades of denial are simply why I'll be The One undisputed, respected, saluted and Seen FOR THE WONDER I AM! Yes, my teeth and ambitions are bared, Be Prepared!"_

Larxene, Axel and Xinck sang,_ "Yes our teeth and ambitions are bared! Be Prepared!"_

Then, all the Nobodies disappeared and the smoke cleared, leaving Marluxia, Larxene, Axel and Xinck in the room by themselves.

"Wow." said Axel, "That was weird."

"Yeah, that was the first time we've ever burst into song." said Larxene.

"That was my Fifth time." Marluxia stated.

"Yeah, it was alright, but Marluxia, your performance was mediocre at best" said Xinck.

Marluxia gasped, "Mediocre?"

"Yeah," said Axel, "And you hogged all the singing."

"It was a one-person song!"

"But, you could've shared some of the singing." said Larxene, "or at least let us practice a little bit, because the choreography was terrible."

Marluxia growled, "Whatever! Axel, Xinck, go check on Namine! You philistines, you can't even appreciate the Arts!"

Axel and Xinck laughed then teleported out of the Amphitheatre.

"So, now, what do you want to do?" asked Larxene to Marluxia.

"Wanna play Twister?"

"Sure."

* * *

Sora-11th Floor Exit.

Sora stood from Riku, who was leaning over, tired. Sora had just beaten him for the 3rd time in a row. Riku didn't how he kept losing, so he stood up and ran out of the room, dropping the Good Luck Charm that Namine had given him.

"Riku, wait!" Sora called out. He ran over to the Good Luck charm and picked it up.

"It looks exactly like the charm you have." said Donald.

"It's just like the one I have. But how'd he get it?" asked Sora.

"How the hell should I know?"

The Charm floated out of Sora's hand into the air. It glowed brightly and started to change shape and color. It floated back down into Sora hand and it completely changed into a blue World Card.

"It turned into a card!" said Goofy.

"Thank you for that interesting observation, Captain Obvious." said Donald. "Okay, someone should really tell me what's going on."

"It doesn't matter." said Sora, "Let's just keep going." Sora put the card in his pocket and started walking towards the stairs.

"It does matter. You don't think it's weird that both you and Riku have the same memory? You can't both be right."

"Oh, so I'M wrong?!"

Donald desperately wanted to say Yes, because it would have been a lot funnier, but said, "...It's not impossible."

"Sora, that's not what Donald meant" said Goofy, "We're just worried."

"Then let's hurry and go ask Namine! She'll clear everything up, right? We don't have time to sit around, so get your shit in gear and let's GO!" said Sora.

"Sora, what's happened to you?"

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"You always get real touchy when it comes to stuff about Namine."

"And before we even came to this Castle you didn't even know who she was." said Donald.

"It doesn't make sense." said Goofy, "Maybe you should think things through."

"Think things through? What's wrong with you guys?!" said Sora, "You mean abandon her, is that it?!"

"No," said Donald, "That's not-"

"Whatever! You can do what you want. Go home, eat a cookie, take a shit and go to bed for all I care! I'm going to find Namine." Sora turned and ran out of the room.

"Sora! Wait!" They both yelled.

Sora ran up the stairs, faster and faster and ran into the 12th Floor entrance. When he made to to the center of the room, he pulled out the card, it had a picture of his Island. He ran up to the door, about to open it, when Jiminy popped out from Sora's hood.

"Sora, that was no way to talk to-"

"Shut the hell up!"

Shocked, Jiminy hopped back into Sora's hood, muttering, "Bigfoot Son of a Bitch."

* * *

In The AboveGround Observation Room, Namine sat still in her chair, barely moving an inch. She didn't even flinch when she heard the sound of two portals and a pair of footsteps walking in the room. Axel walked up to Namine, and she still didn't look up.

"You're all he's got left. If you don't stop this, no one will." Axel stated.

"But, it's too late." she said.

"Oh, I don't think you should give up just yet." Axel walked away from Namine, putting his back to her and facing a wall. Axel looked down the wall and saw that Xinck was in the corner, talking to the wall.

"You know, Namine, Marluxia or Larxene, doesn't seem to be around." Axel said.

"What are you...saying?"

"Just that there's no one here who would want to get in your way." Said Axel. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a quarter and he dropped it to the floor and said out loud, "Oh no, I seem to have dropped a quarter. I guess I'll just lean down for a few seconds to retrieve it." Axel squatted down and reached out to grab the quarter, taking his time to pick it up.

"_What about..."_Namine Thought, looking over at Xinck who was facing the corner wall and rubbing it and whispering, "Yeah, you like that don't you, bitch?" Then Namine got the hint. She leaped from her chair opened the door and ran down the hallway as fast as she could.

Axel, who had forgotten about the quarter, stood up and started to chuckle, "Just make it count." Then he felt his chest and gasped a little, "Wait. I'm enjoying hmm... Ha ha haaa! Now THIS should be good. All the actors are in place. Now, Sora! Naminé! Riku! Marluxia! Larxene! It's about time you gave me one hell of a show!"

"Who are you talking to?" asked Xinck, walking over to Axel.

"Well, you if you were listening."

"Well, I was...a little busy with the wall."

Axel gave him a 'What the fuck?!' look.

"What?! I saw my reflection in the wall. It's not gay! I can't admire myself in the mirror every once and a while?"

"Okay, okay, okay, cool, whatever. I don't judge. But we should get out of here, if they catch wind about this, they'll be looking for us."

"Alright."

Axel and Xinck teleported out of the room.

* * *

Namine-Somewhere.

Namine ran through hallway after hallway, then down some stairs. She made it down the 13th floor and continued down through the 12th floor exit room and stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"_It's all my fault."_ she thought to herself, _"I was so alone for such a long time I couldn't bare it anymore..."_

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the dark orb that Xinck had given her and she remembered what that he had said it would help her. She squeezed the orb in her hand and she started to glow a light blue color.

* * *

Sora-12th Floor-Destiny Island.

Sora walked into The Destiny Island World, he looked around and it was exactly as he had remembered it. The sun, the beach, the trees and the sand. Sora sighed and looked around, sadly realizing it was just an illusion.

"Wow. What a dump." said Jiminy.

"It's not a dump! This is where some of my most precious memories are." Sora said.

"I see. So you can probably see Namine here."

"I'm sorry, Jiminy. I brought you along even though this doesn't have anything to do with you."

"Nothing to do with me? What's that supposed to mean? Sora, we're friends right? So that means, if we die, we die together."

"Wow, that's...harcore friendship."

"Damn straight, besides Donald and Goofy will come chasing after you. No, let's go."

"Right."

Sora continued walking through the world on through the World. He searched and searched all around the island for Riku, Namine and Other Girl(you know the one). But the first people he saw, were Wakka, Selphie and Tidus. The talked a little and when they were through, Sora had asked were he could find Riku, they pointed to the tiny island that floated just off the Coast of the island they were already on. The only way to get to that Island was by going across a Small bridge that connected the two.

Sora ran across the bridge and found Riku sitting on a leaning tree, watching the ocean move across the horizon.

"Hey, Sora. What's the big rush?" he asked.

"I know you...You're Riku!" said Sora.

"Wow, thanks for remembering me. What's it been, an hour?"

"Er..Nevermind. Anyway, are you okay? Are you still under his control?"

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, CRACKHEAD?!" said Riku.

"I get it. You must be the Riku from my memories."

"'Riku from my Memories'? Are you smoking Paopu again?" asked Riku.

"No! I told you I kicked the habit!"

"Yeah, after we put you in Rehab. We were like, 'We're putting you in Rehab.' And you said, 'No, No, No."

"They tried to make me go to Rehab, but I said No, No, No!" said Sora.

"Ha, ha. You're such a kid. How're you gonna take care of her if you act like that?"

"So you know where she is? I've been-"

A loud Boom echoed throughout the entire island and shook it. The sky got dark and clouded and lightning started to streak across the sky as wind started to blow and trees were starting to lean in the same direction as the wind blowed.

"What's going on?!" asked Sora.

"How the hell should I know!? Whatever it is, it can't be good. I'll go warn the others."

"Then I should-"

"I know. It's your job to look after her. So get going." Riku ran past Sora and across the bridge to the main Island.

As the Island started breaking apart, pieces of it started flying around. The ocean had disappeared and was replaced with a gaping void of swirling Darkness. Sora was left with only a tiny bit of Island left to stand on and he couldn't see where anyone else was. The wind and the lightning was roaring through the air as Sora looked around at The Chaos around his Island.

"Wow, this is really fucked up right here!" he yelled.

Behind Sora, a large dark figure appeared. A Darkside. With it's stubby legs, giant torso and long hands. It trusted it's long arm at Sora, but he rolled out of the way in time. The Darkside reared back, raising it's huge hand and tossing it into the ground, a dark circle of energy swirling around it and Shadows crawling out of the dark.

Sora ran past the shadows and up Darksides arm, which was still in the ground. Sora made it up to his face and attacked with the keyblade, stabbing and slicing at it's large yellow eyes. The Darkside jerked around, throwing Sora of it's arm. Sora landed on the ground as the Darkside sai down on it's knees and pointed it's hollow-chest-shaped-heart towards the sky. Energy started shooting outward and rained down towards Sora. He dodged the first two blast, but took the third in his back, he recovered and ran back up the Darkside's arm and at it's head. He jumped and struck it directly on the head.

The Darkside glowed with black and blue shadows as he started to disappear. Sora jumped down from the fading darkside and watched as he finished disappearing.

"Sora..you came for me." came a voice.

Sora turned around and saw a girl in a white dress, blonde hair and blue eyes. Sora ran over to her and held her hand.

"Namine...finally..I've been through so much just to see you."

"I could say the same. But I messed up. I really wanted to see you..but not like this."

"Not like what? Do I have a booger in my nose?" He felt around his nose.

"No. I was alone for so long, I just couldn't bare it anymore. So I called out to your heart from this place and called you here. And I'm glad you found me, but to your heart, I had to-"

"No, It's okay. I promised I'd protect you. That's way I'm here."

"Thank you. Oh, Sora..forgive me. I'm not supposed to be in this picture."

"Say What, What? Say What, I said, What, What?!"

"She's right." came another voice. Sora turned around and saw another Namine, but this one was transparent and was holding a small black orb in her hand.

"Namine!?" yelled Sora, looking at both Namine's. Jiminy turned his head to look at them both and said, "Wow, I'm seeing double. I should really stop drinking."

"That's not me. I'm not in your heart. I'm not in anyone's heart. I never have been." said The transparent Namine.

"What-what are you talking about?!" yelled Sora, "We were inseparable! But then I lost you... I came here so I'd never lose you again!"

"Was it really me you came for?"

"Of course it was! I may have forgotten things in this castle, but not you! Look! You gave me this, didn't you?" Sora reached into his pocket and pulled out the Start Charm and showed it to Namine.

"You still have it!", said Namine, "My good luck charm..."

"No, Sora! Don't listen to me! She's a lying bitch!" yelled Transparent Namine.

"You're the bitch!" yelled Namine.

"Slut!"

"Whore!"

"Tranny!"

"SpermDumpster!"

"I know you are, but what am I?!"

"What am I supposed to do..." said Sora.

"Think, Sora." said Transparent Namine, "Think of the person who's most special to you. See that faint glimmer way in the back of your heart? That's a piece of your memory, Sora. Call out to it! No matter how far away the light gets, your heart's voice will always reach it."

"But I already know who's most special to me. It's you, Na—" Then, in Sora's head, he saw a picture of Namine turning into a different girl, a girl with red hair. The Star Charm in his hand glowed with a light and turned into a different shape. It was now made out of small sea shells and still had a vague appearance of a star. "Who... Who was that? I can't remember her, but she feels so...familiar." Sora looked around and both Namine's had disappeared, "Wait, what about Naminé? Where did she go?"

* * *

In another Room, where Marluxia and Larxene were playing Twister, they were ,in fact, playing Twister. Marluxia was in an arching position with his right hand on green and his left knee on yellow, while Larxene was under Marluxia, with her right foot on yellow and her right ear on Blue. And it was Marluxia's turn to spin.

"Alright," said Marluxia. He spun the spinner, "Left arm on red."

"Ugh." Larxene moved her arm, which was pointing in the air, between Marluxia leg and brushed against his thigh.

"Ha!HA! Stop! Stop it! That tickles!"

"You big baby! Your thighs are too fat! I can't get my arm through!"

Marluxia gasped, "My thighs are not fat!"

"Yes they are! Maybe if you'd stop eating BonBons all the damn time, maybe you'd lose some weight!"

"It's not my fault! BonBons are delicious and I eat and eat and eat and I never seem to get any thinner."

Larxene punched her arm through Marluxia's thigh, which were blocking her way, and Marluxia lost his balance and fell on top of Larxene. "Ha! I win." Larxene said.

"No, that's cheating! Rematch!"

Larxene got up and brushed herself off, "Nah, it's no fun with just two people."

"Then go in the other room and get Namine, Axel and Xinck. We haven't seen them since earlier. They must be bored."

A dark portal appeared around Larxene and she teleported away while saying, "Why didn't we just invite 'em in the first place."

Larxene reappeared in The Observation Room and her eyes went wide and she gasped. No one was in the room. Namine, Axel and Xinck were nowhere to be found.

"Fuck!"

Larxene Ran to the Crystal ball and waved her hands around it, saying, "Axel, Xinck and the little witches! Show me where's those Sons Of Bitches!.....are."

The Crystal ball glowed white and an image shown on the glass. Namine was standing in the 12th Floor Exit hall, waiting for Sora. Larxene growled and electricity shot out all around her as she yelled,

"AXEL!!!XINCK!!!"

Somewhere deep in the Castle, Axel and Xinck were laughing their Asses off.

* * *

Sora ran out of The Destiny Island World and ran into Namine, who was standing in the center of the Room, her arms down by her side and a sad expression on her face.

Sora said, "Namine! It's not you. The person most special to me. It's not you."

"No. the girl you care about, it's not me. It's never been me. It's Her."

"But...who is she? I just can't remember her name. If she's so special, why can't I remember her name?"

"It's because I went into your memories and-"

"Maybe you should have put a reminder in your CellPhone-Telephone." came a voice. Namine and Sora looked and saw Riku walking towards them, his sword at his side.

"I'll explain it." he said, " It's plain and simple. Your memory is a train wreck, you know, like that train that went off the tracks and killed all those homeless people. You're not the one who's supposed to protect Namine-I AM. But you and your messed up memories keep getting in the way, just like homeless people!"

Riku raised his sword and charged at Sora and Sora charged at Riku with his keyblade.

* * *

Riku-4th Floor Exit.

Riku walked out of the 4th Floor world and stopped in his tracks when he saw a man with rusty red hair, a huge build and a large blue, red and black weapon at his side.

Riku sniffed the air. "That scent. You're another one of those 'nobodies.'"

"It's my new cologne from Calvin Klein. It's called _Nihl_. Like it?"

"It's alright."

"Anyway, you've done well thus far. But to possess your strength and yet...fear the darkness. What a waste."

"I do not...fear it!" Riku yelled, stepping closer into the room.

"I sense that you do-"

"Idiot."

"Shut up! I've been practicing this for five minutes while you were in that world! The least you can do is shut up and let me finish!"

"Fine. Go ahead." said Riku.

"Anyway," said Lexaeus, continuing, "I also sense that you can control it. Cast away your fear and embrace-"

"Lick my ass."

"Why are you so Nasty! You rude little shit stain! Embrace the darkness, unbind your heart and let the Darkness in!"

"If I say no?"

"Then you lose both light and Darkness, and disappear!" Lexaeus crouched down and shot upwards and Red and black energy shot out all round him. He grabbed his weapon and brandished it, "I, lexaeus, will not yield to the frail heart of an infantile coward!"

Riku summoned his SoulEater and they both Charged at each other. Lexaeus stopped halfway, held up his tomahawk toward the sky and yelled, "Return to the Earth!" and the ground below him started to shake, knocking Riku off balance. Lexaeus banged his tomahawk on the ground and huge Rock fragments started shooting out from the ground towards Riku. Riku backflipped away from the first Rock and ran from the rest. He sensed a Rock coming straight out from below him. The Rock shot out and Riku stepped on it, the rock propelling him into the air as it went. Riku flew into the air and flew towards Lexaeus. He landed his sword on Lexaeus and started attacking, stopping Lexaeus's attack. Lexaeus recoved and struck Riku with his Tomahawk twice, and stunned him.

"You can't run!"

Lexaeus readied his Tomahawk and threw it at Riku, striking him in the stomach and coughing up blood. The TomaHawk reared back and returned to Lexaeus, hitting Riku again as it came back. Riku recovered and Lexaeus caught his Tomahawk and Charged at Riku....

* * *

Sora-12th Floor(Continued)

Riku slid back across the floor, as he had just taken a hit from Sora. He fell to his knee and dropped his sword.

"Riku!" Sora yelled. He ran over to Riku, but kept his distance. When Sora was close enough, he could hear Riku breathing heavily. Riku's head was down as he yelled,

"Sucker punch!"

He shot a Dark Firaga blast from his hand. Sora yelled and fell backwards.

"Sora!" Namine yelled from the side of the wall.

"Riku...why?" Sora struggled. Riku got up and walked over to Sora,

"Looks like I win."

"Riku. Stop!" Namine yelled.

Riku raised his sword over Sora, "You're dead!"

"I said STOP!" Namine yelled and a sharp light shot across Riku's head. His eyes went dull and he dropped his sword, then he fell limply to the floor.

"Riku?" Sora said, getting up and crawling over to Riku. "What did you do? What did you do to Riku?!"

"HAHAHAHAHA!" came a voice. Sora and Namine turned to see Larxene teleporting into the room, "Look at that face! He looks like a Barbie Doll! It's like she broke his heart, "She sighed, "No. more like smashed it really." She walked over to Riku and Sora backed away.

'Smashed...his heart? But...does that mean.." said Sora.

"Oh, you are so pathetic and fun to watch, it's laughable! And I think I will, here I go. HAHAHAH!"

"Quit the games!" Sora yelled and charged at Larxene. He swung his keyblade and she stepped out of the way. She raised her foot and planted it directly in Sora's chest, throwing him back down to the floor and cracking one of his ribs.

He landed on his back and tried to hold himself up as he held onto his chest.

"Okay, fine, have it your way." said Larxene, "I think it will kill you to hear this, but I think I can live with that. That thing lying there is a puppet that Vexen made. It was nothing more than a toy, a fake. It called you a fake, but it was a fabrication all along."

"A fake? A fake...Riku?"

"Fake in every way." She started walking towards the Riku Replica, "It was only finished recently, so how could it remember anything?Its memories with Naminé were planted, not real. All this time it's been picking fights with you over bull-shit memories. Isn't that right Naminé? Behind that cute little face you do some awful things."

Namine cringed and held her own hands and looked down.

She picked up the Replica's lifeless body with her right hand and moved her left hand by the's Replica's mouth and started to move it as she imatated his voice, "Oh, Sora, look at me! I'm a fake and, I'm like, so totally not gonna be cool about. Blah!" She threw the Replica across the room and it hit the wall and fell limply to the floor."

"Namine..." Sora groaned.

"You're so stupid. That's what she does. She goes into people's memories and she can rearrange, alter and even implant new ones. She's just a memory witch. She went into your heart and made fake memories and did the same thing for that puppet, making you two compete for her. Even though, she was the cause of it all."

"So..my memories...everything?..."

"Lies, lies and all lies. Binding you in the chains of your own memory was central to our trap. It makes me tingle to think how easily you were duped. This was our chance to make the Keyblade master our puppet! We nearly had you... But those dickless Sons of Bitches Axel and Xinck used Naminé to wreck everything! They betrayed us!" Larxene held out her hands and her Kunais appeared.

"I'll kill you...."

"Oh? Well, you can try, besides, I've been left with no choice but to eliminate you." She started to walk towards Sora.

"Don't!" Namine yelled, running in front of Larxene and blocking Sora from her path.

"Say, What, What?! Say, What, I said, What, What?!" Larxene said, " It's a little late, for the witch to be growing a conscious. Lat time I checked, you're the one who got him into this mess."

"I know, but I won't let you hurt him!"

"Okay."

"...Really?" Namine asked.

"No, not really! You should know that 'm in AN EXTREMELY foul mood," Lightning started to shoot around Larxene's shoulders, " Thanks to you, all our plans are ruined!" She struck Namine across the face and She slid across the floor next to The Replica.

"Namine!" Sora yelled.

"Oh, do I have to slap you, too!? Looks like I'm gonna get slap happy today! You don't even know her!"

Sora started to pull himself up to his knees, "Maybe I still made a promise. I promised Naminé I'd keep her safe. Maybe my memories are fake. But they're still mine, and I'm gonna be true to them."

"Dude, you're just doing this, 'cause you got a boner for her, don't you? You're such an idiot! There was no promise, you really are Delusional! Must you insist on playing the hero?!" She bent down and grabbed Sora by the shirt and pulled him up to his face, "It doesn't matter, guess I'll just make you disappear!"

**_BAM!_** Sora couldn't help but laugh as a big round shield smashed into Larxene's face. She let go and Sora fell back down on the floor and heard a familiar voice yell, "Cure!" and a yellow and green flower appeared above Sora's head and healed him.

The shield fell from Larxene's face and returned to Goofy as Larxene started rubbing her face. Donald and Goofy ran up to Sora and helped him up.

"Wow, you are so useless without us." said Donald.

"You guys came back." said Sora.

"Of course," said Goofy, "It's always been the 3 of us."

"And me." said Jiminy.

"You don't count, because you don't fight."

"Well, I was gonna fight, but then I realized that Larxene was a lot bigger then me."

"Whatever!" yelled Donald, readying his Staff, "It's always been us three and thats the way it's gonna stay, Larxene!"

Larxene recovered and saw that Sora, Donald and Goofy were ready to fight.

"Okay. Have it your way." she got into her fighting stance, "More pain for you means more fun for me!"

* * *

Okay, Now I'm probably gonna go start on the Next Chapter. It's not like I have anything else to do today. Don't forget to Review/ or Favorite.


	19. Castle OblivionPart 5

* * *

Okay, so it turns out this is the second to last chapter. So Here it is.

This one isn't as funny as I wanted it to but, you know, it's still something.

And..Uh...Ummm...Well, I can't think of Anything else to say, So just go ahead and Read.

Read, Enjoy and Review.

I Don't Own Anything..except what's-his-face.

* * *

Larxene stood in the center of the room, and Sora and his friends stood at the other end, staring each other down. No one made a sound as they waited for the tension to continue building. Small amounts of electricity were shooting around Larxene because she was anxious and was itching to see them writhing in pain.

"Kick her ass." Jiminy whispered. And they all charged at Larxene and she did the same. Larxene threw her hands into the air and yelled, "Lightning!" and it came raining down around Sora, but he and Donald and Goofy rolled out of the way. Goofy got back up and tossed his shield, catching Larxene in the face. She quickly recovered and ran at Goofy, throwing her knives as she went.

Goofy quickly dodged out of the way of three knives and he bent backwards, dodging another as he yelled, "Matrix!" and the Kunai flew over his face in slow-motion. Sora threw his keyblade at Larxene, it caught on fire as it went and struck Larxene in the stomach. The Keyblade returned to Sora and while Larxene was recovering, attacked and hit her several times in the stomach.

"You have no heart!" She yelled and countered Sora's attack by stabbing him with her knives. She hit him six times, flipped backwards and called down lightning, knocking him off balance. Larxene flew into the air, buzzing with intense yellow lightning and threw down her kunais and hundreds of bolts of lightning came shooting down, striking everyone.

Larxene fell back down and was hit with a fire spell from behind. She turned and saw Donald and charged.

"Blizzard!" Donald yelled and Ice shot out from his staff, striking Larxene and sending her back. Sora came up from behind her and attacked with his keyblade, striking her on the back and stomach. Larxene yelled and teleported away, reappeared far behind Sora and came running at him and struck him in the back. She teleported around the field, ran at Sora, attacked and disappeared. She came running at Sora one last time, as he groaned with pain, stabbed him in the sides, backflipped and threw down several bolts of Lightning at him.

Larxene backed away and chuckled, "I feel so bad."

Goofy quickly tossed his shield at Larxene and she instantly ducked, "Haha! Is that all ya got, Poochie?!" High in the air, the shield came back to Goofy like a boomerang and struck Larxene in the back of the head and she fell forward. "Ah, Dammit!"

"Ha!" Goofy laughed.

Larxene growled as she stood up, "I'll-" She lost her balance and fell forward as the entire Room started to shake. "What the hell?" she said as she held up her head.

Sora, Donald and Goofy all lost their balance and fell backwards. Then the Room started to tilt Diagonally, throwing Goofy against the wall and hitting his head.

"Ow!"

"Aaah!" Donald yelled as he started falling to the wall and his butt colliding with Goofy's face. "Oh, this is so wrong!"

"It's no picnic for me either." said Goofy.

"Whoa!" Sora yelled, sliding across the floor and smacking into the pile of bodies with Donald and Goofy. "Ah, what's going-AH!" A large black object was coming straight at them and struck Sora in the face. He recovered and saw it was a head of blonde hair. Larxene.

"What the-? Larxene, is this you?!" Sora yelled.

"This isn't me!" She said. _"Fucking Lexaeus!" _

* * *

Throughout most of the Castle, a large earthquake was being felt all the way from the 4th Basement floor. Even in the Bathroom, where Zexion was reading _Reader's Digest._

Zexion was sitting on a toilet in a stall in one of the basement bathrooms. He felt the first earthquake and he braced himself against the side walls of the stall as he panicked.

"What's Going on!?"

Another boom and he was thrown to the left of the stall.

"Stop it! I'm in here!"

Another boom and he was thrown to the left as contaminated toilet water splashed out of the bowl.

"Eww! It brushed up against my thigh!"

Another boom and he was thrown to the floor with his ass sticking up in the air.

"Aahh! What's happening?! Lexaeus?! I don't like change!"

* * *

Riku-4th Floor Basement (Continued)

"Rock-n-Rolla!" Lexaeus yelled and banged his Tomahawk on the ground and the entire Room shook and started to tilt and shake diagonally, turning the Room into a slope with Lexaeus on the bottom and Riku at the top. Riku stabbed his Sword into the ground so that he wouldn't fall towards Lexaeus. Lexaeus jumped towards Riku and readied his Tomahawk to smash on Riku. Riku released his sword from the ground and slid down the slope as Lexaeus smashed into the Top with enough force to turn the entire Room flat again

"Rock on!" Lexaeus yelled and pulled up his Tomahawk to his chest and played it like a guitar. "T-t-t-totally, Dude!"

Riku was bleeding from various spots on his body from where he had gotten hit. He huffed, "Don't do that. You're embarrassing yourself and me by association."

Lexaeus chuckled, "That's alright, but still.." He rushed at Riku at high speeds and elbowed him in the stomach, tossing him high into the air. Lexaeus jumped higher than Riku was, wedged him in-between his Tomahawk and yelled, "I party like a Rockstar!" He threw Riku back to the ground and the impact threw Rocks into the air and feel back on Riku.

He staggered up from the crater and got back into his stance. _"I'm not gonna do it."_ he thought, _"I won't go Darkness. I don't need it!"_

Lexaeus started to walk towards Riku, walking around all the craters and holes he created from his attacks. "Come now, Riku, stop resisting and let the Darkness in."

"I said no!" Riku charged at Lexaeus and Lexaeus responded by banging his Tomahawk on the ground, and causing sharp Rocks to pop up from the ground. Riku was dodging left and right to avoid the Rocks and making his way towards Lexaeus.

"Damn!" Lexaeus yelled as Riku was directly in front of Him. He swiped his Tomahawk horizontally and Riku ducked oit of the way and Riku struck Lexaeus in the stomach, blood shooting out. Lexaeus yelled and banged his Tomahawk towards Riku's head. Riku dodged again and jumped in the air behind Lexaeus and attacked him on his back.

"OOWAAHH!" Lexaeus yelled and he exploded in red, black and yellow energy....

* * *

Sora-12th Floor( Continued)

After the Earthquake had ended and everyone had recovered, they all went back to fighting as if their had been no interruptions. Larxene had already taken several critical hits, along with Sora. Donald and Goofy had already been knocked unconscious.

"You're done!" Larxene ran at Sora and threw her Kunai at Him. Sora ran at Larxene, knocked her Kunai away and jumped into the air to strike. She sidestepped out of the way and as Sora landed, she raised her left hand Kunai's to strike and Sora blocked her attack and she grazed his ribs with her right-handed Kunais as he dodge rolled out of the way.

"Fire!" Sora yelled and a ball of Fire shot from his Keyblade, hitting Larxene in the stomach and throwing her back.

"Aaah!" She yelled as she landed back on the ground. "You're getting on my nerves!" Larxene glowed with deadly orange lightning and flew into the air she threw all eight of her Kunais all over the field. They stopped in different areas and glowed electric blue, then lightning shot out from all eight and criss-crossed around the the field, creating a net of electricity.

"Die!" Larxene yelled and the lightning started to move slowly all round the field. Sora started to run and jump and roll out of the way to avoid the attack. He jumped over another shot of lightning and was hit in the back by another, calling the other streams of lightning to him. All eight bolt of lightning were now focused on him as he yelled.

"HAHAHA!" Larxene yelled from the air as the lightning started to lift him into the air.

"Blizzard!" Donald yelled from the the ground, sending a huge blast of ice at Larxene. It struck her in the stomach with enough force to stop her attack and send her and Sora back to the ground. Sora was stunned and was hunched over as Larxene recovered and ran at Donald she stabbed her kunai's at his face and he dodged and bashed Larxene in the face with his staff.

Larxene growled, "Go fuck a duck!"

"I am a duck! Fire!" He yelled and a blast struck Larxene in the chest(or lack there of) and sent her back a few feet. "Cure!" He yelled and a green flower appeared over Sora's head and healed him.

Larxene recovered and got back into her stance she was about to attack Donald, until she saw Sora running at her.

"Alright then." She said, "Vanish!" She ran at Sora at high speeds, electricity crackling off her back as she ran. They came closer and closer and at the last second before impact, Larxene stabbed her Kunais forward, straight for Sora's face. He ducked down quickly and came sliding at Larxene.

"Oh, no." She whispered, as she realized that she had just missed her target and stabbed through Sora's hair and Sora's Keyblade slid directly through her. "This can't be happening!"

Sora slid back and was rejoined with Donald and Goofy as they saw Larxene start to Cradle herself and wimper, "No!..Nooooo! I refuse to lose to a bunch of Losers!" Dark smoke started to shoot up all around her and envelope her body, "I'm..I'm fading?!.....No! This isn't....the way I....I won't..Allow!..."

The dark smoke completely enveloped her body then disappeared.

"And you are outta here!" yelled Donald.

* * *

Somewhere deep in the Castle-

In the area where Axel and Xinck where hiding out, they were playing a card game, when Suddenly, Xinck started to chuckle.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Hehehehe! Ah, the Notorious B.I. Itch is finally gone."

"Larxene? How can you tell?" Axel asked.

"I can tell if people I've meet have faded away and sent to the Realm of Darkness. My only regret is that I wasn't the one to kill her. I thought up so many good ways to hurt her, I guess I still could get her."

"What are you gonna do? Go to the Realm of Darkness just to torture her?"

"I could."

"Dude, don't do that, It's a waste of time. Besides, wasn't Larxene the one who found you?"

"..Yeah. The first time I meet her, she was nice, but then later, she started getting meaner."

"Just forget about it. She's dead now. Come on, Now that Marluxia is crippled, we can get this over with."

"Cool. Let's hurry, I'm getting hungry."

Axel and Xinck teleported away to confront Marluxia.

* * *

Back on The 12th Floor, Namine had explained to Sora, Donald and Goofy everything that she had done and how she was forced by Marluxia to rewrite Sora's Memories and how he said he would lock her in the Castle forever if she didn't obey.

"So you did what he told you to do because you were lonely, right?" said Goofy.

"I'm...I'm Sorry." Namine said as she started to cry.

"Don't be. Please don't cry!" said Sora.

"I'm sorry. I know I don't have the right to." she said, wiping the tears away from her face.

"That's not what I meant! Look...I'm really not happy about you screwing around with my memories. But you know, I can't really get mad at you, either. These memories that you gave me... In my head I know they're lies, but they still... feel right. Like my promise. I said I'd protect you... that I wouldn't make you cry... So if you cry now, I feel guilty. Like I let you down somehow. So please...don't cry. Don't apologize. Until I get my memory back, smile, laugh, be happy. It's easier on me that way."

"Sora-"

Sora ran up and grabbed Namine's cheeks and pulled them into a smile, "See? Smile! Don't make that face. It's okay."

"Sora's lyaing it on kinda think, don't you think?" said Donald to Goofy.

"I don't know. He always acts like this around girls! I think it's time we taught him about sex."

"Shut up, you guys! I thought you guys lost your memories?" said Sora, stepping away from Namine.

"Friends don't forget weird and potentially life scarring things like that." said Donald, "Now, It's time you learn about the birds and the bees. Now when a man and a woman love each other very much, or when the man just needs to get his rocks off, or the woman just needs to make the bad memories of her Daddy go away, they..."

"LALALA! I can't hear you!"

Namine chuckled a little.

"See, thats it!That's the Naminé I remember. I used to really like it when you smiled. I mean, in my fake memory. But what I'm feeling now isn't fake. It's real."

"Sora, you're..sweet."

"Well, we've got work to do!"

"We've gotta get our memories back!" said Donald.

"But, Marluxia is up there." said Goofy, "You better stay here, Namine."

"Okay." she said. "Sora, be careful."

Donald and Goofy walked off to the stairs leading to the 13th Floor, with Donald muttering, "Marluxia. What the hell kind of a name is that. I bet he wears pink."

Sora turned back to Namine, who was still sitting on the floor by the lifeless body of The Riku Replica. "I'll be fine. I promise. Take of the Riku...thingy."

Sora ran off to join Donald and Goofy and they walked up the stairs.

"Okay, said Donald, "Let's talk about foreplay. Foreplay is very important."

"No it isn't." said Goofy.

"LALALA! I can't hear you!"

"Okay. You don't want to talk about Foreplay." said Donald, "We can talk about butt sex, first you're gonna need lots and lots of lube-"

"LALALALA! I can't hear you!"

---------

Back on The 12th Floor where Namine sat with the Riku Replica. She sat perfectly still, not moving an inch.

"If they can defeat Marluxia on the 13th Floor, then I can put their memories back together." she thought, "But, if they lose....."

Namine looked over to the Replica and rubbed his cheek, " I made you bare an awful pain, and I'm sorry."

Namine looked up and gasped as she saw Marluxia standing in front of her.

"What are you doing in a place like this?" he asked.

* * *

Riku-4th Floor(Continued)

Riku struck Lexaeus in the back and Lexaeus yelled as he swung his Tomahawk, striking Riku in the side. Riku went flying into a wall and at the last minute, he recovered, landed his feet against the wall and pushed off, straight at Lexaeus. Lexaeus held up his Tomahawk to block as Riku's sword collided with it.

Lexaeus pushed Riku off and he slid across he floor on his feet. Lexaeus roared and stomped his foot on the ground, and several jagged Rocks shot up from the floor around him. He swung his Tomahawk in a 360 degree circle, smashing the rocks and sending Rock fragments flying all around the field.

Riku jumped and flipped out of the way of the rocks, but took one in the stomach, he landed back on the ground, on his knee, but quickly picked himself up. Riku quickly noticed that Lexaeus was tired and hunched over, breathing heavily.

"You're finished!" Riku yelled and he jumped high into the air, towards Lexaeus, ready to strike.

Lexaeus stood up, held his Tomahawk at the ready and yelled, "I used to think I didn't care what people thought of me, but it turns out I'm really self-conscious! So, I'm really serious when I say, Don't Mock Me!"

Lexaeus swung his Tomahawk and it landed directly across Riku's stomach, throwing him high into the air. Riku's back smacked into the ceiling and he let out a loud gasp. He fell to the floor with a loud thumping sound as he landed on his stomach, and his Sword made a clattering sound as he let it go.

Lexaeus straightened himself up and walked over to Riku. "You were too much trouble. Damn kids. With your silver hair and piercing blue eyes and dashing good looks! I used to be handsome! Oh, how I hate you!" Then Lexaeus stopped in his tracks and he looked at Riku's body.

Beneath Riku, a pool of dark purple, blue and black darkness shot out all around his body and consumed the Darkness dispersed, he was waring his Dark Suit. He got to his knee and grabbed his sword, then he stopped for a while, then disappeared.

A slash and the sound of metal cleaving flesh and blood. Lexaeus staggered, looked down and saw that a good portion of his midsection had been sliced off, the part of the midsection that you need to live. Lexaeus looked back and saw Riku, on his knee, with his sword out and covered in blood.

"Too Slow, dumbass." Said Riku, Ansem's voice talking behind it.

Small amounts of Dark Smoke started to evaporate off of his shoulders as blood gushed out from his wounds, "You are the Superiors..." he said. Then he thought, _"This is it. The End. Zexion, I-wait! I can still....help with his plan!"_

"Riku..." Lexaeus struggled to say, catching Riku's attention, "Your pain, your suffering, it will only get worse as long as you are in This Castle. But, if you find the One Named Xinck, he will....He is the cause of everything. Find him, end him, or Sora could die. "

"Oh?" said Riku.

The darkness started to overtake Lexaeus and he bowed his head, _"If we're lucky, they'll destroy each other. Forgive me, Zexion. This was a fight I should not have started......"_ and Lexaeus faded away.

--------

Riku was submerged in Darkness. He lay there, floating in the never-ending Darkness. He remembered being in his Dark Suit Mode and then being engulfed in this Darkness, floating.

"I can see you now. I can see you clearly."

"Lexaeus?!" yelled Riku, trying to sit straight up.

"Riku....I can see your heart."

"No, it can't be." Riku smelled the air around him, "Darkness this foul could only be one person."

"That's it, Remember me. Let me drift into your heart!"

"Ansem!"

"That's right! You called my name, Riku! You're thinking of me! You're afraid of the Darkness I command! It scares you pissless! Good...the more you think of me, the closer my return draws, and," In front of Riku, darkness swirled around and formed Ansem, and he slowly started to float near Riku, "Your heart will be mine!"

Ansem started to grab at Riku as Riku tried to back away. "No, no! Get away from me! You smell terrible!" Riku yelled.

"Get back here! Don't you run away from me! I see you!"

"Riku, Fight! Don't let Ansem take you!" Came a voice. A light shown and floated between Riku and Ansem. The light faded away and an illusion of King Mickey appeared with his arms outstreched.

"Your Majesty!" yelled Riku.

"Meddlesome King!" yelled Ansem, "Don't you have some Cheese or some Rat Poison to be chewing on right now?!"

King Mickey raised his middle finger at Ansem and a bright light shown, consuming Riku. When the bright light faded, Riku saw that he was back in the Castle. He looked around and saw that he wasn't in the Room he was in when he fought Lexaeus.

"The king...protected me. Your Majesty, where are you?! Please answer me!" He yelled out. Then he held a hand to his heart, "You're with me. Aren't you?"

* * *

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Axel, Xinck, Marluxia, Namine-13th Floor-Castle Oblivion.

Sora and his friends had entered the 13th Floor of The Castle and had been searching for Marluxia. They knew that because Namine wasn't in Marluxia's custody anymore that She would no longer be forced to rewrite their memories. But, they had already lost most of their memories and didn't even remember why they were on this journey together in the first place. So they made a promise, they even if they forget, that they would never leave each other.(or Something like that)

On the other hand, Marluxia had recaptured Namine and was holding her in a secluded room. The room wasn't any different from The Observation Room, but this room didn't have a Crystal Ball in the center of it. Namine stood huddled in a corner, cowering as Marluxia made his way towards her.

Marluxia continued walking to Namine, but stopped in his tracks when he heard the sound of two Dark Portals appearing far behind him.

Marluxia said, "You two have some balls to show your treasonous faces around here. Some balls indeed..."

"Treasonous? Said Axel, " we wouldn't possibly know what you are talking about."

Marluxia turned around to face Axel and Xinck, "You two have become quite a thorn in my balls. Why let Namine go? If it weren't for your needless meedling, we would have been able to turn the keyblade master into our slave."

"Right, your big plan." Said Axel, moving his hands around to express emotion, " You use Naminé to rewrite Sora's memory piece by piece. He becomes her puppet. Then, using Naminé and Sora, you and Larxene overthrow the Organization. Did I get it right, Xinck?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right." said Xinck, "By all definition, that would make YOU the traitor, Marluxia. Not us."

"But you eliminated Vexen!" said Marluxia.

"That I didn't want to do." said Axel, "But It was your order."

"I see. Double Agents. Since when were you two suspicious of us?" asked Marluxia.

"Do any of us have the heart to believe the others?" asked Xinck.

"Remember the order:'You must eliminate the traitor'" said Axel, smiling and throwing out his hands, summoning his Chakrams, "And I always follow orders, Marluxia."

Xinck did the same and summoned his two swords.

"Oh?" said Marluxia, summoning his Scythe.

Without warning, Axel, Xinck, Marluxia disappeared and started flying all across the room, fighting faster than the eye could keep up with. Namine watched, or tried to, but could only see streaks of Pink, Black and Red and hear shouting.

"You bastards!" Marluxa yelled, "Organization Dogs!" Then the sound of weapons clashing together.

"Over here!" Axel yelled. More weapon sounds.

"Behind you!" Xinck yelled. More weapon sounds.

Namine couldn't see more than streaks against the air and could only hear the noises of the battle, but from what she could tell, even though it was a 2-on-1 battle, Marluxia was holding his own.

"Aaah!" Namine shreiked as she felt a rush of air past her.

"Nope! Too bad, missed me!" yelled Axel.

"You're so naïve!" yelled Marluxia.

"_If I don't get out of here..._" Namine thought. The she felt a sharp wind by the right side of her face. She looked and saw that Axel had gotten one of his Chakrams stuck in the wall directly next to Namine's head.

"Ooops. My bad." Axel said. He put his leg up against the wall and tried to pull it out, yelling, "Dammit!" He pulled out his Chakram and quickly disappeared again to join the battle.

"You son of a bitch! You were aiming at Namine, weren't you!?" yelled Marluxia.

"If she's so important, then take her out of here!" yelled Xinck.

"Duh! Half-wit!" yelled Axel.

Suddenly, Namine gasped as she watched Xinck falling from the sky and hitting the ground.

"Ah, Dammit! That sucked!" he yelled. He jumped into the air and disappeared again. Then there was a huge dark energy explosion against the ceiling, throwing Marluxia to the ground. He caught himself and, just as the explosion dissipated, and saw Axel and Xinck coming down at him, ready to strike.

"Ha!" Yelled Marluxia. He disappeared again and reappeared behind Axel and Xinck. He raised his Scythe, ready to strike and Axel turned around just in time to block the hit. All three of them hit the floor and Axel and Xinck jumped back away from Marluxia as he landed away from them.

Axel and Xinck landed and Axel spoke, "Larxene paid the price for disloyalty when she disappeared. You MUST DO THE SAME!" He lunged at Marluxia, raising his Chakram to strike.

Marluxia saw this and jumped back to avoid the attack. Axel threw both his chakrams and Marluxia threw his Scythe into the ar, then banged it on the ground as The Chakrams game grinding against the Scythe handle. Marluxia pushed them off and the went flying back to Axel's hands. Axel caught them, threw out his arms and lowered his head.

"The Organization's betrayed. In that name I will annihalate you!"

Xinck appeared next to Axel and scoffed, "Really?"

"That line's not you." Marluxia scoffed.

"Well, had to try it once, once you know!" Axel said.

"I would have said something different." said Marluxia, "Like, 'Together, me and Xinck will eliminate your existence. Because, together, we can do anything. We can climb any mountain, we can cross any river, we can dial any telephone. Why?! Because, We Fit Because We-"

"Oh, my God, please don't say We Fit Because We Misfit." said Xinck.

"Whatever. Now, back to business." said Marluxia. Axel and Xinck charged and Marluxia vanished again. He reappeared directly behind them, but he had Namine standing in front of him, acting as his shield and hostage as Marluxia held the blade of his Scythe right under Namine's neck.

"Oh? Is that your shield?" asked Xinck.

"It doesn't matter. It won't do you any good, I'm afraid." said Axel.

"Are you sure?" said Marluxia, then he raised his voice, "Are you listening Sora? Axel and Xinck say that they are willing to go through Namine to get to me? Your not going to let that happen, are you?"

Standing behind Axel and Xinck, wih their weapons drawn, was Sora, Donald and Goofy.

"Damn. Axel, it's Sora and his Barnyard friends." said Xinck.

"I wonder, Sora." said Marluxia, "Who is actually more of a threat to Namine, me or them?"

"After I finish those two, you're next!" Sora yelled.

Marluxia chuckled, "Don't even try to follow me." He and Namine disappeared out of the room.

"Oh, come now." said Axel, turning towards Sora "You're His Puppet already?"

"Never!" Sora yelled.

"Well, I'd really rather not fight you." he said, lowering his head again, "So I won't!"

"What the hell?" said Donald.

"What the hell?" said Goofy.

"What the fuck?!" said Xinck, walking up to Axel, who dismissed his Chakrams.

"We don't have orders to take out Sora, only Marluxia." said Axel.

"Well, if you won't fight him, I will."

"No, you can't and you don't have to if Sora plans on taking out Marluxia."

"Can't I just kill him a little bit?"

"No."

"Aww." Xinck dismissed his swords and walked closer to Axel.

"So, if you're going to take on Marluxia, the go. We won't stop you." said Axel.

Sora and his friends didn't move, but just stared at Axel and Xinck blankly, "What? Do you still want to take me on? If I go all out, you'll definitely lose. But if me And Xinck go all out, you won't last 5 minutes."

"Don't take us so lightly!" yelled Sora.

"That's the spirit!" said Axel, a dark portal appearing next to him, "Don't lose. If you die, that'll be a problem." Axel walked into the portal and it stayed open for Xinck, but he didn't walk in, instead he walked up to Sora, who stayed in his stance.

"What do you want?!" yelled Donald.

Xinck ignored the questioned and reached into his pocket and pulled out two glowing glass orbs that had a green liquid inside and held them out for Sora, "Thanks for killing Larxene for me."

Sora hesitated and looked at Xinck.

"Go on take 'em." He said. Then Sora reached out and grabbed the bottles.

"What are these?"

"Those are called Healy Juice. Juices." said Donald.

"Healy Juices? No, they're called Happy Drinks." said Goofy.

"They're called Elixirs, You Douchebags!" yelled Xinck. He rubbed his head and said, "I'm sorry about that. I have low blood sugar. And I only had two of those, so I owe you One, Sora" He walked to the portal and disappeared into it.

"Come on, let's go!" said Sora. He, Donald and Goofy ran off out of the room and After Marluxia.

* * *

Axel and Xinck-

Xinck caught up to Axel who was walking down a long white hallway.

"So, now what's the plan?" asked Xinck.

"Plan? What plan? Do I look like the kind of guy who whas a plan?"

"If you don't have a plan, then why did you leave Marluxia to Sora? Wait a minute... you probably didn't think Sora would be there when he was, so why would you leave him there?"

"Does it matter? Besides, we got someone else to do our dirty work for us."

"But what makes you think Sora will beat Marluxia?"

"Did you forget who's his Nobody?"

"Good point."

"So!" said Axel stretching, "now all we have to do is kill Lexaeus and Zexion, the witnesses."

"You mean just Zexion, Lexaeus is dead."

"Really? Who killed him?"

"Riku."

"Replica?"

"Nope. The real one."

"Huh. Oh, well. I'll take care of Zexion, you hang back and take five."

"I don't need you to tell me what to do!" yelled Xinck.

"What are you talking about? I just said take a break. You said you were hungry right?"

"Oh, yeah. See ya." Xinck disappeared into a portal, leaving Axel alone.

Axel chuckled, "I knew it was a good idea to keep him around."

* * *

Zexion-UnderGround Observation Room.

Zexion stood in the center of the Room, using is ability to detect what was going on in the Castle. "Lexaeus is gone as well. If this keeps up and Marluxia get's his puppet, I'll surely be joing him. That would totally suck."

Suddenly from the other side of the room, a dark Portal appeared and revealed Axel, "Vexen, Larxene, Lexaeus. I wonder who's next to go?" he said with a smile.

"I had thought it might be you when Sora came in your fight with Marluxia." Zexion replied

"Oh no, Sora already thinks me and Xinck are done for good. I think it'll be Marluxia next. And I hope Sora moves exactly as his heart tells him too. What about you, I thought you guys were gonna turn Riku into your sex slave or something?"

"No! We were going to set him off against the traitors. But now that Marluxia is Sora's target, he is just a nuisance now." He thought, _" Which means we won't have to get rid of Xinck," _

"You want to take on the person that beat Lexaeus? Be my guest."

"You know that is not how I do things. Or thiz-zangs as the 'Cool' Children say."

"....Uh-huh."

"Tell me, did you obtain the Data on Riku's Home?"

* * *

Riku-???th Basement Floor.

Riku ran through thr Hallways of The Castle. He had noticed that The hallways all started to look the same and not like the ones he had already been to.

"Damn. All these halls look the same! Hope I'm not lost."

He continued Running up and down the hallways, taking notice that he might be running around in circles. "Dammit!" he yelled, "All these halls look the same! I'm lost! I know I've past that same pillar 4 minutes ago!" He continued running and as he took another stride, he felt a huge pressure falling on him and he stopped running.

"What the hell?! What is this? It feels like..something is...pressing down on something in my heart!" Riku's run turned into a walk and he walked until he came into the room and the pressure on him increased. He stepped into a spherical Atrium room, with 4 curved pillars in the corners. But Riku didn't notice the shape of the room, but the black-coated figure that stood in the center of the room with his back turned to Riku.

Riku started to sweat. He hadn't felt anything like this,_"What..is..this?"_ he thought, "_I feel like every happy memory, every joyful thing I've ever known is being sucked into a blackhole." _

The black coated figure seemed to have noticed Riku in the room and turned around. He was making loud chewing noises as he was eating chips. The Man offered the bag to Riku and said, with a mouthful of chips, "Chip?"

"_And he's offering me chips?! Who...what is he? He's wearing that Black coat like the other nobodies and he even smells like darkness. But..It isn't foul like the others."_

"Helloooo? Are you hungry? You want a chip? They're _Sunchips _and they're really good." said the man, waving the bag at Riku.

"_I.I don't..NO! Calm down" _Riku said to himself. He regained his confidence and summoned his sword, _"He's just like everyone else from the Dark!"_

"Chippy, chip, chippy, chip. Chips are good."

"Who are you!?" yelled Riku, holding up his sword.

"Huh?"

"I said who are you?!" yelled Riku. Then in his head he heard Ansems voice and it sounded as if he was in pain, _"Riku...Do not believe a word this cursed fool says! And Sunchips are disgusting!"_

The man finished his chips and threw the bag to the ground and he floated up into the air with outstretched arms and said in a deep voice, "I am that I am."

"What?!"

He fell back down to the floor and started laughing, "I'm just kidding I can't back that up."

"Uh-huh." said Riku. Ansem groaned in pain in Riku's head, _"Don't trust him!"_

Then he took on a more serious tone, "I am Ripper... Tearer... Slasher... Gouger. I am the Teeth in the Darkness, the Talons in the Night. Mine is Strength... and Lust... and Power! I AM BEOWULF!"

"Riiiggghhht."

"HAHAHA! I'm just kidding, stupid! I'm Xinck, and you're Riku, right?"

"Xinck?" Then Riku remembered what Lexaeus had said before he died. 'Find the One Named Xinck...He is the cause of all your pain and suffering. Find him, end him, or Sora could die.'"

Suddenly, Riku and Xinck both heard a yelling/roaring sound and without warning, a huge Dark Portal appeared above Riku's head and out shot a huge black arm and it grabbed Xinck, hauling him high against the wall.

"Ah! What the hell!?" yelled Riku.

"Well this is interesting." said Xinck, unfazed.

Out of the Portal a face and a Black muscular Torso appeared. The Body was that of Ansem's Guardian, but the face was Ansem himself. He roared at Xinck, who didn't even flinch, and yelled in a deep voice, "OH, YOU WRETCHED AND CURSED NOBODY!! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT DAMNED BONES AND A DAMNED SOUL, THAT WILL BURN IN THE FLAMES OF HELL!!"

"Eh, Nuh-uh!" said Xinck. He freed his left hand from Ansem's grip and placed it on his giant hand, and as if ripping off a cloth, Xinck ripped of Ansem's arm and his entire body dissolved in shreds of Darkness. Xinck fell back to the floor as the Dark portal disappeared above Riku.

Riku growled, "What are you?!"

Then Xinck smiled a shark-tooth grin and his eyes turned into slits." A while ago, I noticed a strange Darkness in the Basement of the Castle. I thought it was a Heartless, so I didn't pay much attention to it. But as you made your way up the Castle, I noticed it was something else. It was you and at first I wanted to just avoid this confrontation, but here we are. Now, I need to know a few things-"

"I don't care." Riku said, regaining his seriousness. "You're with those other Nobodies, aren't you?"

"Yep. But let me finish, I-"

"You're the reason why I woke up in this Castle, and you're the reason why I can't get rid of this darkness, aren't you?!"

"No. I-"

"Aren't you?"

"No! I-"

"AREN'T YOU!?"

"No, Dammit! Ah, are you happy now?! I had this whole bad-guy speech lined up and now I forgot it! Dammit! Shit!" yelled Xinck, folding his arms.

"It doesn't matter." Riku said, raising his sword, "You're just like all those other nobodies and you hold the Darkness and Darkness is my enemy! So I'll end you here!"

"Ok, uh, I don't think you understand exactly what's going on."

"I'll kill you!" Riku charged at Xinck with his sword at the ready. He stabbed forward and Xinck sidestepped. Riku started attacking furiously, attack after attack and Xinck dodged each one while talking.

"What is wrong with you?! I was just gonna ask you a few questions!" Riku swung his Sword at Xinck's head and he ducked and Riku continued attacking. Riku forward and Xinck sidestepped behind him and tapped Riku on the shoulder. Riku swung around and Xinck ducked and continued dodging Riku's attacks.

"This is starting to piss me off." said Xinck, "You can try to hit me all you want, but you can't hurt m-Gah!"

Riku had slashed at Xinck's chest and had made a deep wound, with blood seeping from the cut. _"Damn. He just might kill me."_he thought. Riku jumped back and Xinck held out his hands and every shadow in the room started to gather in his palms. He gripped the Darkness and two shadowy short black swords appeared. "Now you can show me your power."

Riku ran at Xinck and jumped into the air as Xinck rolled sideways out of the way. Riku came back up and slashed at Xinck and he blocked, sidestepped around Riku and slashed at his back. Riku jumped back and threw his sword at Xinck, catching him in the back.

"Ah!" Xinck groaned. He launched his sword at Riku and aimed for his face. Riku held up his sword and the chain wrapped around his SoulEater sword. Xinck pulled on the chain and Riku struggled to hold onto his sword. Xinck readied his other sword and launched it at Riku in a sweeping motion. Riku saw it coming and twisted in the air, avoiding the strike. He touched back down on the ground and pulled his sword away from Xinck's chain, and started running back at Xinck.

Riku stopped halfway, backflipped into the air and yelled, "Darkness!" and he was consumed in black and blue smoke. He shot out of the smoke and was in his Dark Suit. He rushed at Xinck and attacked furiously, He and Xinck blocking and attacking constantly. Xinck hit Riku in the shoulder and Riku hit Xinck in the ribs, blood falling from both their wounds.

"Get away!" Xinck yelled and a wall of jet-black Darkness shot out from him, Riku dodged just in time to avoid it. Xinck jumped into the air and shot at Riku as he ran away. Xinck shot blast after blast of Dark energy from his hands as he flew.

"Ha!" Riku jumped away from another blast and flew in the air. In a split second he was as high as Xinck. He fired a Dark Firaga from his hand at Xinck. The blast got close enough to Xinck and Riku gasped as Xinck grabbed it and it turned Jet-black and he shot it right back to Riku.

Riku fell back to the ground and took the blast right in the stomach. Xinck hit the ground running at Riku. Riku jumped into the air, high above Xinck and brought his sword down on Xinck's head, jumping up an down on at it as Xinck yelled in pain. The final hit and Xinck fell back and landed on his knee and Riku took up his stance.

Xinck chuckled, "Your Dark power sucks."

"What's it to you?"

"Nothing. But, tell me, what color is darkness?"

"What kind of question is that? Everyone knows it's black, blue and dark purple!"

"EEEGGH!" He made the sound of a buzzer, "Wrong answer. That is the color of Impure, weak Darkness. Real Darkness is Ink-Black. Like this." Xinck held out his hand and a pure black flame appeared in his hand. "That is Darkness. It's pure and real, not like the blue and black darkness you see from Emblem Heartless."

"What's you point?"

"My point is that there are lots of people out there, in other worlds, that have opened their Hearts to Darkness and if that person gains the dark power, then there darkness is corrupted by that persons choice to be good or evil."

"Darkness is Evil!"

"Untrue. Darkness is just Darkness. Nothing more. Good, Evil, Light and Darkness are completely four different things."

"But you're evil, so why isn't your Darkness 'corrupted'?"

"Because I don't have a heart and, therefore, no morals. And you have to make a moral choice to be Good or Evil. And because I can't technically make the choice, I can wield pure Darkness, plus I have a...different relationship with The Darkness, but thats a whole different story. But my main point is that your Impure Darkness pisses me off because it is an insult to real Darkness, so I have to kill you." Xinck got back up and got into his stance.

"You can try. But I'll kill you before you kill me." said Riku.

Riku started to smoke with Blue and Black Darkness and Xinck smoked with Pure Black Darkness. They ran at each other, clashed and and then, an Explosion of Darkness....

* * *

Marluxia-13th Floor- Garden of Assemblage.

Marluxia had created an Illusion of Himself to hold onto Namine. He could sense that Sora and his friends had already made it into that Room and were now fighting his Illusion.

Marluxia walked, alone, into a room, that consisted of nothing but a huge platform with a rose Emblem in the middle and a few pillars scattered about over the edges. The entire room was a boring Gray color and Marluxia was shining with a deathly pink color.

"My plans. All my plans, ruined. Wait-If I can get the upper hand in fighting Sora, then I might be able to reset everything into Motion all I need is the power to subdue and break him. I could do a Manifistation of My Power, but if I lose I will surely die."

Then Marluxia growled and remembered how The Superior had done the same thing when he had fought Roxas and Xinck. "He did it, lost and he was still alive. So there is no reason why I can't!"

Marluxia summoned his Scythe. He twirled around in the air and banged it on the ground. Cherry Blossom petals started twirling around him and a dark pink aura shot up from around his shoulders...."

* * *

Sora-13th Floor.

Sora had already started fighting a Copy of Marluxia, that he didn't know was a copy, and he was winning. Somehow, The Riku Replica had regained consciousness and was now trying to block Namine away from Marluxia as he fought Sora.

The Marluxia clone jumped into the air with his Scythe and Yelled, "Your Heart Shall be judged!" and banged his Scythe on the ground, and pink shockwaves erupted toward Sora. He jumped high to avoid them, but then Marluxia appeared in the air next to him and struck him in the back with his Scythe, throwing Sora back to the ground.

"It's the beginning of the end!" Marluxia yelled as he dived after Sora. Sora got back up and threw his Keyblade at Marluxia. The Keyblade caught him in the face and he came crashing down, yelling "So you are a Hero!..."

Marluxia hit the ground with a thud and Sora ran at him, preparing to strike again, yelling, "You're done!" But Marluxia got up and and black and pink smoke started flowing off him.

"Huh, I guess you really are done." Sora said, coming to a stop.

Marluxia faded away and Donald, Goofy, Namine and The Riku Replica ran up to Sora.

"We..we got him?" asked The Replica.

"Of course we got," said Donald, "We kick ass."

Then, directly in front of Sora, appeared another Marluxia, pink hair and all. "You could say that, but what you actually destroyed was just a mere illusion of me."

"So what?!"yelled the Replica, quickly summoning his sword and jumping in the air. He aimed for Marluxia, but he quickly disappeared in a cloud of pink petals and Riku fell to the floor.

"Damn. Another fake!"

A Door sat at the end of the room, laced with elegant flower designs. A voice could be heard from inside the room, "Na Nanny Boo Boo! You missed me, you missed me, now you have to kiss me!"

"The real Marluxia is..in there?" asked Sora.

"Probably." said Donald.

"Well then let's go and finish this!"

"Alright!" yelled Donald and Goofy.

"Riku," said Namine, "Keep Namine safe."

"Me?" he asked.

"You don't want to?"

"Well, I don't have anything better to do, so I guess I will."

"Great. Let's go, Donald, Goofy." Sora said and He ran to the door, "Aren't you guys coming?"

"No." said Goofy.

"Why not?!"

"Because he's the final boss and you're the Hero. The Hero always fights the final boss alone." said Donald.

"What are you guys, chicken?"

"No, we just don't want to die." said Goofy, "we'll be with you in Spirit.."

"..Rooting you on from afar.." said Donald.

"...Out here.."

"..Away from Danger."

"Alright, fine." said Sora. He walked to the door and it opened. He walked through.

* * *

Well, We've got one more to go, then well, I might take a break for a while. Review!

* * *


	20. Castle OblivionPart 61

Okay, Sorry this took so long, but once again, i was having technical Difficulties. But now, everything's good and I can get on with the story.

Raise your Hand if you like my Story.

Anyhoo.. This chapter was supposed to be the final one, but it turned out to be SO long that i had to split it up into two, so here. Read, Love it, Review it.

I don't own anything...except what's-his-face.

Riku-?th Floor.

Riku and Xinck clashed in the center of the virtually destroyed Atrium. Parts of the ceiling had fallen to the ground, walls and floors were punctured with had several holes in them, with random black fires scattered about. Riku and Xinck continued to fight, slashing and cutting each other, but healing from their wounds because of the constant flow of darkness in the room.

Riku slid back across the floor after blocking another attack from Xinck. Xinck raised both his swords in the air and started to swing them by their chains in a wide 360 degree circle. Riku blocked the rampage of blades aimed at him and ducked out of the way as one was aimed at his head. Xinck retracted his swords and jumped into the air and launched both his swords at Riku. Both of the blades were close enough that Riku side stepped out of the path of the swords and grabbed both of their chains, catching Xinck off guard.

"Dammit." said Xinck.

Riku pulled on the chains and yanked Xinck out of the air. Xinck hit the ground head on and Riku swung him and his chains around in a wide circle, Xinck yelling with every turn. Riku let go and let Xinck fly into a wall, full force as his chains retracted.

"This is crazy!" thought Xinck, "If I don't do something, he'll definitely kill me. But why? It's not like I did anything...lately. I could do my Redux, but if I lose I'll die. And that would suck. I don't need to do it, I just need to get the upper hand."

"Hey, Riku, look behind you!" yelled Xinck and he pointed behind Riku.

"What?" Riku turned around quickly and saw nothing there, "What am I supposed to be looking at? AHH!" Xinck rushed up and landed a powerful knee in Riku's stomach, spit and blood shooting out of his mouth. Riku fell forward and Xinck stood over him.

"I thought you said you were going to kill me?"

Riku coughed, "I am!"

"Okay, then, Riddle me this-"

"Don't say 'Riddle Me This'. You sound like a gay Riddler."

"The Riddler was gay."

"No he wasn't.

"Yes, he was. That Tight green Suit and his Flamboyant attitude, he was obviously gay. And Jim Carry Playing him in that Batman movie didn't help his image."

"Well, you might have a point." Riku quickly got up and disappeared and reappeared behind Xinck ready to strike. Xinck turned around at the last minute as Riku yelled, "The Batman has the best Villains!" Riku slashed at Xinck's chest, blood shooting out from the wound. Xinck jumped backward to avoid taking the entire blade.

"I'm...losing?" Thought Xinck. "To a fucking fake!? No!"

Xinck got up and ignored the cut across his chest. Pure Darkness smoking of his shoulders. He exploded in a mass of Black and Dark Gray energy. He jumped into the air and came flying at Riku. Riku reared back and fired a Dark Firaga from his his hand. The Firaga past straight through Xinck and hit the wall.

"Dark Master." Xinck collided with Riku and past straight through and Riku yelled out in pain. But he quickly recovered to see Xinck landing on the other side of the room and the Darkness dissipating around him. Xinck turned around and started walking to Riku, who quickly came started to charge at Xinck, his sword at the ready.

As Xinck walked, he whispered, "Kage."(Japanese-Shadow). All around Riku, thin black shadows sprung up from under him. They wrapped around his arms, legs, torso and neck., dragging him down into a kneeling position. Xinck continued to walk casually to Riku and stopped directly in front of him. Riku struggled against his bindings and started to yell.

"Dammit! Let me go!"

"No." said Xinck.

"Let me go!"

"No."

"Let me go!"

"Okay."

"...Really?"

"No." Xinck raised his hand to Riku and opened his palm. He reared it straight back and it glowed black. He threw it forward and opened-palmed punched Riku's Forehead. Riku felt a small pain in his head, then he felt the Shadows disappearing around his body he fell backward and looked down and saw that his Dark Suit had faded off his body.

"What..what did you do?" Riku asked, catching himself from falling.

"It's kinda obvious, isn't it? I told you I can control Darkness. Don't try to put your Dark Suit back on, it won't work anymore and without it, you can't hurt me."

"Damn." Riku got up and ran back at Xinck. He slashed down and Xinck side stepped out of the way. He landed a kick in Riku's stomach and Riku yelled, falling back to the ground. But he didn't stay down.

"Wow. You're tough." said Xinck, raising up his swords.

"And you talk to much." Riku replied.

"Well, no one's perfect. Okay, I'm gonna do something, and tell me if you've seen this before." Xinck raised his left hand sword and it evaporated into a Dark Sphere of glowing energy in his hand. Black swirls danced around Xinck as he yelled, "Welcome Oblivion!"

"Hey, you took that from me! That's my move!"

"I don't see your name on it!" Xinck slashed at the sphere and a disk of dark energy flew at Riku. He dodged out of the way and saw Xinck throwing another. Riku started running around the field, avoiding each blow.

"Can't run forever!" Xinck yelled, chasing Riku and slashing more energy disks at him.

Sora, Marluxia-Garden of Assemblage.

Sora had ran through the door and run into a huge gray room, and the only place to walk on was the huge, circular platform. The platform had several pillars scattered about the edges and beautiful flower décor lay flat in the center of the round platform. And standing high in the center was Marluxia, looking down on Sora.

"Sora." said Marluxia.

"Marluxia!" replied Sora.

"Sora."

"Marluxia!

"Ding-dong-doodily doodily doo!"

"Quit the games!" yelled Sora, summoning his Keyblade.

"Game? This is no game. I am simply trying to entertain you in your final hour. You see, I'm-Gah!" Marluxia moved out of the way from Sora's keyblade that he had just thrown. "Why you rude little shit stain!"

"Come down here and fight!" Sora yelled, catching his keyblade.

"Look, I am trying to do something really mean and evil and you are just-Ugh! I am going to have a Total BF!"

"...Okay, I'll bite. What's a BF?" asked Sora.

"Bitch FIT!" Marluxia yelled, sounding more and more feminine with every word.

"Okay, look, If your not gonna take this seriously, I'm just gonna go."

"Okay, okay, okay." said Marluxia, "It will only be a matter of time before I wipe the floor with you anyway."

"Oh, yeah? As Soon as I beat you, me and my friends are getting out of here!"

Marluxia chuckled and held up his hands towards the empty ceiling, "Soon the emptiness will shatter your Heart." The air in the room started to swirl around and Cherry Blossoms danced in the wind, "Here in this World...Of Nothingness!" A huge whirlwind of air and Cherry Blossoms swirled around Marluxia, obscuring him from view.

"Whoa!" Sora yelled, losing his balance from the force of the air.

Inside the whirlwind, Marluxia was glowing a deadly dark pink color as the tornado continued roaring about him. He bellowed out, his voice carrying over the howl of the winds around him, "**Devour The Head of The Princess,...****_Rapito Guardiano Del Giardino!_**" The winds immediately died out at his commands, and Sora gazed up in awe at the monstrosity he saw.

Only Marluxia's upper body was seen, as everything from the waist below was now obscured from view by an enormous ornamental flower. The flower was sitting atop a giant silver colored floating torso, with a hooded female face and long sleeve covered arms. It had no hands, but had two decorated pink Scythes in place. Underneath, seemed to be a cloth that had been ripped to shreds and over the shreds was an even longer silver cape.

"PRIMO STADIO!" Marluxia cried, flexing out his arms, as his monstrosity copied his movements in perfect sync.

_** RAPITO GUADIANO DEL GIARDINO**_

(Enraptured Guardian of the Gaurdian)

_ The Great Beast of Eden, Beautiful and Joyous in Its Wickedness_

"Oh, God!" Sora exclaimed, disgusted by what he saw.

"As Lightless Oblivion devours you, Drown in the Ever-Blooming Darkness!"

"Away!" Marluxia yelled and his ship responded by slashing it's Scythes and waves of pink energy struck the field towards Sora. He ran out of the way and avoided the impact. Marluxia sent more and more waves at Sora and he dodged out of the way.

"Stop moving! What are you, chicken!? Bawk Bawk!" yelled Marluxia, laughing.

"Ha!" Sora ran towards the Ship and Marluxia sent more waves, Sora dodging them all. He jumped at attacked the left handed Scythe of the Ship, small cracks appearing on the blade.

"Stop that!" yelled Marluxia, "Taste This!" He waved his hands and a pinkish light appeared on the face of The Ship. Sora stopped attacking the blade as Marluxia moved the ship farther away down the platform. Marluxia fired an 'X' shaped blast of energy at Sora. Sora tried to avoid it, but it chased him down, striking him in the back.

"Gah! That's a cheap shot!" yelled Sora..

"Cheap like your mom, maybe! Have another!" He fired another shot at Sora and he barely dodged it, catching him in the leg. The Glowing pink light on Marluxia's ship, faded away, and the attack stopped.

"What? I only had two? That's a gyp. Anyway, Do you wasn't to scream?" From behind Marluxia 5 pink, spike pointed objects, that resembled closed flowers, flew at Sora. The flew around Sora and shot out several pink pellets at Sora. Sora grunted at each attack, but he quickly recovered and attacked the each flower, completely destroying each one in only a few swings of the keyblade. Sora ran at Marluxia's Ship and started to attack the Scythe again, Marluxia yelling with every hit. He smashed at the Left Scythe one more time and it completely shattered into pieces, leaving only the Right Scythe.

"Aaah!" yelled Marluxia, "Do you know how much giant Scythes cost?! They're not cheap, dammit! Away!" Sora was hit dead on with another blast from the Right Scythe. Sora recovered and ran back away from Marluxia's ship.

Marluxia raised his hands to the air and a black and blue orb of darkness started forming and expanding in the air above him, black and blue energy swirling around him, "Sink into the Darkness! Ahh!" Marluxia yelled as his attack immediately stopped and his Right Scythe was destroyed by Sora's thrown Keyblade. The keyblade boomeranged back to Sora and he charged at Marluxia's ship.

"Crap, my Scythes!",thought Marluxia, "Dammit, what else can this thing do?! Wait I know!" Marluxia's ship started to ignite in the back and Marluxia yelled, "Behold!" Marluxia's ship flew across the platform and collided with Sora, knocking him aside with a thud, and the Ship turned around as it floated ominously off the side of the platform.

"Ah, that was stupid!" Yelled Sora, rubbing his face, "You said 'Behold' and I thought you were gonna do something fancy!"

"This is fancy!" yelled Marluxia from afar.

"You hit me with your thing! That's not fancy!"

"Oh, shut up and Behold!" Marluxia's ship ignited again and he charged his ship at Sora. Sora rolled out of the way at the last minute just to see Marluxia stopping behind him.

"Ha! You missed me!" yelled Sora.

"Prepare." Marluxia yelled and his Ship flew up into the air, to far for Sora to see. Marluxia came crashing down from the sky on the sharp tail-like bottom point of the ship. He touched down in the center of the platform and a huge circle of energy exploded and expanded across the floor like a shockwave.

Marluxia chuckled, "There we go, that got him. Hehehe. HOLY SHI-!" Sora came up from in front of the ship, his keyblade ready to strike at Marluxia. He had jumped off the ground toward the Ship last minute and avoided the blast. He struck Marluxia directly on the head, as he fell back down to the floor and heard Marluxia yelling.

"AAAAHHH!" Marluxia cried. He quickly stopped, and began to glow once again, " You'll now know real fear!" Marluxia's ship started to slowly fall down to the ground. Marluxia waved his hands and a bright light shown throughout the Garden of Assemblage, consuming him and Sora.

"Ah!" Sora groaned as he covered his eyes from the light and felt the ground shake below him. He felt a strong wind blowing. He moved his hands from his eyes and took a good look around him. He wasn't in The Garden of Assemblage anymore, now he was standing on an even larger version of Marluxia's Ship, and the ship was floating in the center of dark blue sky, surrounded by 3 large rings that were orbiting around the Ship. Sora was standing at the far back of the Ship, while Marluxia stood at the other far end. He wasn't up to his waist in a flower now, instead he was standing in place with black and gray energy thorns spinning around his legs.

Standing behind Marluxia was a giant thin figure in a long silver robe. The figure was female and was carrying a larger version of Marluxia's Scythe and had two sets of huge wings, one pair black and one pair white, connected on her back. The Lady figure was wearing a hood with a dark pink skull at the top with yellow eyes. She was holding the Scythe at the ready and was slowly beating her wings in anticipation.

"This is it." Thought Marluxia, "I had to use the final stage in my Redux, but it's the most powerful part. I have to win this here, or it's oblivion." Marluxia shuddered, "And I'll have to hear Larxene bitch and complain about my plan for all of eternity." Marluxia at last cried out "_Ultimo Stadio!_ **_SPETTRO DELLA MORTE, PROTETTRICE DELLA VITA_**!"

**_ Spettro Della Morte, Protettrice Della Vita_**

(Spectre of Death, Protector of Life)

_She Will Guard Him With Her Life, Even Into Death and Beyond_

Riku-?th Basement Floor.

Riku rolled out of the way of another attack from Xinck. He got back up and charged at Xinck. The dark sphere around his hand started to fade away and Xinck watched as Riku came running at him. Xinck kept his swords at his side and Riku jabbed the tip of his Sword at Xinck's face, Xinck dodging each strike.

"Yah!" Riku jabbed again and Xinck stooped down and punched Riku in his gut, a thin black shockwave shot out from the point of impact, throwing Riku across the room, with a yell, and hitting the the wall with a thud.

"What happened, Riku?! I thought you were going to kill me!" yelled Xinck

Riku slid to the floor, breathing heavily and staring at Xinck. Riku was hearing a weak voice in the back of his head, Ansem's, "Kill him! If he kills you, I'll never be able to get your body!"

"Shut up, Old man!" Riku yelled.

"I'm not old." Xinck replied.

"I wasn't talking to you!"

"You talk to yourself, too? Wow. Small world." Xinck held his hand upwards and a translucent ball of Darkness appeared. Xinck looked at Riku, "Run."

Riku ran around Xinck and turned around, preparing to throw his SoulEater sword at Xinck, but Xinck turned and threw the ball at Riku, catching him in the chest. The ball exploded with a small series of dark explosions, sending Riku high into the air. He came falling back down to the ground, his sword clattering next to him.

"You know," Xinck started, "When I said earlier that your impure Darkness was an insult to Real Darkness, I was dead serious. I've been to lots of Worlds where people have gotten some kind of Dark power, each one of them claiming that their Darkness was the greatest and that they were the True Darkness. Do you know what happened to all of those people? Each and everyone of them tasted the end of my Sword."

"What does this have to do with me?!"

"At first, Nothing. But then, you came in here, looking to kill me, and well, I just couldn't ignore that. But what I'm trying to say is that anyone who claims to have Real Dark Power, and not understand what real Darkness is, will either Die and fade into Darkness, or be killed by me. I'm going to do you a favor and spare you the pain you would endure if Ansem took over your body."

Xinck stood over with his Sword hanging over Riku's head. Riku lay on the floor, unable to move, unable to defend himself. The shear mass of Power that Xinck was giving off was keeping him down, pressing on his heart and Ansem. Riku struggled under the weight, but couldn't move. "No. not like this!" he thought. He remember what Lexaeus had told him before he died, 'Find the one called Xinck. Find him and beat him. If you don't, Sora will stay in danger...'

"NO! Sora!" Thought Riku. He yelled, "Darkness!" Pure Black darkness erupted from Riku, covering him from view, and throwing Xinck away.

"Whoa, Nelly!" Xinck yelled with Surprise. He held up his swords to defend. Riku and Xinck couldn't see each other, but they both grabbed the Black Darkness, like it was just a black curtain, and ripped it apart in one try. Riku stepped out from the darkness, his Soul Eater blade at his side and he was back in his Dark Suit.

"What the hell?" Xinck yelled out in a panic as the darkness completely disappeared from the room, "But I blocked your Dark Suit!"

"I won't let you hurt Sora!" Riku proclaimed, holding his sword up.

"Sora?! What about hi-"

"Dark Aura!" Riku yelled and he glowed with a Pure Black color and and Angry Red. He floated in the air, pointed his sword at a stunned Xinck and and flew straight at him.

"Gah!" Xinck yelled, spilling his blood and gasping as Riku came dashing through him. Riku zoomed into a portal , disappeared and reappeared in front of Xinck and again, dashed, stabbed and disappeared. Riku repeated this 5 more times, Xinck yelling and coughing up blood.

Finally Riku appeared high above Xinck, his sword pointed down at the Deviant. He stabbed downward and planted his sword directly in the ground in front of Xinck, yelling, "Vanish!" and several pillars of Energy shot up from all around Xinck, catching him in the arms, legs and torso.

Riku jumped back and looked at Xinck. He was in a limpy stance, as his supporting all of his weight on his right foot. He was bleeding from his forehead, he had bruises and cuts and stab wounds all over his body. Black trails of Smoke were sipping around his wounds, slowly healing them. He was breathing heavily as he started at Riku.

"That Darkness,", Xinck thought, "That was real. He's gonna...kill me?" Xinck's left leg made a popping sound as it popped back into place, "That hurt." Xinck picked up both his swords and started to step towards Riku with caution, but before he could take a full step, Riku reacted.

"You're finished!" Riku slashed his sword on the ground and a huge black wave of Dark Energy came rushing at Xinck. Xinck jumped sideways, at the last minute and barely escaped the blast by a few centimeters. The blast rushed past Xinck's panic-stricken face as he thought,"That was real, too! If I didn't move out of the way..I'd be..."

Xinck fell back to the ground and the Black wave dissipated. Xinck dismissed his swords as the Black trails of Smoke along his body had completely healed his words, leaving only holes ripped into his black cloak.

Riku yelled and came running at Xinck. He jumped into the air, ready to strike Xinck. Riku was feet away from impaling Xinck, but he fell back to the ground, his sword still at the ready.

"Pick up your weapons. Fight me!" Riku said.

"No. I was..wrong. We shouldn't be fighting. Look, can we just talk this out for a minute. I think this is a big misunderstanding."

"No, there's nothing to talk about." Riku was still holding up his sword.

"Okay, what if I said, please? Can we please sit down and talk?"

"No!"

"Pretty please, with a Cherry on top?"

"...Dude, are you serious?" Riku asked, putting down his sword.

"Yes, I'm serious. Just let me talk for five Minutes and if you're not hearing anything you like, you can kill me."

"..Alright, fine.

Sora, Marluxia-Garden of Assemblage.

"Aaah!" Marluxia screamed as Sora, unloaded another Combo on Marluxia. The Giant Reaper Lady flapped all four of her wings and a huge Gale blew Sora away from Marluxia, throwing him all the way back to the end of the ship.

"Doom." Marluxia whispered. Black and gray tendrils shot out from around Him and quickly zoomed to Sora. Sora recovered from being blown away by The Reaper Lady and he yelped as the thorns circled around him, locking him in place. A giant number 6 appeared above Sora's head and he could feel the Thorns sapping away his health. Sora struggled with the Thorns as The 6 changed to a 5.

"Your Heart is now in shackles! Break the curse with your cards!" Marluxia yelled from the other side of the ship.

Sora struggled one last time and the Thorns fell away, the 5 disappeared and Sora came running back at Marluxia.

"Damn. I probably shouldn't have told him how to break the curse. Not very good strategy." Marluxia said to himself, "Now, go!" Marluxia signaled to his Reaper Lady. She disappeared in a column of pink energy and reappeared behind Sora, who was still running to Marluxia. The Reaper raised her Scythe and slashed towards Sora, a pink wave of Energy shooting towards Sora. Sora rolled out of the way of the blast as it shot out towards empty space. The Reaper Lady raised her Scythe again and stabbed the butt of the weapon down on the ground. A pink swirling shockwave swirled out from the center, hitting Sora in the back.

"Ah!" Sora yelled as he was consumed by the shockwave. He fell to his knee and saw Marluxia ahead of him and The Reaper Lady teleporting behind him again.

"Hehe." Marluxia laughed, "It's the beginning of the end!" He held up his hand to the sky, activating the giant ornamental ring that was orbiting the Ship. The dozens of jewels on the Ring glowed and shot out a laser, pinpointed on Sora's location. The lasers encircled Sora's midsection as he yelled out. He rolled away from the lasers and continued running at Marluxia as the lasers continued to chase him.

"Away!" Marluxia cried. He waved his hand and his Reaper Lady raised her Scythe and slashed it at Sora, the pink energy wave shooting at him. Sora jumped sideways, out of the way of the blast and made his way to Marluxia, striking him with the Keyblade.

"Lose everything!" Marluxia yelled. He readied to raise his hand as Sora jumped into the air, raised his Keyblade one last time and brought it down on Marluxia's head.

"AAGGGGHH! This...this is the heart of a Hero?!" Marluxia started to yell out in pain as his Reaper Lady raised her hands into the air. A huge quake was erupting from the room, a quake that could be heard all around the Castle as Marluxia died. Marluxia tried desperately to recover and reach out to grab Sora as Darkness and Cherry Blossoms started swirling around him. He was only inches from grabbing Sora, who watched as Marluxia started to fade away, until the hand fell limp and finally he gave up and the Cherry Blossoms consumed his body and his Redux and Faded away into Darkness.

Donald, Goofy, Namine, Riku-13th Floor.

Outside the Door, where Marluxia and Sora were fighting, the group sat on the floor and waited patiently. After only two minutes of fighting, Donald asked if there was a game or anything they could play. Namine said she knew where a Playstation 3 and a Tv was and that she could bring it in here and they could play a game.

After Namine had brought in a Tv stand, a Tv and the PS3, her and Donald sat in front of it, and played a fighting game, while Riku and Goofy sat behind them and watched. So far. So far, Namine was winning.

"Come on, Donald! What's up now!?" She yelled, staring at the screen and and tapping away on the controller.

"Why do you keep doing the same move?!" Donald yelled, tapping on his controller.

"Where's your game?! Where's your game!?"

"My 'X' Buttons not working!"

"Whatever, punk!"

"Hey, look!" Donald tilted his controller toward Namine so she could see, and he started to tap his 'X' button, "I'm pressing it! You see me pressing it! You're cheating!"

"Bitch, your game is garbage!"

The game made a 'K.O.' sound and Namine threw down her controller, and jumped into the air. "I won! I won!"

"You cheated!" Donald yelled.

"You're just jealous."

Goofy and Riku watched as Namine and Donald continued to bicker. They hadn't really said anything, but they had tried several times.

"So...uh..How's it going?" asked Goofy, lying on his back.

"Fine. You?" Riku replied, sitting criss-crossed

"It's good, it's good."

"So..um..er..Is your real name Goofy?"

"Well, no. it's actually Dippy Dawg"

"Oh...is Dog spelled like, D-a-w-g or D-o-g?"

"The first one, I think."

"Mmm. I think I like Goofy better."

"...Me too."

Namine and Donald stopped fighting and Riku and Goofy got up when they heard the giant door behind them open up and heard Sora running out. When he was far out the door, he turned around, summoned his Keyblade and pointed it at the closed door. A beam of light shot out from the tip and at the door. When it it, the door was enveloped in light and a 'Clicking' sound echoed throughout the room. When the light faded away, there was no more door, just a blank arch-shaped wall.

Sora turned around and looked at the Replica, "Are you okay, Riku?"

"I'm not Riku. I'm a fake. I don't remember when I was created, or why. All I've got are you, and Namine...and this piece of cheese, "said Riku, pulling out a block of moldy cheddar cheese. Riku sniffed it, "I think it might be molded. But the memories of you and Namine, even those aren't real."

Goofy turned to Namine, "Namine, couldn't you put his memories back?"

"No..it doesn't work that way." she replied in her quiet voice.

"It's alright. Don't worry about me." said Riku. He threw the cheese away, turned and started to walk out the room.

"Wait!" yelled Sora. He ran to Riku, who stopped in his tracks, but didn't turn around as Sora spoke, "Who cares if someone made you? You have your own heart. Those feelings and memories are yours and yours alone. They're special!"

"My God. Is he always on?" Whispered Donald to Goofy.

"Sora." said Riku, "You're a good person. I don't have to be real to see that. That's good enough for me."

Riku started to walk again. He walked out of the room and out of sight.

As per Namine's and Sora's promise, She took Sora, Donald and Goofy to a special room where they could go and get their memories back. She had told them that the entire process would take a year and that they would have to sleep the entire time. She also told them that they would lose all of their memories of Castle Oblivion and they would forget her. But they said they wanted to thank her for fixing their memories, but they couldn't if they forgot her. So Jiminy wrote down in his journal, "Thank Namine."

They weren't exactly sure where they were, but Namine had taken them to a huge, white cylindrical room. The room would be completely empty if it weren't for the huge egg-shaped flower-themed contraption in the center of the room.

"Do we have to sleep in there to get our memories back?" asked Donald.

"Well, Sora does. You and Goofy's pods are outside the room." said Namine, pointing to the square door along the wall.

"Well, why does he have to get the biggest One and the one that's in the center of the room, huh?"

"Because he's the main character."

"So? Everyone knows that the supporting characters are the ones that keep the series afloat."

"Oh, Donald stop complaining and go to sleep!" yelled Sora.

"Fine! Goodnight, everybody." Donald and Goofy started to walk out of the room, but then Donald turned back around, "Hey, Jiminy can I borrow your pen?"

"Uh, sure, okay." Said Jiminy. He tossed the tiny pen to Donald, who caught it without any effort. Donald started to scribble some righting on his left hand.

"What are you writing?" asked Sora.

Donald ran back up to Sora, handed the pen to Jiminy and held out his left hand for Sora to read. 'Donald, when you wake up, remember to kick Sora's ass.'

Donald laughed and started running out of the room with Goofy. "Goodnight, Namine." Goofy called back, then he left the room.

Then, Sora and Namine laughed. They looked at each other, had a heart-felt goodbye and Sora jumped into the the open Contraption. Namine and Sora promised to see each other again, then Namine told him about the good Luck Charm he had and that it changed shape when he had remembered the person most special to him. Then the Machine started to close as Sora fell asleep.

Riku-?th Floor.

Riku had dismissed his Dark Suit, but kept his Sword out just in case. He and Xinck were now sitting on the floor of the battle-damaged room, talking about Darkness and it's true nature. At this point, Sora and Marluxia were still fighting as Xinck was trying to get information from Riku. At first, when they started talking, Riku was weary in trusting him, because he was still one of those Nobodies, but he didn't reek of that putrid smell of Darkness that the others were soaked in.

"...So, that's why the darkness I use is different from anyone else's. It's pure and real, straight from the Realm of Darkness. The only reason I said all those things about you being fake and using impure darkness, was because I just couldn't see the real Darkness in you. But that last move you did was real and almost killed me."

"Real Darkness..." Riku thought about this. "Ansem's Darkness."

"No, your Darkness. Okay, I have a question: When we were fighting, you said you wouldn't let me hurt Sora. What's up with that?"

"You mean, you're not after Sora?"

"No. If anything, I actually owe him, but that's beside the point. What made you think I was after him?"

"Before I came here, I fought a man named..Lexaeus, I think, and he told me that I had to find someone named Xinck..."

"I'm Xinck."

"..Yeah. And he said I had to find and kill you, or Sora will be in danger."

"What?!" thought Xinck. He was somewhat shocked at this information, " Why the hell would he want to kill me? Lexaeus isn't the kind of person who would send someone else to do his dirty work."

"Are..you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Why would you believe Lexaeus anyway?"

"Well, he said something about Sora, so I thought..."

"Is believing every little word a stranger tells you a normal practice for you?"

"No, but-"

"It's alright, It's alright, " Xinck got up and offered a hand to Riku. He grabbed it and Xinck pulled him up. "I think we're done here." Xinck snapped his fingers and a dark portal appeared behind him. "Oh. One more thing, while we were fighting, I noticed that you have a lot of potential and that you can overcome Ansem's Darkness in you."

"No! He can't" yelled Ansem in Riku's head, "I'm like rectal Cancer, I let you slip into a false sense of security, then when you least expect, I bite you in the ass! Hahaha!"

"How?" asked Riku.

"Well, I kinda owe Sora a favor and I guess I could pay him back by helping you. Like I already said, I can control Darkness and Ansem's Darkness is stale, weak and impure. I can...help you, if you want..." Xinck held out his hand to Riku.

Riku thought this over. He knew that Ansem was always trying to get out and take over his body, and now, someone was offering to take it all away. He could do it, but then that wouldn't make a very good story.

"No." said Riku, "I can figure it out myself."

" 'Kay. Suit yourself." Xinck walked into the Dark portal and disappeared as Riku turned around and walked out of the battle-damaged Atrium.

As Xinck walked through the Corridor of Darkness, he had only one thing on mind. "This has Zexion's stink all over it. Lexaeus wouldn't send someone to kill me, he'd just do it himself, so it has to be Zexion. How dare he try to kill me, after I let him have some 'Just Friends' spooning with me. What I can't figure out is, why?...It doesn't matter, especially after I kill him."

Xinck emerged from his Dark Portal and into The UnderGround Observation Room. He expected to see Zexion standing in the center of the room, instead the room was empty.

"Mmm. I'll just wait for him to come back." Xinck folded his arms and legs and sat down in the center of the dimly lit room, waiting and waiting.

Xinck waited a total of 30 seconds before his stomach started to rumble with an unholy noise. Xinck placed a hand on his stomach, "Ooh. Mudbutt. I gotta go release a demon. A stinky brown one. Or spinach green, depending on what I ate."

With no hesitation, Xinck stood up and teleported out of the room, muttering, "I'll get him later."

Riku-3rd Floor.

Riku had found a way back to the main part of the Castle. He walked up the stairs to the 3rd floor Door and as he walked across the way, he felt a huge rumble shake the entire Castle and Riku noticed another Scent vanishing from the air.

Riku sniffed the air, "One of the scents has died! A really...strong one."

In front of the door, leading to the 3rd floor world, a Dark Portal appeared and a man in a black cloak appeared. He wasn't very tall and he had dark, silver/gray hair and blue eyes.

"Oh, great. Another freak in a black cloak." thought Riku.

The Short dark haired man spoke, "The keeper of this Castle, Marluxia, has just had his, for lack of a better word, ass kicked by the Keybearer."

"Keybearer...Sora! You mean Sora is here!?" yelled Riku, walking closer to the man.

"Yes, he is. Want to see him? But the real question is, can you face him?"

"What?"

"The Darkness and Ansem's Shadow still linger in your Heart. Aren't you ashamed to face Sora like this?"

"Grr-"

"Sora's fate is to battle the darkness. As the hero of light, he must oppose anyone who hosts the dark. In other words-or wiz-zords, as you young people say- You. But if you don't believe me," The man, out of nowhere, pulled out a card and tossed it at Riku, who caught it, "Then you'd best see the truth for yourself."

Riku looked at the card and gasped, "This is-!"

"Yes. It is your home. Peace out, sucka." Darkness circled around the man and he disappeared from sight.

Riku ran to the closed, pale yellow door, and held up the card. It glowed with light and the door opened. He walked through.

Riku-Destiny Islands.

Riku walked out onto the beach of his homeworld. The salty sea air blowing in the air and the rays of the sun shining down.

Riku inhaled and exhaled. "I never thought I'd miss the island winds so much..funny-there was a time I couldn't wait to get off this rock." Riku walked forward and he saw running down the beach toward him, were three kids from the islands he knew. 2 boys and 1 girl. The girl had brown hair, green eyes and were an orange dress. The tallest and oldest boy had orange hair, sun-tanned skin, a sleevelss shirt and carried a beach ball. The other boy had blonde hair, blue eyes, wore sandals and dark blue shorts.

"Hey!" Riku said, running toward them, "Damn. I don't remember their names. Let's see..uh..Kid 1..Kid 2...and...Kid 3! Yeah that's it!"

Riku and the 3 kids stopped in front of each other and said nothing.

"What?" asked Riku, "I don't think I've ever seen you guys this quiet. What, is there something on my face?" Riku asked as they stared at him. Riku started to feel his face, then his nose, "Do I have a boogie?"

Then, they vanished into thin air, without a trace.

"Guys?! Where'd you go?" Riku started to look around the island, and he saw nothing. He sunk a little, depressed. But he felt a small amount of relief when he looked out at the smaller island off the coast of the one he was on. Sitting on a tree was a girl with red hair. Riku started running toward the small bridge that connected the two islands together. He ran across the bridge onto the island and stopped just below the low hanging tree that the dark red headed girl was sitting on.

Riku got a little happier, "Kairi. Kairi, don't tell me you-"

Without warning the girl vanished from the branch

"No!...no, no,no,!" Yelled Riku. Then he thought, "Then again, she was so skinny, anytime she turned sideways, she'd disappear..."

Behind Riku, a voice asked a question, "Surely, you must have known that this was going to happen?"

Riku turned and saw the short Dark Haired man standing there. "Why would I know that?!" yelled Riku.

"You've been to a number of worlds in your memory before this one. And in those worlds, you met only dark beings. That's all that's left in your heart: dark memories. Your memories of home are gone — each and every one."

"That's a lie! I remember everyone from the islands! Tidus, Girl Tidus, Island-Guy-That Throws-Balls-At-You, Kairi, and Boy Kairi-I mean, Sora! They're my...my..friends. Well, at least Sora and Kairi, I didn't give a crap about the others."

"And who threw away those friends, even the crappy ones that no one could remember their names? Maybe it's your own actions that you forgot. You destroyed your home!" Darkness swarmed around the small island, enveloping, Riku and the Dark Haired Man. Riku ripped through the Darkness and saw that the islands were now floating above a huge void of Darkness. The sky had darkened and random objects were flying through the air as the islands fell apart.

"This is..that night!" Riku looked around and the man was still there.

"The islands you grew up on were sundered, scattered and, for lack of a better word, fucked-up!... Many hearts were lost to the darkness. Because of what YOU did!" The man said, pointing an accusing finger at Riku. Riku turned around and saw standing behind him was a copy of him, just standing there, looking out at the destruction.

"N..no!" Riku yelled out.

"You hated being an islander, cut off from other worlds. So you opened the door to darkness and destroyed the islands. YOU did that! And now you belong to the darkness, just like how Amy Winehouse belongs in rehab! Look at what you are!"

Riku looked at his copy and it wasn't his copy anymore. It had grown high into the air, turned completely black and deformed into a Heartless, Darkside. Riku growled and looked at the man, he was gone. Riku turned back to the Darkside and summoned his SoulEater sword, ready to fight, "This can't be me!"

Riku Replica-Castle Oblivion.

Castle Oblivion was a huge fortress that was situated between the light and the dark. The huge Castle was completely housed on, what seemed to be, a large strip of land and as you walked away from the Castle the strip got thinner and you could see that there was nothing but a long crevasse underneath it. The Replica stood on the very edge of the strip, the Castle far off to the side of him. He looked down at the never ending void. He had no meaning, no purpose, no one to live for. He might as well end it all anyway.

"Damn, that's deep." He said. He looked up at the cloudy night sky surrounding the Castle, "Maybe I shouldn't do this. Y'know, maybe I could find my own way. Yeah, I could. I could keep going, find a nice big city, and become a porn star. Yeah, I could do that! Sure I look young, but it wouldn't be a bad thing to learn the trade." The Replica looked into the sky with a new admiration. "This is a good idea! And I dare the universe to try and take it away from me!"

Splat! The Replica saw a bird flying over head and a white liquid falling from it and landing on his forehead. "Well, the universe always has a way of shitting on my ideas. Literally. Well, here I go." He took a step forward and he started to fall into the abyss. Falling, falling, until he felt something snag the collar of his Dark Suit. He hung there in midair, still looking into the void. "Oh, great. I'm caught on a rock. Just perfect!" The Riku Replica looked up and saw it wasn't a rock, but a hand. He followed the black gloved hand up and saw it was the man with the fiery Red hair and green eyes he had seen with Larxene, Vexen and Xinck. "You!"

"Hey, how you doing." said Axel, pulling the Replica up back onto the cliff, "So, you were just gonna kill yourself by falling off a cliff side? Well, at least it would have been clean, unlike blowing your brains out onto the floor. And I am NOT gonna be the one picking up skull and brains all over the place."

"What do you want? Can't you see I'm late for a very important date?" The Replica replied, inching his way to the edge again.

"You're just going to kill yourself?" asked Axel, folding his arms.

"Might as well. It's not like I have anything to live for. I'm just a fake, I'm not real. Who cares? No one."

"Well then you should do something about that, don't you think?"

"There's nothing I can do, except jump off this cliff."

"No. there is something you can do."

The Replica turned to face Axel, "What?"

"Come with me and I'll tell you how you can escape from just being the Real Riku's Shadow."

" Riku,"The Replica thought,"I hate him. It's because of him, that I'm just a fake. But... if I can kill him, then I'd be the real Riku."

"Come on." said Axel. He turned toward the Castle and walked towards a portal he had just summoned and the Replica followed behind him.

Riku, Zexion-Destiny Islands.

Riku slashed through the Darkside a final time and the giant Heartless was consumed with a huge purple and black flame as it was consumed by Darkness. As Riku watched the Darkside burn up like a man you just threw gasoline and a match on, he saw way past the Darkside and saw a familiar figure standing on the edge of the floating island. Sora. Riku ran up behind Sora, who didn't even notice him.

"Hey, Sora, it's me!" Riku back flipped away from Sora, as he dodged an attack from the Keyblade. Riku saw Sora charging at him, Keyblade ready to hit. Riku summoned his SoulEater and blocked the attack as Sora press his Keyblade down on his sword.

"Sora! Don't you recognize me!? Or do I have something on my face again?!"

Riku struggled under the weight of Sora's Keyblade.

"Yeah, I recognize you. I can see exactly what you've become!" Sora pushed off backwards from Riku and landed away from him. He pointed the Keyblade directly at Riku and a shining light shot out from the tip, hitting Riku in the chest and knocking him to the ground.

"Aaagh! That hurt, you high-voiced bastard!" yelled Riku, holding his chest.

"Oh, shut the fuck up. How can the light hurt you anyway?" Sora lowered his Keyblade and looked down at the ground, "That's right...You're not Riku anymore. You're just another pawn of the Darkness. So be it. It's time for you.." Sora raised his Keyblade into the air and a shining orb started to expand from it, "...To face the light!" The Light consumed Riku and bathed everything in a blinding white light.

He found himself falling through what seemed to be a void of light. Falling, falling..into the Light.

"I'm...fading...consumed...by Light." Riku thought as he slowly floated through the light. Not moving a muscle, no sudden movements.

"You won't fade." came a voice.

Riku looked far into the light and he saw Kairi, the skinny girl with the Dark Red hair and blue eyes.

"Oh great another hallucination. The mountains of medication I'm gonna need to get over this..."

"I'm not a hallucination, you ass-bag! Now listen, You can't fade. No power can defeat you — not the light, not the dark. So don't run from the light — and don't fear the darkness..."

Then Riku remembered one of the things that Xinck and told him earlier. 'It's true that Darkness can yield to Purified Light, but it is also true that Light can yield to Purified Darkness. One can never defeat the other, but both can be used to make something different, like a Double Stuffed Oreo Cookie, or something like that...'

"..Both will make you stronger." said Kairi.

"Darkness, too?" asked Riku.

"Especially Darkness. Because that power is yours alone. The darkness in your heart is vast and deep...but if you can stare into it unflinching, you'll never know fear again."

"All this time I've been pushing the Darkness away..."

"Just be brave. Know that the darkness is there and don't give in. Do that, and you'll gain strength unlike any other. You'll be able to escape the deepest darkness —"

"...And I'll be able to face the brightest light..."

"Follow the Darkness. It'll show you the way to your friends."

"But..can I face them?"

"Do or don't I really don't care, but...can you?"

"Of course I do. Thank you, Girl Sora-ah, I mean Kairi."

"Asshole..." With that, she disappeared, leaving Riku alone.

"My strength. My DARK Strength." Riku became wrapped in Pure Dark energy. He stopped floating and stood on his own two-feet. He braced himself and yelled, "DARKNESS!" He was consumed by more Darkness and he transformed into his Dark Suit, his SoulEater Sword in hand. He could see and smell clearly now. He caught the scent, he turned around, roared and slashed with his sword. He caught something and the entire body of Light around Riku vanished instantly and he found himself back on the floating island. Sora stood behind Riku, his left arm on his chest and his right arm was using the Keyblade to hold himself up.

He spoke in a strained voice that wasn't his own, "Im...Impossible!" dark gray smoke enveloped Sora's body and immediately dissipated, leaving only the short Dark Haired man, Zexion, crouched on the ground.

Riku saw that the Keyblade he was holding had turned back into a stick. Without warning, Zexion quickly got back up and threw the stick at Riku, yelling, "Stickman Power, Go!"

Riku didn't flinch as the thrown stick sailed high past his head, missing him by 12 feet. "Dude, seriously?"

"Damn." thought Zexion, "I forgot I can't throw." He looked at Riku, "How? How did you find me in the Light?"

"You reek of Darkness. No amount of Light could cover that smell. I followed the Darkness right to you."

Zexion growled, "This is absurd! Then I shall make you see...that your hopes are nothing-Nothing but a mere illusion!"

"Oh, quit your monologue and fight me."

Zexion didn't waste anytime. As Riku raised his sword, Zexion summoned his book and it floated beside him. Zexion moved his hands in an odd fashion as his book glowed a red and black color. "You should share your power!" a black tornado appeared between Riku and Zexion and it swirled around, sucking in all the air around it. Riku ran from the tornado as black and red energy swirled around Zexion, who was concentrating on the tornado. "Here it comes!" Riku jumped backwards and was being pulled into the tornado. When he was close enough, he twisted sideways in the air and shot toward Zexion. Zexion yelled as Riku's blade collided with him, breaking his concentrating and ending the tornado. A wave of darkness consumed Zexion and he disappeared, reappearing on the other side of the floating island. He grabbed his book and swiped a hand over it, a bright red light shining from it.

"I've had enough!" Zexion threw his book into the air and it multiplied itself into three copies. Each book flew to a different position above the island, black and red energy twirling around them. A dark object fell from each book and hit the ground. Each object stood up and formed a clone of Zexion, a glowing copy of Riku's sword in there hands. The clones dashed at Riku. Riku tried to dodged them, but they were too fast as one clone dashed and slashed at his sides, then two other clone from the left and right, struck a blow at Riku and dashed away. The real Zexion came flying into the air at Riku, a copy of his Sword in hand. He slashed at Riku with a yell.

"Had enough?" Zexion asked.

"Dream on, bitch." Riku reared back and threw a Dark Firaga, hitting Zexion in the stomach, sending him backwards. Zexion growled as he recovered. He called all of his clones together as Riku dashed at him. The clones and Zexion glided away from each other. One dashed to close to Riku and he stabbed the clone in it's sides, thinking it was Zexion, and the clone exploded in a flurry of book pages.

"Dammit!" yelled Zexion as he and his two clones got into position. Zexion and his clones floated a few inches into the air as Zexion yelled, "See My Illusion!" They raised their hands toward the center of themselves and a white energy shot out and formed a growing ball of energy.

"No!"Riku yelled. Zexion turned around and saw Riku dropping down on him, his sword slashed down on Zexion, stopping his spell and destroying his clones. Zexion fell to his knee, blood trinkling down from his chest to his stomach. He slowly backed away from Riku, holing his sword at he ready.

"After all your protest," huffed Zexion, "You're still like us, on the side of Darkness."

"I know who I am!"

"Oh?" said Zexion. He got up and continued to inch away from Riku, "When did that happen? You were always afraid of the dark before."

"Not anymore!" Riku dashed at Zexion. Zexion gasped and held up his hands t his face for defense, "No, no, not the face! Aaagh!"

Riku slid through Zexion after the attack. He looked back and saw Zexion frozen in his stance. He gasped and instead of fading away, an oval shaped portal of Darkness circled around him and he disappeared. Riku scoffed.

"He ran away...like a little girly man."

Review it cuz you love it. Now go to the next one, The Finale of The Castle Oblivion Chapter.


	21. Castle OblivionPart 62

Part 2 of The Finale! Read it

I don't own anything! Except what's-his-face

* * *

Zexion-UnderGround Observation Room.

In the Observation Room, the Dark Portal opened up and Zexion staggered out, his hand holding onto his wounded chest. He breathed heavily as he made his way to wall, like an old man, seconds away from dying in a puddle of his own....piss.

"What is he?!" Zexion yelled, pounding his tiny fist on the wall, "No one's ever worn the Darkness like he does. Xinck. Him and Xinck. They're both freaks! Freaks, I say, FREAKS! What happened to Xinck....I can't smell him anymore. Riku must have killed him somehow and absorbed him, strengthening his darkness and ending the pressure Xinck was putting on him. That's the only explanation...."

Zexion heard another Dark Portal behind him and the sound of footsteps. Zexion turned around and saw Riku with Axel standing behind him. Zexion gasped and backed against the wall, "AH! AH! RIKU!? Agghhh! Aggghhh!-"

Axel spoke up over Zexions girly screams, "Zexion, calm down-" "

Aggghh! Aggghh!"

"Calm down. You little Beyotch!"

Zexion calmed himself and took a good look at Riku. "Oh...oh, yes of course. The Replica. We can use this Riku to defeat the real one. Axel?"

Axel leaned down closer to the Replica, "Wouldn't you like to be real? All you would really need is the kind of power that the real Riku doesn't have."

"Axel!?" yelled Zexion, "What the Funk-n-Waggles are you saying to him!?"

"Funk-n-Waggles?" said the Replica.

Axel continued, "You know, he's as good a place to start as any."

"Have you lost your damn mind?!" yelled Zexion. The Replica ran at Zexion and grabbed him by his collar, raising him into the air. "No! Stop! I'm serious!" The Replica and Zexion started to glow a dark blue color. As Zexion was absorb by the Replica he started to fade away into Darkness, _"No...I...will not!"_ Zexion disappeared and the Replica finished absorbing him.

"So sorry, Zexion." Axel laughed, "You just found out way too much."

* * *

Riku-2nd Basement Floor.

Riku walked up the stairs to the Second floor basement. He didn't have anymore cards, and had no idea how he was going to open the door. His first thought was to try and pry the door open. As he walked on, he heard a voice.

"Riku...Riiiiikkku. Riku, Riku, Riku, Pikachu!"

"Who's there?! Wait...that voice. Ansem."

"I know you can feel it Riku-The grip that I have your heart. You've let the Darkness in. so your Heart will become an all-consuming Darkness."

"I'm not like that anymore!"

"Well, I think you are!" At that point, Riku heard three finger snaps. He thought Ansem had just did the 'Z' snap.

"Ah!" Riku gasped as his four limbs straightened and pointed out. He struggled as black and blue smoke started flowing off his shoulders. Riku struggled, "I can't move!"

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." said Ansem's disembodied voice, "The deeper the Darkness in you runs, the stronger I become. Controlling you is effortless. See?" Riku started floating into the air. His limbs went limp and he was being knocked left and right like a rag-doll. Ansem made him spun up and down, side to side as he laughed.

"St..stop it! I'm getting Dizzy! I'm gonna throw u-Blah!" Riku spit up all over the floor, making a wide green puddle.

"Hahaha!" laughed Ansem, "Look at the Monkey dance-When the hell did you eat corn? Dance, Monkey, Dance!"

Riku started moaning sickly as his body started Dancing in the fashion of a Monkey. His feet were dancing to a beat as his arms were arched and scratching his armpits.

"Now," Ansem declared, "Time for your prostate Exam."

"What the fuck!?" Riku yelled and struggled even more as he stopped Dancing and his left hand formed a fist and and his Pinky finger stood up. His arm started moving backwards toward his lower back....area. "No! No! Stop! Not cool! Not cool!"

"Oh, no! Don't fight! Don't fight it! Oh, it's coming! 'Cause it's a-coming!" yelled Ansem.

Riku's pinky was inching closer and closer. "Stop it, you sick pervert!"

"Stinky Pinky!"

A light came zooming across the room, out of nowhere and zoomed around Riku. The light lowered itself to Riku's chest and past through effortlessly. Riku regained control of his body and stopped his pinky from moving closer to his butt as he fell back to the ground. He heard Ansem yell, "Dammit! You damn, dirty Rat! Must you interfere again!? You don't see me messing with your things!"

Riku fell back to the ground and Ansem's voice disappeared.

"Whoo! Good thing I got here just in time. That should keep him busy for a while."

Riku looked back and saw a small figure standing there, wearing yellow shoes, and a red, black and blue shirt and shorts. "Sorry I couldn't come here sooner."

"Your Majesty! It's you!"

Riku ran over to The King and pinched his face, "Ow! Hey! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"You're real!"

"Duh, I'm real!"

"You're not an illusion. I'm so glad you came."

"I told you I would be here." Suddenly Riku fell over onto the floor and started breathing hard, "Don't worry..."

"I'm not. I wasn't really paying attention anyway."

"...I'm okay. Just really relieved, that's all. I've been alone so long that having someone else around is a little...overwhelming. But how did you get here, Your Majesty? I thought you were really far away."

"I was."

"Where were you?"

"Somewhere."

"...Wanna give me more detail?"

"No."

"...'Kay.."

"I'm just kidding. Here." Mickey reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue card with a picture of a world Riku had never seen before, "his card showed me the way. I was lookin' for the way out of the realm of darkness, and then this card came along. As soon as I picked it up, it showed me your heart, waaay out beyond the darkness. And that's how I tracked you down. I guess the card thought it belonged with you."

"Cards don't think." Riku said, standing back up.

"Just take the damn card."

Riku took the card from Mickey and stared at it. He had never been to this world before, but he felt that he should go there, "Maybe you're right."

"Of course I'm right. I'm Mickey-Friggin'-Mouse."

* * *

Axel-UnderGround Observation Room.

"Alright." Axel said to himself, "Zexion's dead and taken care off. The Replica went off to find Riku and Xinck is...where is Xinck?"

Axel turned around and saw Xinck walking through the door to the Observation Room.

"Where were you?"

"Bathroom. What's going on?"

"Nothing. We're almost done here, we'll be leaving soon."

"Alright. Hey, have you seen Zexion?"

"Yeah, I've already taken care of him."

"What!?" Xinck walked up to Axel, "What do you mean 'You took care of him'? I wanted to kill him!"

"It's to late now. Why would you wanna kill Zexion? I thought you two had some 'Just friends' spooning?"

"I know! He tried sending Riku after me. For some reason, he wanted me out of the way. Riku said that Lexaeus was the one who told him to come after me, but I knew it had to be Zexion."

"What's it matter? He's dead now."

"I know, but I wanted to be the one to-Wait." Xinck closed his eyes. He quickly opened them and looked at Axel, "How did Zexion die?"

"I got that Replica to absorb him and his power."

"Well, apparently He didn't do it right, because Zexion's still alive."

"What?! How?!"

"I don't know. He might have had a fail-safe or a back up plan set up around him in the event of his demise. I can still sense his Darkness, It's faint because he's really, really weak. He's..running from the Castle, probably on his way to tell the Superior."

"Dammit." Axel held out his Hands and his Chakrams appeared as he headed toward the door, "I'll take care of this."

"No you won't." Xinck held up his hand, blocking Axel's path, "I'll handle this." Xinck opened the door and started heading out. He stopped when Axel spoke.

"Xinck, come on, I know you. What are you really going to do? What's this about?" He asked, dismissing his Chakrams.

"I told you." Xinck turned his head toward Axel, "This is Revengence." He disappeared into a Dark portal.

Axel scoffed, "That's not a real word."

* * *

Riku-Twilight Town-2nd Floor.

A Twilit world, settled between Night and Day, was the place that Riku was walking through. The buildings were colored a Tanish-orange color as the Yellow, sunlit Sky hovered above the Horizon. Riku walked into, what seemed to be, a commons area with shops and stores scattered around the area. He was far away from the shops, but he wasn't too far that he couldn't see what were inside the shops. There were dozens of shops, but somehow, they all had the same little trinkets in all of them.

Riku scoffed, "What a Crap hole. I don't remember this place. Hey, your Majesty, have you ever been here before?" Riku looked down at his side, but the King was not there, "Your Majesty? Where'd you go?"

"His Majesty isn't here." Riku turned back to face forward and saw Ansem standing directly in front of him. "You must battle me and the Darkness alone!" Riku summoned his SoulEater sword and held it at the ready. He started at Ansem, with a killing intent. He sniffed the air and he picked up Ansem's scent and he lowered his sword.

"Giving up already? Good. Then accept your fate and Me as your Master! Evil Laugh! HAHAHAHA!"

"You're not Ansem."

"..HAHAHA-what?"

"Your scent — it's different. The Ansem in my hearts smells darker, more foul. But not you. It's not darkness I smell, it's...something else. I know. You're the one who guided me when this all started. You pretended to be Ansem and gave me the card, to make me face the darkness."

"....Maybe...Yeah, correct." Black, blue and purple Darkness wrapped around Ansem and disappeared. Leaving a different Man. He wore a dark brown and Crimson robe with a long Crimson cape. His dark brown robe had big orange pockets going down diagonally across his chest. His entire head was wrapped in red bandages and a black buckle across his left eye, leaving only a few spots of Dark skin peaking through. His arms were behind his back and the only eye that could be seen was his right eye, which was an Ember color staring right at Riku, "Call me DiZ. It's as-"

"What the hell kind of name is that?"

"I was about to tell you before you interrupted me. It's as good a name as any. I've been watching you all along."

"Who are you really? What do you want from me?"

"I want you to choose."

"Choose?"

"You exist between the light and the dark. You stand in the twilight. I want you to meet Namine, then choose."

"Namine? Who's that? You're not trying to set me up on a blind date are you? Because I've been on a blind date before and it didn't work out. She was big boned and she had a mustache and a Unibrow. She was ripped and she was taller then me. I think she was a man. I-"

"You're rambling."

"Rambling. As if."

DiZ groaned and Disappeared without a trace.

"Hey, wait a minute! I wasn't done telling you about my blind date!"

* * *

Zexion-Far from Castle Oblivion.

Zexion ran as fast as he could down the dirt road. He was practically limping and he held onto his side with his right arm as his left arm flailed around as he ran. He was terribly injured and weak.

"Haha!" Zexion thought to himself as he ran, "I was able to..get away thanks to my 'Fake your own Death and get away ability' Spell. I had a feeling things in that Castle might get messy, so I made a back up plan, unfortunately, one of the side effects was that a lot of Energy was taken as a tribute for the spell to work. And it didn't help that that Replica had taken more then 75% of my Power. Now I only have enough to get away and hopefully make it to The Castle That Never Was."

Zexion was now limping down the road that Sora used to get to Castle Oblivion in the opposite Direction. He wasn't sure how long it would take for him to get to The Superior.

"Fucking Axel! Damn him and that Replica! I'll make them pay." Zexion thought. As he switched between running and limping, and Gasping, Zexion started to hear a far off noise, a far off ringing sound, a beautiful, yet terrifying sound.

"What is that? Bells? How can that be, there's nothing out here, but grass." The bells continued to sound as Zexion went along his way. It didn't matter how far he went, the bells only become clear to hear, but they didn't seem to be getting closer.

"Why do I feel like watching _The Hunchback of Notre Dame_? Those bells, they sound so..beautiful, and horrifying."

* * *

Riku-Twilight Town(Continued).

Riku walked into a grassy area, but that wasn't the feature he was noticing. He stood in front of a large gate and behind the gate was a large Mansion. Riku looked at the large mansion and wondered only one thing. "Maybe my blind date-ah-I mean, maybe Namine's in there."

"Hey!" Riku turned around and saw the Riku Replica walking toward him. He was already wearing his Dark Suit and he had determination in his eyes. "Well, well. Look who doesn't fear the Darkness anymore."

"How can you tell?" asked Riku.

"Duh, because I'm you."

"No. I'm me!"

"No! Me I'm!"

"No! Me I'm I are be me am!"

".....That doesn't make any damn sense! Then again, it must be nice, being real. A fake like me could never get away with saying that. That's right, I'm a phony! The way I look, the way I feel, everything!" The Replica held out his hand and a blue and black ball of Dark Energy formed around it., "I thought by finding some new strength I could be someone, someone who's not you! But nothing changes... I'm still just empty! Everything about me is borrowed. As long as you're around, I'll never be anything better than a shadow!"

Riku and The Riku Replica held up their swords and ran at each other.

* * *

Axel-Surveillance Room.

Watching the fight between Riku and his Replica, Axel watched through a Tv monitor, his feet up on the Console and a bowl of popcorn on his lap. "Ooh! Damn, Riku took a Dark Firaga in the back! Damn!"

Apparently, he didn't have anything else to do, or he had finished everything he was ordered to do.

"Oh! Oh! Look out! Replica's about to pull a Dark Aura! Oooh!" Axel yelled, stuffing more popcorn into his face.

He didn't know why He, Xinck, Larxene and Marluxia watched Sora through the Crystal ball, when the Surveillance cameras were in HD. "Wow, looks like Riku's down for the count! Oh, no! Wait, wait, wait! No Replica, watch out!" Axel yelled, laughing, "OH! Replica, you should have moved out of the way, you poor Son of a Bitch! Good fight! Good Fight!"

* * *

Riku, Riku Replica-Twilight Town (Continued)

The Replica was sprawled out on the ground, exhausted and fading away with a black and blue dark portal underneath him. "So..so this is it. Figures. Death doesn't frighten me." The Replica said, staring up at the sky, "Good riddance to a fake life. Even my heart was fake, probably even what I'm feeling now is fake. Fake as over 98% of Joan Rivers' face is."

"_Hehe. Joan Rivers."_ thought Riku as he chuckled. He put on his serious face and asked, "What are you feeling now?"

"Weren't you listening to what I just said!? But...what happens to someone who's not real dies? Where will my Heart go, if it doesn't disappear completely...."

Riku thought about this and tried to console the Replica, "I don't know."

"Great. Oh, yeah, that.....really makes me feel better."

"I mean, I don't know _for sure._ But It'll go somewhere. Probably the same as mine."

"Oh, joy. Heh. A faithful Replica till the end..."

Darkness wrapped around the Replica and he faded away, without a trace.

* * *

Zexion-Far Away From Castle Oblivion.

Zexion had been hearing those bells for a long time now. He had only been running from the Castle for only 45 minutes, and he was getting tired. He was thinking he might have to sleep in the grass for a while. He wasn't sure how long it was going to take for him to gather enough energy and teleport to the Castle That Never Was, but he didn't have any other options.

Zexion gasped and he felt an over-whelming pressure push down on him. He heard nothing but the wind and the bells. He looked directly in front of him and a Corridor of Darkness appeared, leaving Xinck standing several feet away from Zexion. Zexion was shocked. He was sure that he couldn't smell Xinck anymore, he was sure he had been killed by Riku. If so, then why was he here?

"X-X-Xinck." Zexion struggled to say. He was paralyzed in fear over the immense power Xinck was giving off. Zexion could barely speak as he say the angry yet Apathetic look on his face and The Pure Darkness in his Black and White eyes. Darkness was evaporating off of Xinck's shoulders, his power was flowing off him and forming a black shape. The Darkness formed a smiling skull of moving tendrils of Darkness,

"What..what are you doing here? I thought you were dead?"

"A funny thing, Death is. O, Death O, Death, Won't you spare me over til another year?"

"X-Xinck, you-"

"Well, I am Death, none can excel. I'll open the Door to Heaven or Hell. I'll fix your Feet till you can't walk, I'll lock your jaw, till you can't talk. I'll close your eyes till you can't see, It's very Dark, come and go with me."

"Look, Xinck, I know...your angry about what happened, but believe me, It wasn't my fault."

"Oh, Zexion. I don't believe you. Because, the thing that irks me is the overwhelming fact that YOU TRIED TO HAVE ME KILLED!!"

Xinck held out his right hand as Zexion gasped. Shadows wrapped around his hand and formed his Short, black sword. Xinck held the blade downward and the it released from the handle. The blade was slowly moving to the ground as the chain between the blade and handle grew longer and longer. Before the blade could touch the ground, a small Dark Hole appeared and the blade fell effortlessly through.

Zexion waited in fear, unable to move, unable to breath out of fear. The only things he could see was Xinck, his sword and the Dawning sky behind him. The only things he could hear were those cursed bells and the sound of Xinck's chain falling through the hole. And the only thing he could feel was Xinck's sword stabbing through his back and exiting through his Stomach. Zexion looked down and saw the blood stained sword leading the blood stained chain through his body. Out from in front of him, Zexion saw the blade going through another portal and disappearing, it reappeared high above Zexion's right hand-side it shot down and stabbed through his chest and out his back.

"Aaaaaaauuuuggghh!" Zexion groaned as he started up at the sky, his eyes wide with pain, his mouth flowing with blood. The blade continued shooting into his body, shooting out, disappearing and reappearing all around him, repeating the process over and over again at different angles and different body parts. Blood splattered the dirt on the ground. "_So much pain..."_ thought Zexion, yet all he could hear were those Bells and the drowned out sounds of his own horrifying screams. The blade had shot through so much of his body, so fast, that the chain, that the sword was connected to, started to pull on Zexion's insides and lift him 2 feet into the air.

Because of the blade, the chains had weaved themselves all through Zexion's insides, through his kneecaps, his tendons, his chest, thighs, arms, wrists, all over his torso, but the attack was deliberately avoiding his vital organs, so that he could feel each and every attack as his blood feel from every wound. The chains had lifted him into the air and he felt that the blade had finished piercing his left arm for the seventh time. As Zexion looked into the Dawning sky and heard the Beautiful bells, his final words that came from his mouth, which was overflowing with blood, were "The..the Bells..s-so..beautiful.....Why?...Why...for Whom do...they ring?..."

Xinck stopped the blade from appearing from another portal and he looked at Zexion's blood stained face. Xinck gripped his sword and twisted it slightly, making the chains weaved inside Zexion tighten even more as Zexion gurgled up more blood.

"Ask Not For Whom The Bell Tolls..." Xinck yanked the sword upwards and the chains pulled outwards, ripping away Zexion's blood soaked Cloak and his flesh so tightly that his remains were ripped apart piece by piece. Zexion's remains fell to the ground in a blood soaked heap, his body was ripped apart so tightly that there was nothing left, except, blood, parts of his cloak and random bones. The only full body part left was his severed head. The blade shot back through the portals, almost instantly, taking the chain with it until it was reconnected with the Handle in Xinck's hand, "....It Tolls For Thee."

Xinck dismissed his Sword and teleported back to Castle Oblivion as whatever was left of Zexion faded away.

* * *

Riku-Twilight Town (Continued)

Riku had entered the Mansion and after searching around it for a few minutes, he found the basement level and through the basement, he came into a large, white, cylindrical-shaped room. In the center of the room was a large white, egg-shaped, flower themed pod. Standing underneath the Pod was a girl dressed in white, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"You're Namine?" asked Riku, walking into the room.

"Yes." she replied."Could you come here, please?"

Riku hesitated, then he started moving closer to Namine. Then he stopped.

"Closer." Namine said.

Riku moved a little bit more.

"Even more closer." she said.

Riku moved closer.

Namine sighed, "Come on, I don't have all day! Closelier!"

Riku finally moved closer to Namine and he could see into the pod standing behind her. He say a familiar face of a boy with brown hair, red shirt and pants, and Giant yellow clown shoes. "Hey! It's Sora! What'd you do to him!?"

"Uh.....nothing." squeaked Namine.

"What did you do?!" "Nothing. I promise. He's just sleeping. He has to if he wants to get his memory back."

"What? Tell me what happened."

"Well....it's kind of a long story. Can't you just wait for the videogame to come out?"

"What game?"

"Uh, nevermind. It all started when...."

_45 minutes and Two potty Breaks later....._

"I get it." Riku said, "So he chose to sleep and get his memories back and forget about this Castle."

"You have a decision to make too" Namine said.

"Why? No one's been messing with my memories. I remember how this one time I put itching powder in Sora's pants at school and he went up and down the hallways scratching himself and-"

"You're Rambling." Namine interrupted.

"As if."

"But the decision isn't about your memories. It's about your Darkness. In your heart is darkness, and in that darkness is Ansem. Right now, he's at bay...but eventually he'll awaken, and he'll conquer you when he does. Before that happens, let me lock your heart tight. I can make it so Ansem never escapes."

"Now look who's rambling. But if I let you do that, what will happen to me? I'll go to sleep and forget like Sora, won't I?" asked Riku.

"The darkness in your heart will be sealed along with your memory. You'll stop remembering the darkness. You can go back to the way you used to be. It's your choice, Riku. So...choose."

"I-"

"Choose."

"I-"

"Choose!"

"Can I finish!? Damn. Sora looks like he doesn't have a care in the world. Will I sleep like that?"

"Yeah." she said.

"Sora always did as he pleased. It doesn't matter what we were doing —he'd still go off and leave me with all the work. Take the raft we were gonna use to leave the islands. That was all me. I've made up my mind. When this slacker wakes up, I'm gonna tell him off good. I told him to take care of Kairi, and here he is taking a nap!" Riku walked over to the Egg pod and started to kick it, "You hear me, you lazy Son of a bitch!? When you get out I'm gonna-"

"Stop that!" Namine yelled.

Riku stopped kicking the pod, "But I can't chew him out if I've been sleeping, too. Keep your lock. I'd rather just finish Ansem off once and for all."

"But if the Darkness he uses gets the better of you..."

"I'll make that Darkness show me the way to."

"True."

"Why'd I get the feeling that you would say that?"

"I didn't know. I hoped. I wanted you to face the darkness. Because you're the only one who can."

"I get it. That's why you appeared to me in the light as Kairi. "

"You knew?!"

"Yeah, as soon as I met you. Somehow, you two smell the same."

"....Is smelling people a regular practice for you?" Namine asked.

"No...N-not really. Take care of Sora." Riku turned around and started to walk out of the room and later he walked out of Twilight Town and back into Castle Oblivion.

* * *

Riku-2nd Floor Exit.

"So, you decided not to go to sleep?" asked The King as Riku walked out of the giant Door.

"How'd you know that?" Riku asked.

"Whats-his-face told me."

"It's DiZ, you fool!" yelled DiZ, who was standing over in the left hand corner.

"Do you know him?" Riku asked the King.

"I get the feeling I met him before. I just can't think of where? Was it at Melon Shakers or Hooters?" The King put a hand to his chin as he thought this over.

"You, voice. You. Guy, over there. DiZ. Who are you?"

DiZ walked away from the corner and closer to Riku and the King, "Nobody...or Anybody. It all depends if you believe in me, or not."

"Wow, you really like to push decisions on other people, don't you?"

"And you pushed away Slumber and chose to face Ansem."

"Wrong answer?"

"It was your answer. I'm just here to watch. Popcorn?" He offered as he opened one of the pouches across his chest and pulled out an unpopped bag of popcorn.

" 'Watch' as in help me, 'Watch' as in watch me get my ass kicked?"

"Maybe it was at Rumpshaker Tuesdays." said the King, still thinking about where he might have met DiZ.

"You choose. Then you need only believe in your choice." DiZ held out another blue card and threw it to Riku, who caught it. "That card will draw the darkness inside you out into this world. Finish your business with Ansem."

Riku looked at the card, then put it in his pocket, "Let's go, your Majesty."

"Maybe it was BootyNips." said The King as he followed Riku up the stairs and onto the First floor. As Riku walked onto the First Floor entrance, The King at his Side, he took out the card and looked at it again, "So this card will draw out Ansem."

"You worry too much. We'll get him together." said the King.

"I'm glad you said that, but I have to face him alone."

"Why?!"

"There's no point in doing this if I can't do it alone. But if I don't win, I have a favor to ask. If I Lose, He'll enslave me, and I want you to-"

"Save you. Got it." The King interupted.

"No. You're not listening. If Ansem wins, I want you to kill him with me-"

"Nuh-uh!"The King yelled and shook his head, "I already made my choice. No matter what happens, I'm going to be there to help you. I'm not backing down. Unless you don't believe I'll come through for you..."

"It's my choice to believe or not. But I know you'll come through for me, your Majesty."

"I mean, yeah, I _could _kill the both of you, but this is Disney and this is as Dark as we get. True, as we keep going, It's getting Darker and Darker, and I'll probably end up shooting someone in the face as soon as we leave here. But, till then, I'll be there to save you."

"Uh...thanks..I guess." said Riku.

"Your welcome."

Riku walked up to the Door and held up the only card left, the card that would draw out Ansem's spirit. The card shined a bright light and the Door opened.

* * *

Riku-Castle Oblivion-First Floor.

The Halls were white, the floors were white, even the flower motif covering the walls were white. Riku was walking down a long passageway. He looked far down the passage and saw that he was coming to a medium-sized room. He came into the room, and because he didn't see anywhere else to go, he decided that this must be the place.

"Come on out, Ansem! I can smell you!"

Against the wall, facing Riku, a black portal appeared. It swirled around, covered in black and blue shadows, then dispersed, leaving only Ansem. He spoke, "Oh, I know what you can do. Your skill with darkness has matured. But I do not understand. Why accept darkness and still refuse me? You and I are the same. We both follow where the darkness leads. We exist in the same space — so why deny me? Perhaps some part of your heart still fears the dark?"

"No. that's not it. The truth is..." Riku summoned his SoulEater sword, "You just really, really, really Stink!"

"I told you I have a glandular problem and I told you that in confidence! My _Right guard_ Deodorant isn't working anymore. You are a fool to choose a fight with me, or did you forget the kind of Dark power I have? I gave it all to you, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember. Or did _You_ forget? I used all the power you had and Sora still kicked my ass. I mean, in the way that he kicked your ass, because you possessed me. I'm not at all impressed with your powers. "

"Fine then. You want some? Then bring it! Sink into the Abyss!" Ansem exploded in a huge mess of blue and purple Darkness. The darkness expanded across the entire room and consumed both Him and Riku. Riku held up his sword and closed his eyes to block the darkness as it enveloped the entire room. Riku opened his eyes and saw that Ansem had changed the entire room. He was now surrounded by Darkness and was standing on a white mass of land, with abstract versions of trees. A huge black fist punched down at Riku, but he backflipped out of the way just in time. Ansem had summoned his Dark Guardian to float behind him.

"Oh, what? You had to use that thing to fight me?" asked Riku.

"He has a name, you know!"

"What is it?"

"Well, uh...I can't think of it right now, but I know he has a name!"

Riku ran at Ansem and started attacking. He unloaded a combo across Ansem's chest as he yelled out in pain, "Come, Guardian!" His Guardian moved between him and Riku, deflected Riku's attack with it's stomach. Riku back away and ran from Ansem. "Take this!" Ansem's Guardian moved back behind him and Ansem floated into the air as red and blue energy covered him and he dashed at Riku at high speeds.

"Ah!" Riku yelled as Ansem caught him in the back and continued to shot around the field, hitting Riku to more times before his attack stopped.

"Come. Open your Heart!" Ansem yelled as he floated near a panting Riku, "What's wrong tired already?" Ansem laughed as he watched Riku pant. "Rah!" Ansem's Guardian punched a fist at Riku from under Ansem and caught him in the stomach, throwing him across the floor. Riku growled and shot back up.

He flipped backwards as Black smoke swirled around him, "Darkness!" He yelled as he transformed into his Dark Suit. With notice, he shot over to Ansem and unloaded a combo on Ansem.

"Rah!" Ansem's Guardian shot up his hands and Dark Lightning come shooting down around Riku. He dodged the Lightning and attacked Ansem from the side.

"Come, Guardian!"

The Guardian moved between Riku and Ansem again, blocking Riku's attack. Riku shot behind Ansem as his Guardian was now in the front. Riku reared back and summoned a Dark Firaga and fired it at Ansem's back. Ansem yelled and almost fell out of the air.

Ansem yelled, "Rahhh! Insolence!" Ansem started to glow a white color as he and his Guardian floated to the center of the field. He looked back at his Guardian and threw his hand into the air. It went flying upwards and disappeared in thin air. Riku started to run in a wide circle around Ansem as he continued to glow a purple and white color. As Riku ran, The Guardian shot up from the floor in a dark portal that exploded in a wide circle. The blast hit Riku in the back, but he kept running and looked back to see that the Guardian was repeating the attack over and Over again as he ran. Riku was able to avoid each blast, as he looked back to see the Guardian, he saw it fly back to Ansem, who yelled, "The Final Darkness is at Hand!"

The Energy around Ansem shot out in four Directions all around him. Riku was in the path of a blast and he jumped back just as the blast rushed past him, he barely dodged it as he blackflipped and Recovered. He readied his sword and Ran at Ansem.

"Submit!" Ansem yelled and the Guardian shot down a fist in Riku's path. Riku jumped up onto the Guardian's giant fist and into the air. He pointed his sword down at Ansem and stabbed downward into his shoulder as he yelled, "No! My good Shoulder!" Riku jumped back far away from Ansem. As he landed, Ansem's Guardian, along with the entire area disappeared into nothing, leaving themselves back in Castle Oblivion.

Ansem was hunched over as he stared at Riku, who was still in his fighting stance. "Insolent Bastard! Submit!" Ansem yelled and threw a huge Dark ball of Energy at Riku. Riku blocked the Dark ball with his Soul Eater as it smashed against the blade. The Energy had pushed Riku far back away from Ansem. He stopped himself and pushed the ball off to the left and it exploded against the wall.

"Ansem!" Riku ran at Ansem and quickly closed the distance between each other. Ansem gasped as Riku slashed through him and slid to a stop, "Submit _that_, bitch. This is..the end!"

Ansem strained to talk as he started to smoke with Darkness, "Hardly...finished....my power...my Dark...gave it all to you...getting harder..to conjugate....words...my shadow....lingers....some day...some day..I will RETURN!"

Ansem was consumed in huge blast of Darkness and he faded away.

* * *

Riku-1st Floor.

Riku was now walking towards The Exit out of The Castle, the King at his side, "So, Riku, what's next? Are you going Home?" the King asked.

"I don't know if I can. It's still there. His scent...it's faint, but not gone. I can't go home until it is. His darkness may still have a hold on me..." said Riku.

"Huh? I wasn't paying attention. Could you repeat that?"

"Dammit, your Majesty!"

"I'm just playing. I heard you. your darkness belongs to you. Just like your light. Until now, I thought darkness was something that should never exist. But my time with you made me change my mind. You've chosen a road I never thought of. Light and Dark, back to back. With you, they mingle in a way no one's ever seen before. I want to see where that road leads. And if it's okay, I want to walk the road with you." The King held out his Hand to Riku and Riku reached down and shook it.

"Thanks, your Majesty." Riku said, smiling.

"Aw, you don't have to call me that. We're friends."

"Alright. Fair enough, Mickey."

Mickey pulled down on Riku's arm and pulled him down closer to his face. He took on a more serious tone. As Riku's eyes widened, Mickey said, "Best Friends Forever!!"

Mickey let go and Riku fell back on the floor, a little shocked. The King opened the Giant door out of the Castle and laughed a little, "I was just kidding. Come on. You don't want to stay hear do ya?"

Riku laughed, "NO!"

A little later, Riku and The King were wearing the black cloak, gloves and boots that The Members of The Organization were wearing. DiZ had given them these clothes and told them it was how, the Organization kept the Darkness off of them and it would be able to keep them from finding them Riku and the King were walking down the dirt road, Riku spotted DiZ standing at a 4-way Crossroad. Riku and Mickey stopped as Riku spoke,

"What are you making me choose now? Huh? Whether or not I like Coke or Pepsi better, Huh? They're both the same!"

DiZ sighed, "No, smart one. Which road will you choose?" He gestured to the Right, "The Road to Light?" He gestured to the Left, "Or The Road to Darkness?"

Riku started walking past DiZ, Mickey following him, "Neither suits me. I'm taking the middle Road."

DiZ didn't look around at Riku, he tilted his head instead, "You mean The Twilit Road to Nightfall?"

"No."Riku said. He stared at the Sun slowly rising above the Horizon. He turned around to look at Diz,"The Way To The Dawn"

"Oh, that's nice." said Mickey. And they continued walking down the Path.

* * *

Axel and Xinck.

Xinck waited patiently outside of Castle Oblivion. It was eerily silent, yet calm. He thought of nothing and he did nothing but stand there, waiting. Then, to his left, a Coridor of Darkness swirled on the floor, shoot a few feet into the air and Axel stepped out of the shadows. "Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yeah." Xinck replied. He sighed and started walking next to Axel away from the now-deserted Castle. "The Last Two." He said, "We're the only two left."

"Yeah." Axel threw his hands behind his head. "I looked around and I didn't see Namine anywhere."

"Oh. Such a shame." He said, "I'm going to miss our tea parties."

"She didn't want anything to do with the Organization, so, I guess, as soon as we let her go she bolted out the door to freedom." Axel sighed.

"Yeah, I can see that. But who can blame her, really?"

That being said, They stayed silent to each other. There wasn't much to talk about right now. Their Coworkers had just been annihilated and they would never see them again. Marluxia was killed by Sora, Larxene was killed by Sora and Axel and Xinck both killed Vexen. Lexaeus was taken down by Riku and Zexion...well, almost everyone killed him. Axel, as he walked, thouht about his orders from Saix and how he was to "Eliminate Those In Our Way" and how there wasn't supposed be any survivors. But Axel only eliminated the traitors and Xinck wasn't a traitor, he was more than sure. Axel knew he wasn't going to find Namine, not that he tried that hard, but he had other things to do in the Castle besides that: He had to get rid of their equipment and supplies and any other inciminating evidence that might go against him and Xinck.

Axel laughed out loud a little. "What's so funny?" Xinck asked.

Axel laughed louder, "Ha! We just had our first cover up. Congradulations, Xinck. We are officially murderers!"

"Oh. Yay, I guess."

"You'll think about this later and laugh your ass off."

* * *

Review, Cuz you love It. The Next Chapter- He Who Shakes the Light Within The Twilight


	22. Way of The Living Light

Wow! I know it took me a long time to get this up, but i finally got it. I'm having a crazy writing schedule because I just started school again. So it might take a while, but I'll still be writing new chapters.

I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that some of you are probably wondering about that whole "Redux" thing I mentioned last chapter. Basically It's an embodiment of a Nobody's power. Each one is unique and they rarely ever have to use it, because people usually die before they get a chance. Out of the entire Organization, Xemnas's is the biggest. It's so big, infact, that it has to actually hide above the clouds. Although Xemnas's is the biggest, it's not the most powerful. His and Roxas's Redux are actually tied for First place in terms of power. Xinck's Redux could also tie for First, but combined with the fact that he's lazy with his power and he rarely uses his redux, they didn't count him in the running. Marluxia's and Xinck's Reduxes are the most unique because, unlike the other member's, Their Reduxes have two stages. Also, while Marluxia's Redux was considered the Most Beautiful, Xinck's is considered the Most Viscious. And one more thing, Xemnas originally only had one Level in his, but in KH2 he cheated and absorbed Kingdom Hearts and got extra levels.

Okay, here's something else. I'm looking at the People who read my story and apparently, people in Norway, The Philipines and the UK read my Story. Just wanted to say thanks. It's cool.

Let's see...uh..anything else?...Oh, yeah. Right now as I'm posting this chapter, There are 9 Days left till 358/2 Days comes out! I really can't wait. So That's it.

Read, Enjoy, Review. And I don't own anything..except what's his face.

* * *

It had been 2 months since the Castle Oblivion team had left the Castle That Never Was, Leaving only Seven members left in the Castle, going on Missions and just lazing about. For Two weeks, Roxas had been on an extra long mission. The goal of this mission was to steal the Heart of a King who had been corrupted by Darkness for years.

This King, known as King Cong, who ruled in a world called Odnum (Mundo spelled backwards), had tapped into dark power five years ago and had succeeded in summoning Heartless and using them and his Immense Army to destroy any and all surrounding Kingdoms. The King was basically leaking Darkness all around him, corrupting his Army and opening his servants and anyone else around him up to Heartless attacks. King Cong was a warrior King. His huge Castle, situated and taking up all the space in a huge River Valley, had taken control of all of the surrounding Kingdoms and villages. Already known as a legend in his world, he became twice as legendary and twice as powerful when he summoned Heartless, and to Roxas, his Dark Heart was ripe for the Picking.

Roxas had come here to this world on a mission to steal the heart of this King, so that the Organization would have control of his Heartless and Nobody. At first, Roxas thought that he would just make his way up to the throne room, fight the king and steal his heart, but he really didn't feel like doing all that. So, he thought this would be a good time to work on his espionage skills. He posed as the Head Adviser to the king by eliminating all of the other candidates(Yes, he killed them). When he had gotten the position, several of the other servants of the King were already suspicious of him. They tried to warn the King about Roxas, but Roxas, being very clever, planned ahead and tricked the servants into attempting to assassinate the King. He took this opportunity, killed the servants in front of the King and gained his trust. And in that short amount of time, Roxas had skillfully advised the King were his Army should strike next, what he should do with prisoners and even what should he eat.

It had only taken Roxas One Week to accomplish becoming Head Adviser, gain the Kings trust and Kill anyone who didn't trust him. And now, in the final Hour of his Mission, Roxas is heading to the King's throne room, to finish the Mission.

Roxas closed the door to his temporary room behind him. He looked down at the clothes that he had been forced to wear for the mission. He was wearing black knee-high boots, white pants and a black colored tunic. He had a gold necklace on his neck and was scratching at it because it irritated his neck. He didn't like these clothes because he looked fruity and he was lucky enough to be able to talk his way out of wearing a Headdress.

"Note to self: Do not let Axel and Xinck see me in this." He scratched at his neck and started to walk down the stone hallway and towards the Kings Throne Room.

He walked down this long, stone, window-lit hallway, sunlight hitting him as he passed by the windows. It was sometime in the afternoon, 1 'o Clock maybe, these people didn't have clocks. Roxas was ready to leave this place. He had to sleep on a bed of Hay and feathers, his pillow smelled like farm animals and the food in this place was terrible. He had asked the cook if he had ever heard of French Fries and apparently he didn't.

Roxas hit a staircase and made his way down the cold stone steps, his boots making a clacking sound as he went. He made it to the landing and found himself in another, even longer Hallway. This Hallway had no windows, but pictures on the walls, with Torches on either side of each Portrait. The floor was covered in a Royal Red Carpet and at the very end of the Hallway was a huge Fancy door, with strange letters at the Top, the Symbol of the King and at the bottom was a sign that read, 'King Cong's Throne Room. No Solicitors.'

Roxas started to walk down the hallway and he stopped in front of the first Portrait he saw. He had been to the King's throne Room lots of times, but had never taken the time to look at these Paintings. It was a picture of a Man with black Hair, a Muscular build, a crown and wearing traditional warrior King clothes(You know, sleeveless shirts, capes, crap like that.). He was standing courageously with his sword drawn and his shield ready as he stood before his army. The golden plaque at the bottom of the picture read, "King KayLong 457-510 A.X., Father of King Cong. Killed by his son. Painted Before the Battle of We Can't Possibly Win."

Below those words, Roxas read, "King KayLong's Famous quote before The Battle, 'Balls to The Motherfucking Walls, They're Coming straight for us!"

Roxas continued down the row of Pictures, getting closer to The Throne Room, until he stopped in front of another Portrait of a Beautiful woman with a Gorgeous body, face, hair and lips. She was wearing an elegant golden bejeweled crown. She was in her bed and covering her beautiful body with her red satin sheets as 16 Fit Man of different nationalities were seen running naked out of her bed as another Kingly figure looked on in shock and Horror.

The golden plaque at the bottom of the Portrait read, "Queen HouwzaboutIaslappia, 321-371 A.X. Mother of....Lots. Died of Several Venereal Diseases. Painted before her 7th case of Syphilis."

Below those words, Roxas read, "Queen HouwzaboutIaslappia's Famous quote, "I don't know how all these men got here. They were here when I woke up. You didn't see anything, so Kick Rocks and don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out!"

Roxas laughed and continued walking down the Hall of Portraits until another Portrait caught his eye on the left side. He walked up to the Picture and saw a figure sitting on a Black throne. He was wearing a Black crown with several jewels in it. The figure had light brown skin, black and white eyes and a bored expression on his face. Instead of wearing the traditional Kingly garb, he had on a black coat and gloves and shoes.

"Wait a minute? Xinck?" Roxas read the golden plaque at the bottom and it read, "King Xinck, 112-???. No Heirs. Vacated the throne after 21 Days. Painted before he disappeared. Famous for coining the term B.X. And A.X.(Before and After Xinck). Famous for coining the term 'Kiss my ass'"

Roxas read at the bottom of those words, "King Xinck's famous quote, "If you're just going to stand there and paint pictures, Then bring me more HotPockets! This crappy food you keep serving isn't enough!"

Roxas laughed out loud, "So this is where he disappeared to for 3 weeks! Haha!" Roxas continued down the hall, and before he could read another Portrait, he heard The Door to the Throne Room Open and a woman walking out with a small black creature at her side.

"Oh, Lord Roxas." said The woman as she walked closer to him. This woman looked to be in her early Twenties. She was well endowed in the chest and had beautiful facial features, blond hair, green piercing eyes and was wearing very revealing metal armor that actually looked like a stylish metal bathing suit, complete with gauntlets, boots and a long sword at her hip. She was also The Kings Youngest Daughter. In her hand was a black metal leash and at the other end of the leash was a Shadow Heartless, desperately trying to break free from it's captor.

The Woman's name was KayLeon(Which in The Language of this world, literally translated as 'Warrior Babe Who's Legs Never Close.'). She walked up to Roxas as if she was walking on a catwalk and stopped in front of him. She was surprisingly tall as Roxas only came up to her Breast.

"So, Lord Roxas." she said in a full breathy voice, "What are you doing all the way down here."

Roxas tried to look past her boobs and at her face. He found this difficult as she was just beautiful all around, so he tried to just look away and keep a serious look on his face as his checks turned red, "The..uh...King summoned me."

"Oh. Well, my father is in a particularly happy mood today." She looked Roxas up and down and smiled a devious smile. She leaned farther down, her breast dangerously close to his face and placed her hands on her thighs. Roxas was turning redder and started to sweat as he tried even harder not to look at her, "So tell me, Lord Roxas, how many years did you say you had?"

"I..uh...I'm 23." He said Nervously.

"Mmm. You look rather short to be 23."

"I've got that..uh..Webster Disease."

"Ah. So, you've known the touch of a Woman?"

Roxas almost fell backwards as he heard this. He quickly tried to change the subject and he looked down at the Shadow Heartless on a leash, "Ah! Uh, so..um..what is this thing on this leash?"

"Mmm? Oh, yes, this is Boppers. He's one of those creatures that Daddy has been able to call upon to attack nearby Kingdoms." She seemed to have lost all interest in Roxas as she talked about the Heartless and stood back up, "Daddy started to call them Shades, because he's seen them fade into the shadows." She tugged at the Leash and the Heartless made a little squeaking sound as if gasping for air." I caught this one scurrying around the Foyer. They're normally violent, but I was able to tame this one."

Roxas looked at the Heartless. Normally Heartless try to attack Him, but this one seemed defeated as it desperately tried to claw at it's chocking leash. It looked frantic as it's antennas were twisted and pointed and it's feet were moving in a crazy fashion.

"_That poor thing."_Thought Roxas.

KayLeon leaned forward, her Breast back in Roxas's face and said, "Would you like o touch _MY _Boppers?"

"Huh!? What!?"

"I said would you like to pet Boppers?" She asked again, leaning back up to her full height.

"Oh. No, I really should go see the King."

"Well, alright, I won't keep you then. Oh and be careful when you walk in the Throne Room. Daddy just finished eating his 12 Pounds of Bacon for the Day and the Throne room is covered in Grease."

"Oh, okay. Thanks for the hint."

She dropped Boppers back on to the floor, making a smacking sound as it hit and KayLeon and Roxas walked passed each other. As Roxas walked on towards the Throne Door, he looked back and saw the Shadow, Boppers, struggling with all it's might. It realized it was useless and gave up, letting KayLeon drag him around on the carpet.

"_Aw, poor Guy."_Roxas thought as he headed to the door.

Kayleon looked back at Roxas as she continued to walk in the opposite direction. She looked at Roxas's backside, then at his butt, _"Mmm,"_ she thought, _"I could sleep on those cheeks for days!"_

She tugged on the leash again and continued walking down the hall, dragging Boppers with her, "Come, Boppers, let's go play with Mommies toys."

Roxas shivered at the thought of 'Toys'. He finally made it to the Giant fancy metal door. The door was decorated with gruesome scenes of battle and carnage and for some reason cows sucking blood out of pigs. While Roxas had been here, he learned 2 things about these people, 1 They were incredibly strong in a fight, and 2 they were either really stupid or really slutty.(At least the ones he had met so far.)

Roxas knocked on the huge door, waited a few seconds and he heard a huge booming voice, yell, "Who is it?!"

"It is I, Roxas, my lord. You're most trusted adviser." Roxas hated talking like this. He didn't even talk to Xemnas like that.

"Enter."

He pushed on the door and nothing happened. He tried pushing again, even harder and the door did not budge.

"You have to pull on the door, Genius." came the voice of the King.

"I know that now!" Roxas pulled on the wooden handles of the door and they flung outward in a wide arch that Roxas had to step back. When the door was wide enough for him to walk through, he stepped into the throne room. The Throne room was a lot bigger than the Organization's Meeting Room. As the Throne Room was in the center of the Castle, it had windows to the Outside, letting in the Afternoon Light. The room was cylindrical and made of stone, with several huge stone pillars holding up the enormous ceiling. All across the giant walls were weapons, axes, shields, spears, swords, even a Japanese Wakizashi blade and on the back wall of the room was a gaudy black throne, decorated with skulls of animals and the bones of old enemies. And sitting on top of the throne was the Mighty King Cong, with his long black hair, that used to be red but turned black when he opened himself to Darkness, green eyes and his golden crown on his head. He was wearing gold and blood red armor that completely over-exaggerated his already muscular frame.

"Roxas." He said in his deep voice, "What a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?"

Roxas started to walk forward to the King, "Well, I just-Oh, damn!" His left foot slipped from under him and he headed toward the floor on his side. He caught himself at the last minute with his left hand holding himself up against the floor. Then he looked up and saw all the puddles of Bacon grease scattered about the Throne Room.

"Yep, watch out. I just ate some bacon. Grease all over the place." said The King.

"Right." Roxas helped himself up and walked closer to the throne of the King, careful to avoid the puddles of Bacon grease.

"You know, Your Majesty, I have to ask you why you insist on eating 12 pounds of bacon a day?" asked Roxas, coming to a halt in front of the throne.

"Oh, you know what they say about Bacon, don't you?"

"....No, not really."

"Haven't you heard the song?"

"What song?"

"My Bacon has a first name! It's O-S-C-A-R! My Bacon has a second name! It's M-A-Y-E-R! Oh, I love to eat it everyday and if you ask me why, I say, 'Cause Oscar Mayer has a way with B-A-C-O-N!"

"_I can't believe this guy is serious."_Roxas thought. He quickly tried to change the subject, "So, your Majesty, how goes our bout with The Mountain People of Grizzle-Wizzle-Weasel?"

The Mountain People of Grizzle-Wizzle-Weasel were a fairly large tribe of Warriors from the Southern Mountains. They've been able to fight off the Kings Army and Heartless in several battles over the Years and several times have they tried to Assassinate King Cong, but to no avail. No one exactly knows why the people of Odnum are fighting the Mountain People of Grizzle-Wizzle Weasel, except King Cong, who only wanted to kill them because he had asked them several times to change their name from The Mountain People of Grizzle-Wizzle-Weasel to The Super Mountain People Tribe of Super Awesomeness. They declined.

"They still won't change their name! So to Hell with them!" Yelled King Cong.

"Yes, Hell and all that. Look your Majesty, I-"

"Oooh, Roxas, come here! You wouldn't believe what I found just earlier today!" The King got of his throne and moved over to the side arm rest and motioned for Roxas to join him. If it was one thing the king was none for, besides Murdering his Farther to get the throne, it was that He had the attention span of a Semi-retarded child.

Roxas groaned and moved over to the King's side and leaned down at his side as the stared at the side of the black throne.

"What is it? What am I looking at?" asked Roxas.

"There." The king pointed to some chipped off wood just below the arm rest, that read, 'Xinck was here.'

"Right here shows that the old king, Xinck was here at some point." said King Cong, "You know he was only King for 21 days, then he up and disappeared in thin air."

"Wow, that's...really something." said Roxas, getting up and backing away from the King, who still sat kneeling on the stone floor and going into a speech about old Kings who used to Rule over the Castle as he looked at Xinck's engraving.

"_Alright"_thought Roxas, as he stood up and positioned himself behind the kneeling king, _"All I have to do is kill him, get his heart and leave this place and finally take a shower!"_Roxas made sure not to make any noise as he held out his hand and the dark light of his Oblivion Keyblade materialized.

"...But I also heard a rumor that King Xinck was somewhat of a Peeping Tom as he would sneek into other maidens rooms and spy on them from their closets...." continued the king, unaware of Roxas, raising his Keyblade above his head. But the King raised his head, just a little bit and saw in the Light reflected of the dark wood of his throne Roxas raising a sword.

The King reacted quickly and drew out a secret sword from the Back of the Throne and parried Roxas's down swing.

"Well, Balls to the Motherfucking walls, what's this?!" Grunted the King, "Another Assassin from The Mountain people of Grizzle-Wizzy..wozzy....what ever the hell those people are called!"

"Wizzle-Weasel. And, no, I'm not working for them." said Roxas, pushing down on the Kings blade with his own.

"Roxas, my most trusted Advisor, how could you try to kill me?!"

"Don't take it personally. It's my job."

"Then for your job, trying to kill the King of Odnum, you will Die!" The King Pushed Roxas, off his blade and he went flying backwards across the room and landed in front of the Giant door. Roxas summoned his OathKeeper Keyblade and got into his stance.

"Well, what's different from me trying to kill the King and you Killing your Father, the King before you?"

"Oh...uh..erm..That was different! That was a family dispute. Besides...he wasn't a very nice person." The king raised his sword above his head, "But it's not like he didn't put up a fight! HA!" The King roared and black, blue and purple dark energy circled around his sword as he charged at Roxas, running off the Platform of his throne. He had made it half way across the the Throne Room, before he had lost his balance by slipping on Bacon Grease and falling Backwards, landing on his head, a huge amount of blood forming a puddle around him and mixing with the grease.

"Huh? Well...that's convenient." Roxas dismissed his Keyblades and walked over to the now dead King. Roxas loomed over the dead body.

"He looks like a...dead, hairy, giant baby. Oh, well, let's hurry this up." Roxas re-summoned his OathKeeper and held the the tip of the blade over the Kings chest. The tip of Oathkeeper shined with a bright light. Roxas turned the Keyblade in an unlocking motion and a circular bright light shown around the Kings chest. Out of the Light came the pink and orange heart shaped energy, it flew high towards the ceiling, then before it could touch the ceiling, black and purple Darkness wrapped around the Heart and Disappeared, sending it to Kingdom Hearts.

Roxas let out a huge sigh and dismissed Oathkeeper, "Finally! I'm Done! Time to go!" Roxas started toward one of the many windows in the Throne Room. He was about to jump out when...

KayLeon came barging through the Door, Boppers miserably at her side "Father, could you tell your Servants to start wiping the Pee of the toilet seat when they-" She gasped as she saw her Father in a puddle of blood, dead and Roxas just about to jump out of the window.

"Uh-oh." said Roxas, staring at KayLeon.

"Murderer!" She came running at the Window, avoiding the Bacon grease and anger in her eyes. Roxas dived out of the High window as She made it to watch him free fall from the Castle. "And to think I was going to let you hit this!"

KayLeon stuck her head out the window and yelled to several guards that were standing watch outside of a different Tower.

"Guards! Ready the army! Send them after the Roxas! He murdered the King!"

At her command the three guards ran down off the tower to ready the army.

KayLeon turned from the window and walked over to her father's corpse, the harsh reality that her father was dead coming to light. She kneeled beside it and she reached out to lay her hand against his head but before she could touch him, a black pool of smoke encircled him, wrapping around his body and disappearing.

"Father?" she whimpered, tears in her eyes....

As Roxas free fell from the side of the Castle, the wind rushing past him at high speeds, black smoke started to wrap around him. He spun in the air and he was out of his clothes and back into his Organization XIII Cloak. He stopped in midair and stood up straight, as he looked around at the Castle. It really was a nice Castle, hundreds of Towers and Buildings and bridges connecting them all through the beautiful green valley. A river was criss-crossing all throughout the beautiful landscape and through the Castle, becoming one with the scenery.

But Roxas was ready to leave. He flew high into the air and far way from the Castle. It only took him a few seconds, but he finally landed in a barren area. It was just a wide-open, empty rocky landscape, that seemed to go on forever. He touched down and saw the Castle far behind him in the distance. He didn't necessarily feel bad about killing a guy and leaving his dead body to fade away eventually, because he had done this kind of thing before, everyone in the Organization had done it and he's just doing his job, right?

This was Roxas's way of thinking, even though he preferred the missions where he's just exterminating Heartless, his first mission where he had to take the heart of a human, he hesitated, but he got over it around the third time he had to do it. For him, it got easier and easier every time.

Roxas started walking, his back turned to the Castle, and as he walked, he pulled out a slip of paper and a pen from his pocket. The paper read, 'To Do List'. Roxas went through the list, checking off each box.

"Let's see..'Sneak into Odnum'-Check. 'Become Head Adviser'-Check. Kill the King and take his Heart-Check, check.' Now to-"

Roxas heard a rumbling sound from a distance. Like an earthquake or an elephant stampede was headed straight for Roxas. Roxas turned around and saw an enormous army of Armor-clad warriors headed straight for him, weapons and shields drawn and roaring with anticipation. Some carried spears, some carried swords and others just had really big rocks.

"Aw, crap." Roxas sighed. He did NOT feel like fighting an entire army. Sure he had taken on armies before, but he had just gone on a two-week long mission and was ready to leave.

The Army was drawing nearer and nearer, their footsteps roaring like thunder and their shiny weapons reflected the light off the afternoon sun.

Roxas could have just portaled out of their and back to the Castle That Never Was, and he was about to, until he saw something strange about that army. He looked closely at a random soldier and saw that his eyes, seen through his helmet, were neon yellow, like a Heartless.

"_That's right!" _Roxas thought, _"King Cong was just leaking Darkness all over his Kingdom, his servants and army. The Heartless must have possessed his soldiers. So their not Human anymore."_

Roxas still could've left and avoided the Heartless Army, but then he thought If he could send a record Number of Hearts to Kingdom Hearts, he might be able to get a few days off.

Roxas sighed, "All right then." He jumped high into the air and above the army, summoning both his Oblivion and Oathkeeper Keyblades. The Army had stopped charging at him and were now throwing spears, but Roxas was dodging them all.

He shot straight down to the ground and a disk of blazing hot light energy exploded around him, slicing out a huge circle of the army. Soldiers exploded in black and purple smoke as their Hearts flew into the air and they yelled out in pain. The Light faded and Roxas went to work, shooting from soldier to soldier on a stream of pure light, slashing and striking at soldiers, who would give up their Hearts after one swing of the Keyblade.

One soldier raised his sword and ran at Roxas from behind. Roxas quickly turned and cut him diagonally across the chest and he exploded in black smoke. Another soldier came, growling and Roxas shot over to him. The Soldier stopped in his tracks as Roxas stabbed him straight through the stomach, he brought the Keyblade straight out, turned it and punched the handle straight through his face, killing him. Roxas threw Oblivion into a crowd of soldiers and it spun sideways, cutting soldiers in half. Oblivion boomeranged back to Roxas, who caught it with one hand.

_He took the sword up out 'em and he stabs you with the handle. The blade He handles, ancient. He chopped him in half, tied his spine in a knot then dropped him back_

More soldiers were coming non-stop and they each fell to Roxas's attacks, either falling from Being cut down or being incinerated by Holy Light. Roxas kept his distance from the on-coming army as he took them out, dozens at a time. He jabbed his Oathkeeper into the ground and a shining shockwave of light expanded from the center, cutting through soldier after soldier as they yelled out in pain and died.

_You can hear the sound of your own bones when they break. The pain is agonizing and you make no mistake he's a shogun, assassin, a cold blood killer!_

The Army had to be 2000 plus soldiers, as Roxas was getting tired. He had been fighting with all he had for 15 minutes and he thought that he was getting nowhere. Every time he cut down one warrior, a dozen would take his place.

"Gah!" Roxas yelled as a Soldier sliced at his shoulder, drawing blood from the wound. Roxas turned around and, opened his palm and blasted the soldier with a beam of light.

"They can't keep this up forever." He said to himself as he blocked another attack and countered it with a strike of his own to the side of another soldier, ribs and bones cracking then dying. Five more soldiers came at him and he shot like a bolt of lightning straight for them. He stabbed Oblivion into the stomach of one soldier, plowing him to the ground, Roxas vaulted off the dying soldier and fired a wide beam of concussive light from his hand, killing the 2 other soldiers. He jumped in between the remaining two , stabbing Oathkeeper into the neck of one soldier and Oblivion into the stomach of the other. The soldier with Oathkeeper in his neck died instantly in a puff of black smoke, and the other soldier still raised his sword at Roxas. Roxas pulled out Oblivion from his Stomach, dodged the horizontal slash of the soldier's attack and slashed through him with both Keyblades, killing him.

Roxas jumped high to dodged the attack from another Soldier. While in the air, Roxas caught a glimpse of the immensity of the army. He could've sworn he had taken out more than a thousand Soldiers, but looking at this, he had barely mad a dent!

"There's no end to this." Roxas started to fall back to the ground, back to the battle, back to the thundering footsteps and roars of this never-ending army. Before he could hit the ground, he took a stab in the back of his leg from a soldier. He groaned in pain, but only for a second. He turned around and came face-to-face with the Warrior. His face and body were normal, except for his yellow Heartless eyes were the only indicator that he was a Heartless.

"Arrrgggh!" Roared the Soldier in Roxas's face.

"Eew!" Roxas yelled, accidentally smelling the soldiers terrible breath, "Does this world even have toothpaste?!!" At Roxas's command a shining Nobody Symbol shot down a beam of light, and decapitating the Soldier as he exploded in black smoke.

"That's it. I'm done with this." Roxas jumped high into the air again, avoiding a sword-strike from another soldier. While in the air, Roxas glowed with light all over his body and shining brightly in the sky.

"_I'll do my Redux, beat them and I can finally leave!"_He let go of both of his Keyblades and they glowed and floated by themselves beside Roxas, turning into orbs of light. "Reign In The Light and Revel In The Twilight..."

Shining, blinding Light shot down from the sky, covering Roxas from view of the Soldiers, who stopped advancing to watch the display of Light falling from the Sky. The Light touched down on the ground and Thirteen shining, elongated Nobody symbols circled around the giant Pillar of Light. The shining ethereal light wavered a little as a figure started to walk out of it.

The soldiers didn't move an inch as Roxas stepped from the light. He had completely healed from his bleeding wounds and he wasn't wearing his Organization XIII Cloak anymore. He was wearing a form fitting, Jet-Black suit, shoes, black gloves and a shiny black undershirt underneath the black jacket. Hanging below his Neck was a dark-golden Tie with a small white Nobody symbol decorated in the middle of the tie. He wasn't wearing it, but what was draped on his shoulders was a long, huge White Trench coat that seemed to flow, even though there was no wind and it shined so brightly that it was almost too blurry to see. On the bottom left-hand side of the trench was the only decoration, a large outline of a Nobody symbol.

Roxas held up his hand to straighten his golden tie, _"I hate the name of my Redux."_ He thought. Then he said to himself, "_Archangelus Exitium et Creatio, Lucifer!_" (Latin-Archangel of Destruction and Creation, The Light-Bearer)(It's a rough translation. Latin is hard and I couldn't find a word for 'Of')

-------**_Archangelus Exitium Et Creatio, Lucifer_**--Legions of Angels and Other Deities of Light Bow And Sing Before The Angel of Creation and Destruction as He Descends From The Heavens. His Twilight Shines as Bright as The Ring Of Light Around His Head. The Two Keys, One Black and One White, Combined with His Own Divine Power, Make Him A God In His Own Right. The Legions Of Angels Love and Respect him, not Becase he Is The Bearer of Light and Can Bring Massive Destruction, But Because He Is The Bridge Between This World And The World Of The One True Creator.

The soldiers could only stare in amazement and shock. They all stood there watching this boy who had just somehow put on a stylish black suit and a giant white overcoat. But one soldier seemed to regain his composure. He glared at Roxas with his yellow Heartless eyes, raised his sword and charged at Roxas from the side.

"Raaaggghhh!" The Soldier yelled, running closer and closer to his target.

Roxas saw the Soldier running at him from the corner of his eye and held out his hand, and he said to himself, almost in a whisper, "Sugisarishi Omoide "(Japanese name for the Oblivion Keyblade, meaning 'Passing Memories'.) One of the orbs of light that was left hanging in the air from Roxas's transformation fell down to his gloved hand, forming his Oblivion Keyblade.

The soldier only saw Roxas quickly raise his sword, then quickly lower it and before the Soldier could take another step, his midsection feel off from his torso and before his body could hit the ground, the rest of his body evaporated into Darkness, leaving only his Heart to fly away.

"Anyone else?" Roxas asked out loud.

The Heartless-possessed army hesitated, then charged, weapons high in the air and roaring at Roxas, who was unfazed with their decision.

"Fine." Roxas threw back his arms and his white, shiny trench coat folded around his back and twisted around to form a pair of large, shiny white wings on his back. He flapped his Six foot long wingspan and flew high into the air. From the sky, rays of blinding white Light started to fall as Roxas threw his free hand towards the sky. The soldiers started throwing their swords and spears at Roxas, but were being shot down from the falling beams of light.

"Mass Destruction." A large pillar of Light shot from the sky and expanded outward from Roxas, consuming the ground and every soldier. The huge pale white explosion enveloped everyone within a two-mile radius, destroying everything in it's path. Only The Castle was far enough from the blast to see it. KayLeon had watched with anger and hate from Her Father's throne as Roxas had completely decimated her Army in one fail swoop.

The Explosion and the Light faded as Dust and debris flew around the barren battle field. Weapons and shields were scattered along the plains along with helmets and armor from fallen soldiers. A small number of soldiers had not been possessed by Heartless and so their remains were left scattered around the Plains.

As Thousands of Hearts flew up and towards the sky, Roxas slowly flew back down to the ground and his wings turned back to the shiny, white trench coat. He touched down to the ground and he surveyed the destroyed area. Nothing was left.

Roxas's Redux faded off of him and he was back in his Organization XIII uniform. He wasted no time and spared no words as he opened a Corridor of Darkness and disappeared.

* * *

He later entered into The World That Never Was just in time to see the multitude of Hearts flying towards and being absorbed into Kingdom Hearts as he made his way towards The Castle That Never Was.

Roxas opened the door to his room. It wasn't anything special, just a wide room, about the shape of a studio apartment, with a long window on one side of the room that loomed over several towers outside and a bed in the corner. Because the room and the bed was the same color as the off-gray Castle, Roxas quickly noticed the white enveloped on his bed. He made his way over to his bed and saw that it was red and black bordered.

He picked up the letter and it read on the front 'From Castle Oblivion. To Roxas, Number XIII. The Castle That Never Was, The World That Never Was, The Realm In-Between.

He was actually a little excited as he quickly tore open the Letter. Then his expression sank as he looked at the mostly empty Letter that read;

'Dear, Roxas. Doin' Fine.-Axel and Xinck'

"What the-? Those sons of Bitches! They've been gone for how long, and that's all they send me?! Dammit!"

Roxas dropped the letter down on the bed and teleported out of the room. When he exited out of the Portal he found himself in a long hallway that turned left up ahead. These hallways all looked the same gray, dull gray, and dull blue with pieces of machinery visible from under the metal floor.

He thought he'd just go to Twilight Town, get some Ice Cream and watch the Sunset, just as he usually would do with Axel and Xinck. As he walked he heard chuckling from a familiar voice, a voice that sounded surprisingly happy in a Castle filled with emotionless people. He turned the corner and saw Xigbar huddled against the wall with his face close up to a metal object and laughing.

Xigbar and Roxas were on good terms, but Roxas thought he could just avoid him and go on with his business. He started to tip-toe behind Xigbar, without him noticing but as Roxas got against the opposite wall, he could see what Xigbar was looking into; the round hilt of a small sword.

Roxas didn't know where or how Xigbar got the sword and he didn't care as he was almost clear of the Laughing Xigbar until-

"Roxas!" Xigbar yelled, turning around to face Roxas and putting the sword down at his side.

"_Dammit!"_Roxas thought.

"Hey, how's it goin', kid? Finish your mission already?"

"Yeah, I just got back."

"Cool, cool. So did you bang anyone?"

"What?!"

"Come on, You know what I mean." Xigbar's creepy smile creeping across his face, "You can tell your old buddy Xigbar, I won't tell. I've done it before."

"You've had sex on the job?"

"Oh yeah! Lots of times! There's this one world, where these people actually thought I was a superhero and I had gotten such a good reputation that all these chicks wanted me to swoop in, fondle them and save them. Of course by the time I got there they were either totally fine or dead, but either way there was going to be some serious fondling."

"Uh....eww."

"Yeah...." Xigbar said, looking down a little, then he perked up, "Onto Lesson two; Never do Necrophilia, it's just not cool.-"

"No! No! I don't want to hear this!"

"Ha ha ha. I'm kidding. But, hey, check this out." Xigbar gestured to his sword and motioned Roxas closer to him. Roxas walked over to Xigbar's side and as he did, he got a better look at his sword. It's round handguard had a silhouetted cats eye in front of a red background. On both sides of the round middle were a pair of sharp edges that curved upwards.

"Where'd you get that?" Roxas asked.

"I'll tell you in a minute. Watch this." Xigbar raised the sword up to the wall behind him. He held the sword closer to his face and he sounded a lot more serious than he usually did when he said, "Eye of Thnudera, Give me Sight Beyond Sight."

The Cats eye in the middle of the sword glowed and as it did, Xigbar started to laugh.

"What? What is it?" Roxas asked again.

"HAHAHA! Look!" Xigbar handed down the sword to Roxas, who gripped it. It felt surprisingly cold in his hand as he put it close to his face and as soon as he looked into the cats eye, he saw past the wall in front of him and into the next room. Through the wall, through the pipes and through the wall on the other side, Roxas saw into the bathroom and wedged between the sink and the bathtub, sitting on the toilet with his pants down, was Xemnas.

"Hahahaha!" Roxas couldn't help but laugh as he watched the man he hated, the man who claimed to be his Superior, asleep on the toilet with his head leaned back and, snoring, and a newspaper on his lap, hiding his bare thighs underneath.

Xemnas snorted and twitched, "Ah!..King...Kingdom..Kingdom Hearts...My..My..My Precious." Then fell back asleep.

"Hahahaha! Where'd did you get this from?" Roxas asked, taking the sword away from his face.

"Just got back from a mission and I stole it from some guy named Leon-O or something. Some guy dressed as a cat." Xigbar replied. He took the sword from Roxas and put it to his side. "I'm gonna go spy Xaldin. See ya!" Without another word, Xigbar opened a dark portal around him and disappeared.

Twilight Town. The world situated directly between Night and Day. It's sunset colored buildings loomed high over it's sunset colored streets. Kids played around in some of the alleys as shopkeepers tended to their shops. Despite Twilight Town's overwhelming, yet subtle, beauty, it was surprisingly boring and calm. The Tram Common area, one of the most populated and social areas of Twilight Town, stood open with numerous Toy, candy and other item shops.

A group of Four kids, two girls and two boys wearing regular clothes, walked up to the Candy and Ice cream Cream store that stood in the center of the Area. The shop was run by an elderly, yet eccentric, old woman who was known for "enjoying the company of younger men instead of the old geezers that can't even get it up".

One of the boys came up to the counter of the Old Lady's shop. He had brown hair, blue eyes and was wearing a red shirt and black shorts.

"Can I help you, young men?" asked The Old Lady.

"Yeah, um, me and my friends were looking for our cat, Ophelia."

"Ophelia? What the hell kind of name is that for a cat?"

At this point the boy and his friends behind him were starting to snicker, "Yes," he said, "Ophelia. Ophelia Heinie."

"I'll feel my Heinie?" said the Old Woman, eyebrow raised.

The kids started laughing out loud, clutching their sides and two of them even falling on the ground holding their ribs.

The Old Lady still didn't get it. "I'll feel my-Oh! You Fucking Kids!" She reached down underneath the counter and came back up with what appeared to be a shotgun. "Run, Turkeys!"

Before she could get a shot off, the Children had already started running away, still laughing. The Old Lady aimed and fired.

"Aaah! My butt!" Yelled one of the boys, limping, clutching his butt and laughing.

"Yeah, that's right! You better run, you little Bastards! All your Moms should have swallowed! Next time I'll use more than a BB!"

The Kids had run out of sight and the Old Lady had quickly put the shotgun back under the Counter when another customer had appeared in front of her store. A strange boy wearing a black cloak and blond hair.

"Hi. Can I get an Ice Cream please?" He asked.

"Oh, of course, young man." She made her way from the counter and to the freezer that was placed up against the wall. She grabbed a Sea-salt Ice Cream Bar and brought it over to Roxas, who payed for it.

"Here you go, young man. With your fine and sexy self " she said under her breath.

"Thank-what?!"

"Oh nothing, nothing. Say, you're pretty young and I've seen you with older people wearing those same black leather coats. Can I ask what's going on with that?"

"Oh, uh...." Roxas knew that there were some worlds that knew about Organization XIII and that some people in Twilight Town had seen most of them, he was pretty sure that they were all in the dark about what the Organization really did. "Oh, well, were just a club."

"Oh, I get it. One of those Leather Fetish, S & M things, huh? Can I join?"

"What?! No! No! It's nothing like that at all!"

"Okay, okay. Well then there is only one other explanation. You're part of a secret Organization that..."

A lump had formed in Roxas's throat. No way this old lady could actually know about the Organization, could she? What were the rules about humans knowing about them? Would he have to kill this elderly woman?

Not exactly sure what to do in this situation, a small amount of light started to gather in Roxas's hand. Underneath the counter.

The Old Lady continued, "....fights Aliens! You're with the Men In Black, aren't you!?"

Roxas was almost knocked back from this, but he regained his composure and the light in his hand stopped, "No, no, not the Men In Black."

"Then what's with the Black cloak?"

"It's part of my club...and it's the...latest fashion, I guess."

"Well, alright. Enjoy your Ice cream."

Roxas turned to leave, his back facing the old lady. As he walked away, the Old Woman's eyes made their way down to Roxas's backside. "Mmm. Like to get some fries with that shake..."

Roxas had made it to the top of The Twilight Town Clock Tower that stood atop the Twilight Town Train Station. Roxas sat at the very top, his feet dangling off the edge, eating his ice cream and watching the Never-setting sun just above the Horizon. The Twilight Town skyline never changed, but the clock tower always kept perfect time and the bells were ringing, meaning it was about 9:00 at night, even though it only looked about 6:00.

Roxas remembered being born in Twilight Town and it was his favorite place to go. After almost every mission he would get Axel and Xinck to come here with him. Xionuse to come to but, she was gone and Axel and Xinck had been away on a mission in Castle Oblivion for weeks, so it had just been Roxas. All by himself.

Then, out of the corner of Roxas's eye, far below the clock tower, he saw those Three Twilight Town kids. He had seen them around the town lots of times, but they mostly ignored him, or Roxas avoided them. He wasn't sure why though. He thought it was the black cloak that made him look intimidating. Roxas had never figured out their names, so He, Axel and Xinck made up their names.

The pudgy kid that had one a red shirt, that read, 'Dog Street' and had brown hair, Roxas had named him 'The Fats'. He seemed to be arguing with the the girl that had on yellow capri pants, and an orange shirt that had a Hawaiian flower design on the front. She had brown hair and green eyes. Xinck had taken the liberty of naming her 'Brown Paper bag', because she looked so plain and ordinary and had no sex appeal whatsoever. The third kid, who had blond stringy hair and, what looked like red/brown eyes, camouflage shoes and pants and a black shirt under a sleeveless tan shirt. He had his hands behind his head and watched and laughed as the other two argued. Axel had named him 'Closet Case'.(Because, to Axel, he looked kinda gay and would probably suffer a mental break down after his gay lover turned out to be straight and was cheating on him with Brown Paper Bag)

Roxas didn't know what they were arguing about, but laughed to himself because they reminded him of how Xion and Xinck and Axel would fight with each other about the most trivial things; Who would get to watch Tv, who would have to take out the trash and who would have to wipe the pee off the toilet seat. (Mostly an Argument between Axel and Xinck. Although one time, Axel and Xion had a fight about who missed the toilet bowl).

Then, Roxas heard them talking rather loudly.

"I don't care!" Yelled The Fats to Brown Paper Bag, "I'm not going shopping with you anymore!"

"Why not!? You used to like it!" Replied Brown Paper bag.

"Hello! 'Cuz you'd by me stuff at the food court!"

"Well, I stopped that because I was thinking you should lose some weight."

"You're the one that should lose weight! When we went to that Pants store, all you did was complain about your cellulite!"

"I can't help it! I retain water in my thighs! What's your excuse? Do you retain all of those cupcakes, cookies, pies, cakes, chips and slushees?!"

"Aagh!" Screamed The Fats. "You-"

"Hey, guys, look at that." said Closet Case. He pointed upward at the top of The Cloak Tower and at the boy in the black coat, sitting and eating Ice Cream.

"I've seen that kid before a few times." said Closet Case.

"He looks cool. Let's go say hi." said Brown Paper Bag.

"Nah, he could be in some kind of gang or something. He might be packing heat." said Fats.

"You really shouldn't judge anyone by appearances, fatty."

"Fudge you, fudgehole."

"Always thinking about food, are we?" she said with a smile.

"You know what I mean."

"Come on." said Closet Case, walking towards the entrance into The Cloak Tower. They all headed for the Tower and Roxas saw.

"_Should I stay and meet them, or should I go?"_he thought. He turned around and heard footsteps coming around the side of the Tower. They were getting closer. And before Roxas could fully make his decision, He had already opened a portal and disappeared, leaving nothing but a Popsicle stick.

The World That Never Was is a gloomy place. Not a favorite of Roxas. 95% of The time it was always night and rainy, other times, just a little bit of light could peek through the dark and illuminate the city, giving it the appearance of a very cloudy Twilight Town. But, it was mostly night, so Roxas didn't really care what time it was when he went to sleep.

He got to his room, kicked of his shoes and crawled into bed. He didn't bother to pull the blanket up, he'd just sleep in his cloak. It was good for keeping you warm when you were cold and keeping you cool for when you were hot, so it made a good blanket all on it's own.

He laid his head down on his pillow and he didn't know how tired he was until he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Usually, when Roxas goes to sleep, 70% of his dreams are about his Other, Sora, and about his friends. And the other 29% of His dreams are just regular dreams, but the last 1% is the weirdest dreams he ever gets.

He found himself sitting on a cushioned chair, in-between two other cushioned chairs, in a carpeted room. He wasn't wearing his Cloak, but he had on his regular clothes. The room wasn't big, but it wasn't small, it seemed to be only able to accommodate 5 people at the most. Directly behind Roxas was a door, possibly leading out of the room and in the corner of the room were plants in weaved baskets. The four walls of the room were an off-white color with various pictures of a man with stylish gray hair standing out in front of various buildings and monuments. Several diplomas also hung up on the wall with the words, 'We, the faculty of Northern University, award Steven Steelwood with his Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering'.

"Where the-" Roxas started.

"Mr. Roxas!"

"Ah!" Roxas almost jumped out of his seat as he heard his name. He stopped looking around the room and faced forward in his seat and saw The man in the pictures all over the room. He had greased back silver hair that shone brightly as the light from outside shone through the window. His faced was aged with what seemed to be the symmetrical wrinkles of experience in discipline and punishment. His eyes were a hellish brown that complimented his jet-black suit and blood-red undershirt. He sat forward in his desk, which was entirely in order with papers on one side and pencils on the other, a desk calender and a small novelty guillotine.

"Now, Mr. Roxas." He spoke with a deep, authoritative voice, "You do know why you are here don't you?"

"Uh..." Roxas looked around on his desk and saw a plaque stand with the words in big black letters, 'Principle Steelwood.', "No. No, I have no idea why I am here, Mr. Steelwood, sir."

"Well, I know and so does the boy that you beat up."

"I beat someone up?"

"Yes and very thoroughly, might I add. But even though you are new to South Gate High School, I do not tolerate fighting within my halls, or in the bathrooms, or in the classrooms, or cafeteria, janitors closet and the bathroom again."

"Wow. I beat him up _that _bad?"

"I said you did a thorough job." Steelwood got up from his chair and to the gray file cabinet behind him. It only took him a few seconds to sort through the files and pull out a manilla-colored folder, throw it on his desk and sit back down. "The boy you beat up was named Reginald Bullwhip. That's his file. Take a look."

Roxas hesitated, then reached out to grab the file. He opened it and read the first page of papers. "It says here that he is-"

"-Captain of the Football team, Captain of the Debate Team, President of Student Council and Valedictorian of his class and our records show that he is quite popular and well-liked."

"Wow. Sounds like he's a-"

"Real asshole? My thought exactly." He snatched the file out of Roxas's hand and threw it back on his desk. "Our records also show that he's the kind of guy who's teenage years were to be the most prosperous. He will attend college and dropout in his early 20's and go on a 3-year Heroin binge. And, if our records are correct, he'll die in a puddle of his own feces before he's even 35."

"Why are you telling me this? I thought I was in trouble for beating him up?"

"You are, I was just letting you know the kind of person you beat up and how popular and successful he his.....for now. Since you are new here, you wouldn't have known what a real douchebag this kid was. But, the simple fact remains, you fight and fighting is not tolerated in these halls, or classrooms, or-"

"Janitor's closets or bathrooms, or cafeterias. I get it." Roxas said, getting annoyed.

Steelwood growled a little and his eyes narrowed only for a second, "Nonetheless, you're new here, but I will not cut an slack, so I made an example out of you by giving you the harshest punishment the School District will allow me to give."

"What?"

"I called your parents."

"........Do what now?"

"You can come in now."

Steelwood looked at he door behind Roxas and Roxas turned around to see the door open and in came in a tall man wearing a blue suit, white undershirt, black shoes and had unusual Red spiky hair. He had on a black top hat and a brown, sharp goatee pointing out from his chin that really didn't go with his Red hair. His eyes were emerald green and in front of his right eye was a glass monocle that made his eye look twice as big.

"_Axel?!"_Roxas thought.

Axel spoke in a very 'Rich and snooty' manner, "My Boy, I am very disappointed in you and your 'roughhousery'" He said, stroking his goatee.

Roxas's expression flattened, "Oh, fuck me." he said under his breath.

"You watch your mouth, young man!" came another, scarier voice. Walking in beside Axel was a broad-shouldered, light-browned skinned woman wearing a long black dress that stopped just under the armpits. This person was obviously wearing a black wig that was sweep out of it's face. This person had a black purse on it's arm and a dissatisfied look on his face, which had on black eyeliner underneath her/his unnatural black and white eyes.

"_Xinck, too!"_Roxas thought, jawing dropping from shock.

"Please, take a seat." said Principle Steelwood. At his request, Axel and Xinck each took a seat beside Roxas, Axel on the left and Xinck on the right. And since Xinck was waring a dress, had to cross his legs.

"Now, Mr and Mrs...uh...what are your names?" asked Steelwood.

"Um..uh.." Axel stammered, "Hu.....man...Hugh..Mann. Yes, I am Hugh Mann and this is my lovely wife..uh..."

"Mrz." said Xinck, in an attempt to sound as girlish as possible, "Mrz. Mann."

"....Okay." Steelwood continued, "Anyway, I called you two here today about you sons behavior. Today he has gotten into a fight."

"Oh! Oh!" Axel stood up in shock, his fake goatee almost falling off, "Did you at least win?!" He yelled at Roxas, who only cringed, "Of course you didn't! I bet you have a glass jaw, just like your Uncle Luxord!"

"No, uh, Dad. I-OW!" Roxas was cut off by a slap to the back of the head. He turned and saw Xinck retracting his hand.

"What did I say about starting fights?!" he yelled.

"If I start one I better be prepared to slit a throat?" guessed Roxas.

"....Uh...I mean the other thing."

"I-"

"Mr and Mrz. Mann," said Steelwood, " while I am a firm believer in harsh physical punishment for children, I must warn you that if Roxas keeps up this behavior, than I will be forced to suspend him for no less than 2 weeks. So I'm assuming, when you get home, that you two will discipline the boy more thoroughly?"

"Oh, you can count on that." said Axel, sitting back down in his seat. He turned to Roxas and yelled in his ear, "YOUNG MAN, WHEN WE GET HOME, YOU ARE GOING TO GET THE PUNISHMENT OF A LIFETIME!!"

The Axel turned back to Mr. Steelwood. "You know, he has had the same exact problem at his old school and every school before that. He has put so much stress on this family, that I'm struggling to keep my Multi-Million Dollar business afloat. And he's caused his Mother to Eat and eat and eat." He turned back to Roxas, "Look how fat you've made your Mother!"

"Uh..sorry." said Roxas, still a little in shock at what was going on.

Xinck started to rummage through the purse on his arm and he pulled out a small picture of a sexy, slim, supermodel with long flowing black hair and wearing sexy lingerie. Xinck waved the picture in Roxas's face, yelling, "I used to look like this! Look what you did to me!"

"Parents, parents let's calm down." said Steelwood, "I'm sure you two want to-

Axel and Xinck had completely ignored Steelwood as Xinck yelled, "Of course it wasn't just Roxas's fault I got fat. Maybe if over here would touch me every once and a while...!"

"Oh, I could touch you." said Axel, "But I'd have to burn my hand off afterward."

"Mom, Dad, please don't fight." said Roxas.

"Shut up! You speak when spoken to!" yelled Xinck. He turned to Axel, "And as for you, you make it seem as if you wouldn't have to burn off your hand after you touch your Whore every night! Yeah, that's right, I Know!"

"At least she listens!" yelled Axel.

"Okay." said Steelwood, feeling a little awkward, "I think this is a problem that should be settled at home."

"Right, of course. Let's go, Roxas." Axel stood up and headed for the door, Roxas following him with his head down in embarrassment. Xinck followed and walked out the door first, mouthing the words, 'This isn't over'.

Axel quickly slammed the door and at that instant, The dream was over and outside of Roxas's Room, a roar of Thunder had sounded and Roxas sat bolt up in his bed., breathing really hard and banging his head against something just as hard.

"Ow! Dammit!" yelled the voice and Roxas at the same time, cringing and holding his head in pain. Roxas's line of vision was blurry , then he opened his eyes wider and everything came into focus. Axel, the real Axel, was sitting on his bed, holding his head.

"Is that the kind of greeting I get after being on a months long mission?!" he yelled.

"Axel..you're..you're back!"

"Yep."

"When did you guys get back?"

"A few hours ago."

"Well, how was it? Where's Xinck?"

"Right here." Axel pointed to the hard metal floor to Xinck who laid there, staring at the ceiling.

"Hey, Xinck."

"Hey." he replied. "Wow, your room _is _a lot smaller than mine."

"So, tell me what happened?" Roxas asked. All he knew was that Axel and Xinck had gone on a mission with several other members to a place called Castle Oblivion. Roxas didn't really want to know what kind of research they did in the Castle, and had no plans to find out. He didn't care. He was just glad to have someone to talk to again.

But all the same, Axel and Xinck averted Roxas's gaze, trying to avoid answering the question.

"Okay...so where's everyone else?" He asked.

"Um..uh..." Axel stammered. He and Xinck exchanged looks, stammering and muttering words.

"Car accident!" yelled Axel, "Yeah, there was a car accident, right Xinck?"

"Oh, yeah! Right. Tragic, TRAGIC!" Xinck yelled, " I told Zexion he was too short to drive a car, but he wouldn't listen. Me and Axel were the only survivors.

"Oookay." Roxas got out of his bed and put on his shoes. Axel and Xinck got up and follwed him around the room as Axel spoke.

"But, you know, something that was really interesting was what happened _after _Castle Oblivion."

"Oh, really what?"

"Well, after me and Xinck finished up at Castle Oblivion, we thought we'd go on vacation in Vegas for a few days."

"Vegas? Las Vegas?"

"Yeah. So, we get to Vegas and we're riding the rides and having a good time, until these cops spotted us."

"The Police? What'd you guys do?" asked Roxas.

"Well, "said Xinck, "We fought them, we won, but..."

"But what?"

"Butt indeed. Axel got shot in the Butt by one of the cops before I killed him. So I drag Axel to the Hospital to get the bullet removed, and.."

"I didn't get shot, the bullet grazed me." said Axel.

"No it didn't. There was a quarter-inch hole in your ass! You got shot!"

"Whatever, anyway." Axel said, continuing the story, "We stay in the Hospital for a few hours to get the bullet removed and after they got it out, they said that we could stay there for the night, but they kicked us out as soon as they discovered that Xinck was drinking all the Hand Sanitizer."

"You were drinking hand sanitizer?!" yelled Roxas.

"I just tried it once, alright!" yelled Xinck.

"Oookay. You guys want to go get some Ice Cream? Twilight Town."

"We can't." said Axel. "We have a meeting, then we'll probably have to do the Final Rites."

"Final Rites?" asked Xinck, "What's that?"

"You'll find out. Let's go."

Three Corridor Of Darkness portals started to enveloped them and as they disappeared, Roxas asked, "Hey, Xinck, have you ever heard of a place called Odnum?"

"Mmm, it sounds familiar." He replied. And They disappeared, Leaving Roxas's Room

They had exited out of their individual portals and into their respective Thrones of different height. All of the members were already seated in their own thrones. But 5 thrones were empty and were to never be filled again.

"Well, well, well." came the voice of Xigbar, "If it isn't The Surviving Two, Axel and Xinck. Tell us, How 'goed' the mission?"

"It 'goed' well, if I do say so myself." said Axel, faking a smile.

"If the mission 'goed' so well then why did you lose Namine?" asked Xaldin from the Number Three seat.

"It wasn't so mush as we 'lost' her." said Xinck, "It was more like we turned our backs and she....jumped out of a window?" Xinck looked around and noticed Luxord in the Number 10 seat. He was wearing a white neckbrace. "What happened to you?"

Luxord turned a stiff head toward Xinck, "When someone calls you and says it's a life or death situation, it usually means it's a life and Death situation and you don't hang up on them!" He yelled.

"What are talking about?"

"Oh, Sod off, you stupid git." Luxord huffed.

"Look." Xemnas's voice rang out from the Number 1 Throne, the highest in the room, "It doesn't matter if some of our member's tried to betray us or not, nor does it matter that Sora's whereabouts are currently unknown to us. Our plan moves forward."

"Uh, Superior." said Demyx, from the Number 9 seat, "How did you know that Marluxia was going to try and betray us."

Xemnas said nothing, but he moved his hand to his pocket and and pulled out a small pink book with a flower on the front. He opened the book to a random page and read aloud, "'March 1. Dear Diary, Today That Meany Xemnas made fun of my hair again. I'm going to betray him.'" Xemnas snapped the book shut.

"That answer your question?" asked Xemnas.

"A little." Demyx replied.

"Now that 5 of our members are dead, our missions will have to be shared among members. From now on, there will be three to a group. And now, let's get to the part of this meeting that most of you are waiting for-The Final Rites."

"Yes, yes, yes!" Xigbar yelled, jumping up and down in his seat, "I'm gonna get some nice new things!"

"What are the Final Rites?" asked Xinck, again. "Is anyone gonna tell me?"

"Everyone go to The Proof of Existence. You'll find out there." said Xemnas, disappearing into a black portal, soon being followed by the other members.

* * *

I had to re-post it because There was something I forgot to put in. Sorry.

So, what do you think? Good or what? Review then and let me. I'll try to get the Next one up as soon as possible! REVIEW

DON't FORGET TO REVIEW


	23. Funeralization

Okay. This one is just here so that i could post a new chapter. It might be a while for me to get another chapter up because of my weired writing schedule and it might take awhile for me to get my thoughts together about what i want to write. So i hope you enjoy this.

I don't own anything...except what's his face.

* * *

The Proof of Existence. Organization XIII's Graveyard. A considerably small room compared to the enormity of The castle That Never Was. It was an odd triangular shaped room with Three levels descending down and out, where a circular archway lead out of the room. And each level had a high-tech, almost keyhole shaped tombstones that had a small blue-glowing gateway that lead to a different area in the Castle, a specific area that a tombstone's Member had chosen. Each member's tombstone had a silhouette of that member's weapon and their Codename just below that. The Tombstones were connected to their respective member, and while that member was alive, the tombstone's center glowed the blue color and Red if they were dead. And five were already glowing Blood-red Crimson.

If you had walked into the room from the bottom entrance, you would see Xigbar and Xaldin's tombstones on the first level and on the left and right sides, respectively. On the second level, below Xigbar's left side, were Vexen and Lexaeus's Tombstones and below that were Axel's, Demyx's and Luxord's. While on Xaldin's right side, on the second level, were Zexion's and Saix's tombstones and the Third Level had Marluxia's, Larxene's and Roxas's Tombstones. At the beginning of their time in the Organization, Xion and Xinck both had Tombstones, but were later removed by Xemnas because they 'Didn't go with the Feng Shui of the room'. Xemnas didn't have a tombstone, but The Top entrance/exit Circular archway of the Room bore a number 'I' at the top, and it lead to Xemnas's favorite place; The Alter of Naught.

Every member, except Xemnas stood at the bottom entrance of the room, while Xemnas stood at the top exit/ entrance.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are gathered here today to forcefully bind these two in Holy Matrimony." He said, "Does the Groom-"

"No one's getting Married!" yelled Xigbar.

"Oh? Oh, yeah, the Final Rites." Xemnas cleared his throat and spoke, "Five members have fallen. 2 of them traitors to our cause, but they have served The Organization, nonetheless, so they will be given Their Final Rites. Vexen, none as Even in his former life, died by....how did he die Axel?"

Axel hesitated, then spoke, "French toast. Caught in his throat. Tragic."

"Tragic!" yelled Xinck.

"....'Kay." continued Xemnas, " He died by French Toast..."

"He went out like a sucker." said Xaldin.

"Indeed." said Xemnas, continuing, "Anyway, Zexion, none as Ienzo, by car crash, as told by Xinck, correct?"

Xinck's eyes squinted and shifted, "Car crash, right." Then he thought, _"Hehehe. I friggin' Massacred him!" _

Xemnas Continued, "Lexaeus, none as Aeleus, died from Riku's blade as he had found his way into Castle Oblivion. Marluxia, the Traitor of The Organization, none as Aulamir, and killed by Sora. Larxene, The other, yet forgettable traitor, none as Raelen."

"Come on, come on, come on! Hurry up!" yelled Xigbar, jumping up and down from excitement.

"Calm down, Xigbar. We will get to that part in a minute." said Xemnas. The he continued, "As we advance toward our goal, we know that some of our members will not make it-_Xaldin_!" Xemnas shot an accusing eye at Number III.

"What?" Xaldin whined, shrugging.

"That's the reason we're not called Organization XXV!"

"What are you talking about? We killed the Akatsuki."

"Yes, after they killed 8 of our members and we were brought down to Organization XVII, you killed 3 of them yourself."

"Yeah, well, Eirxien shouldn't have told me I had dirt on my face, so I put a spear in his!"

"Then what about the other two?"

Xaldin's eyes squinted and he spoke in a shallow voice, "They shouldn't have eaten all of the biscuits. I MADE THEM FOR EVERYONE! I JUST COULDN'T LET THEM KEEP THEIR LUNGS AFTER THAT!!"

"AAGGH!" yelled Xigbar, falling to his knees, "Fuck those dead fuckers! Can we get on with this?!"

"Alright, settle down, spaz." Xemnas spoke, "Before we get to the fun part, perhaps Demyx would be willing to sing a song or something appropriate for the occasion?"

All heads turned toward Demyx, who was busy picking his teeth and not paying attention. Saix jabbed Demyx in his ribs, catching him off guard.

"What-what? What's going on?"

"Sing or play a song appropriate for the occasion. Something festive." Saix said.

"Something festive?" asked Demyx. He placed a hand under his chin and thought for a moment. "Well...I have been working on a song lately. I think I could sing it."

"Then go ahead." Xemnas motioned.

In one swift move, Demyx had summoned his Blue Sitar and gotten into his playing stance. He started to strum his Sitar, which, at his command, was giving off a Tropical island reggae beat.

He even sang in a slow reggae style. _" Me don't want no monkey to stop my show! Me don't want no monkey to bring me down! Me don't want no monkey to stop my show! Me don't want no monkey to_

_make me frown! Look at how the people them are having fun, Look at how the people are jumping around....!" _

The rest of the Organization watched as Demyx continued to strum his sitar, smile, sing and dance. He was moving around to the beat, completely in his own happy world. He was so wrapped up in his Singing, that he took no notice of Xinck walking behind him with a metal, fold out chair.

Demyx continued, ".._.Ringdingading me want to do my thing, Ringdingading people come and swing, Music is my power, music is my life, Me don't want no monkey come give me advice Music is my pleasure, me don't want no pressure_-AGGH!"

Xinck proceeded to bang the chair against the back of Demyx's head several times. Demyx fell to the floor, all the while Xinck kept a straight, apathetic face. He hit Demyx one more time, then threw the chair aside.

"Oh, like we all weren't thinking of doing that." he said, walking back next to Axel.

"Okay." said Xemnas, "Now that that is over-"

"Wait! Wait!" came the voice of Luxord from the corner of the room. Once again, all heads turned toward the voice and looked at Luxord. He was sitting on the stool of a white, grand piano that had the logo of the Organization on top. "Just because Demyx's song was crap, doesn't mean mine will be."

"That's alright Luxord, we were just about to-"

"No, no, no, please! Please let me do it! I've been working on my piano skills for weeks and I've gotten really good at it!"

"Fine, make it quick!"

"Excellent." Luxord turned on his piano stool and started to play a soothing classical melody. He sang, _"Vexen my scientist, you are....cold and deceased are you still half insane? L-L-L-Lexaeus died too!.... But the years went by and Zexion died! Marluxia and Larxene joined them in the afterlife!...We-"_

"Boooooo!" yelled Axel, "Your music is bad and you should feel bad!"

"To hell with you Axel" Luxord stopped playing, " What do you know about Piano anyway?"

"I know that you suck at it."

"How dare you?! I'll have you know that all the best Piano Players were all British."

"Yeah, 'cuz they were all gay."

"How dare you!? I borrowed this melody straight from the works of Elton John!"

"Who's gay."

Luxord gasped out of anger, "Well, Liberace was gay!"

"He was also British."

"I think he was Italian." whispered Roxas to Axel.

"Same thing." He replied.

Luxord's face had turned red out of anger and he quickly turned around to face his piano. He stood and started to bang on it forcefully, while singing, _"Down on your knees I'm the Piano God! Pray to the songs that I've sung! Tell me I'm too good to work here and stick my balls right on your tongue!"_

Everyone was a bit shocked at this sudden burst of vulgarity that had spewed forth from Luxord's refined British vocabulary even Demyx had gotten up and taken notice.

"Yes," said Luxord, "And, as you Americans say, That's right, bitches, I did it!"

Everyone stayed quiet, except Xemnas who finally spoke, "Well, that was unpleasant. Now to the Final Rites-"

"Finally!" yelled Xigbar.

"-As you all know, that after a member has died, we break their tombstone, so that no other being my learn their secrets. Of course no one could possibly know their secrets because we are about to steal them. Every Man for himself! Snatch and run! First come first serve! Go, go, go!"

(A/N. Final Rites-Organization XIII Ritual for fallen members. We honor them with a song and after that, we invade their privacy and steal their stuff. What? It's not like they're using it. They're dead.)

"Nobody move!" yelled Xigbar. He had summoned his ArrowGuns and was pointing them at Random members. "Hands! Let me see those hands!"

"_Oh great," _thought Saix, _"I'm gonna get shot!"_

At Xigbar's command, Everyone had raised their hands into the air.

"Can we wave them like we just don't care?" asked Demyx, hands held high.

"That's optional." said Xigbar, walking closer towards Marluxia's gravestone.

"Xigbar, what is the meaning of this?" asked Xemnas, hands also raised.

"Marluxia's got something I want. And I'm not letting any of you get in my way!" Xigbar yelled.

"I don't need this crap." Xaldin said. He lowered his hands and started to walk towards Lexaeus's Tombstone. Xigbar pointed his left ArrowGun at Xaldin's face, who stopped in his tracks.

"And just where do you think you're going, Dreadlock?"

"Out of My way, Xigbar. I've had enough of this foolishness. I want Lexaeus's weight set."

"I don't care. But when I say, raise you hands in the air, I mean, Raise Your Hands In the Fucking Air!" Xigbar yelled.

Demyx asked, "Can we wave them like we just don't ca-"

"Yah!" Xigbar yelled, shooting a laser at Demyx's leg. He fell to the floor, clutching his thigh.

"Aggh!" Demyx yelled, "Dammit! That had to pierce the skin or something!"

"Sorry 'bout that. You startled me." Xigbar said. Xaldin hadn't moved an inch since Demyx was hit. Xigbar started to inch back towards Marluxia's Tombstone and disappeared into the Crimson Gateway.

Everyone lowered their hands.

"Well, I'm not wasting my time here. Vexen's got something I want." said Xemnas. He jumped over Xigbar's gravestonem onto the second level and disappeared into Vexen's Crimson Tombstone. It didn't take everyone long to gather their nerves and start heading towards Fallen Member's tombstones.

Xinck had jumped into Zexion's tombstone. Roxas and Axel jumped into Larxene's and Saix followed into Zexion's. Luxord had gone into Marluxia's and Demyx, who had quickly recovered, ran into Vexen's.

* * *

Vexen's Tombstone, unsurprisingly, lead to His Laboratory. The coldest place within the Castle, unless Vexen had willingly let the Temperature rise, and since he was dead, it's been a little warmer. Random and seemingly useless machines decorated the light-blue walls of Vexen's Lab( Reminds me of Dexter's Lab). Several Lab Tables were strewn about the seemingly never-ending lab as Xemnas walked around, looking for something.

Xemnas walked around the very blue and depressing lab. He saw unfinished Chemical projects and Vexen's super Computer, S.M.A.R.T.Y-P.A.N.T.S. Xemnas never bothered to ask Vexen what that acronym meant and didn't really care.

"Eww." Xemnas shuddered as he walked into the area where Vexen would usually do dissections. Rotting corpses were littered on lab tables and their dried blood was flaked across the floor. In the far corner, Xemnas saw-

"Is that-Yup, Winnie The Pooh. The rotting Corpse of Winnie The Pooh. Vexen, you sick freak." Xemnas said. After continuing through the lab for 1o more minutes, Xemnas found what he was looking for. A large file Cabinet that was next to the Area wher Vexen had done the _Secrets _Music Video, guest starring Will..

Xemnas walked up to the large, gray file cabinet. There were only five cabinets in the large metal case and Xemnas shook the first handle. Locked.

"Not a problem." Xemnas held his hand up to the keyhole of the cabinet. It shot out blue sparks, that completely destroyed the lock on impact. The blue sparks jumped from the top lock and down the cabinet, like a ping-pong ball across a table, down the cabinet, destroying all five locks.

Xemnas opened the first cabinet and it was filled front-to-back with multicolored files. He picked up the the first blue folder and opened it. It was a letter addressed to-

"'The President of The United States?'" Xemnas said. He read the letter in his head and was thinking of Vexen's voice as he read it, "Dear, Mr. President. Nowadays, there are too many states. Please eliminate three."

Xemnas sighed and put the letter back, "Vexen you dumbass. You're not even an American."

Xemnas started his search that lasted for 3 more minutes, throwing file after file to the floor, until he finally found what he was looking for. He pulled a large packet out of a red folder, marked 'Super-Super-Duper Secret.' and he sat down on top of the pile of files he had tossed to the floor. This was it. This was what he had been waiting to find. Even though Xemnas rarely interacted with his members on a personal level, he had a pretty good grasp of what was going on in his castle. He knew Vexen was working on a project and now that he was dead, Xemnas could use it now.

"Hi, Xemnas!"

"Ah!" Xemnas jumped up quickly as he heard his name and hid the packet behind his back. He turned and saw Demyx standing there. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for Vexen's stuff like everyone else. You?"

"Um...I..uh..was..looking for.." Xemnas stammered and he bent down to the ground and picked up a random plastic card. "Oh, I was looking for this. Vexen's...." Xemnas read the title of the card out loud, "..Pass to buy....Ultra-Porn."

"Ultra-Porn? I, uh...didn't know that you wore into that kinda thing."

"Yes. I...like porn." Xemnas said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

"You know, that's not healthy. Just look at Xinck." Said Demyx.

"Yes, he's a strange little emo. Demyx is there anything you need in here? I am about to leave." said Xemnas.

"Well...I'll take that Pass if you're not gonna use it."

"Fine." Xemnas tossed the little card to Demyx, who caught it without any effort., "What are you going to do with that?"

"Sell it to Xinck, of course!" Demyx smiled and teleported away, probably back to Proof of Existence to wait for the others to return.

Xemnas sighed and took the Packet out from behind his back, staring at it. "Excellent. HAHAHA!" He laughed and then caught himself, "I'm laughing to myself again. I've got to get that under control." He opened a portal and disappeared into it."

* * *

In Marluxia's Room, Luxord had entered into a realm of pure metrosexuality. Marluxia's entire room was decorated with an elegant Flower motif that, not being over-gawdy at all, but completely accentuated the beauty of the room. The floor wasn't metal like so many other rooms in the Castle and it was Tile, white and light blue tile. It was a lonely floor, having no clothes strewn about or shoes or other pieces of random crap.

Marluxia's bed, which was covered on all four sides by a pale, see-through curtain, was perfectly made and covered with black and pick decorative Throw pillows. Each throw pillow was embroidered with different colored lettering, some labeled with different labels, like, 'Marluxia,' or, 'Dirty Little Bitch', or 'Graceful Assassin' and 'HornDog.'.

A vanity mirror laid at the far end of the room, seated up against the wall and edged with more flower themes. Across the top of the desk, just below the mirror, were various hair-care products, face products and other Beautiful People things.

"And he wondered why people thought he was a Poofter." stated Luxord, walking farther into the room.

"_The best secrets,"_ He thought, _"Are always under the bed."_

Luxord reached Marluxia's bed and kneeled down beside it. He reached his hand underneath one of The pillows and felt around. He reached far underneath the pillows, even as far as to go underneath other pillows on the bed.

"Let's see here....Mmm....Oh? What's this?" Luxord felt something underneath the pillow labeled, 'HornDog' and grasped it.

"Mmm. It's long." said Luxord, "It's almost smooth in Texture, round at the tip and...Oh, My, Lord!" Luxord quickly withdrew his hand as the object started to shake rapidly, making a low humming noise.

"What the devil is that?" asked Luxord, confused and bewildered. He got up and walked over to Marluxia's Vanity Mirror. He flipped a switch that was hidden underneath the desk of The Vanity Mirror and a small flower light sparked to life immediately on the small top center of the mirror, illuminating the small corner of the room.

"Well, what do we have here?" asked Luxord as he had spotted a little pink device, wrapped in a white cord. Situated between the _Vaseline _and the _Neutagena _was a little pink Ipod, wrapped in it's white headphones.

"Ooh, well I could certainly use one of those." Luxord said, reaching down and picking up the little device. Before he could turn it on, he froze as he heard a gun cocking behind him.

"Drop it. Or I'll blow you back to Jesus."

Luxord put down the Ipod and turned around to see Xigbar standing behind him, Arrowguns pointing directly in Luxord's face.

"My God, Xigbar. Are you going to shoot me over an Ipod?" asked Luxord.

"Yes!"

"Why?!"

" 'Cuz, I need one! Now hand it over." Xigbar pointed the gun closer in Luxord's face. Luxord grabbed The Ipod again and tossed it to Xigbar, who caught it and quickly dismissed his Guns.

"Yes! Finally!" Xigbar untwisted the head phones and plugged the left one in his ear. He stopped, letting the right earphone droop by it's cord. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, rectangular black object and threw it to the floor.

"Won't be needing you anymore!" He said.

"What is that?" Luxord asked, looking at the object on the floor.

"That's my Zune. But I don't need it anymore, I've got an Ipod!"

"So, let me get this straight; you were going to shoot me and the rest of the Organization...for an Ipod?" asked Luxird.

"Well, yeah, I'm the only person in the world-no, the universe who has a Zune! Who the Hell Has a Zune!?"

"You never cease to amaze me, Xigbar." Luxord said, grabbing the bridge of his nose.

"Makin' people happy. It's what I do." Xigbar turned to leave, but stopped when he heard a buzzing noise. He walked over to the Bed, leaned down and reached into the mass of pillows and pulled out a long white, vibrating tool with a round head and a long shaft. On it's side was a switch, labeled, 'On/Off' and it was in the "On' position.

Xigbar held it in his hands as it vibrated and made it's buzzing noise. He looked at Luxord, "Dude, It's a lightsaber!"

"Uh..." stammered Luxord.

Xigbar started to move the Device in the same fashion as the characters from Start Wars, even making the sound effects, "Luxord, use the Force! Hahaha!"

* * *

The looting of the rooms of Fallen Member's went o for another twenty minutes, before they had all returned to the Proof OF Existence.

Xemnas, once again stood at the top of the room. He was the only one that was not carrying any additional items that he had stolen from Vexen. He looked upon his Organization that had grown in their possessions. For example: Xinck was pulling a little red Wagon that was filled with books and books and books that he had gotten from Zexion's room, Axel and Roxas were carrying golden Jewelry that they had taken from Larxene's room. Xigbar and Luxord were fighting over some kind of buzzing stick and Xaldin was carrying weights and a small envelope and Demyx had stolen all of Vexen's lab coats and was covered in anything he saw in Vexen's room that looked shiny. Saix was the only one who seemed to not have acquired anything.

"Friends," said Xemnas, "I see that you have gained the items of our fallen comrades. Use them wisely to help us achieve our goal of Kingdom Hearts. That concludes the Final Rites, you don't have to go home, but you have to get the hell out of here. Dism-"

"Wait, Superior." said Xaldin.

"Mmm?"

Xaldin tossed the small envelope in his hands to Xemnas, who caught it with ease. "What is this?" He asked.

"Lexaeus's will. I found it under his pillowcase, right next to some kind of vibrating thingy." said Xaldin.

Xemnas started to open the envelop. "What could he possibly want after death? He was too boring in life. How many fanfictions actually exist with him as the main character? None, I bet, five at the most." He opened the envelope and read aloud-

"'I, Lexaeus, being of sound mind and body, hereby have decided to divide my estate as such-'" Xemnas interrupted, "I'll just skip to the good stuff...um..here we go, "'-To Xemnas, I warn you to not try and merge with Kingd-'" Xemnas started to chuckle nervously as he skipped over the letter.

"I'll find a good spot." He said. He continued reading, " Oh, here's something interesting-'To Xinck, When you first came into the Organization, I avoided you because you basically leak Darkness, Death and Despair-'"

"Well, I can only be me." said Xinck.

"'-In fact, I consider you the biggest Emo to ever exist. You will be alone and probably die alone. If I had a heart, it would be because I felt so sorry for you that I have decided to leave you my Computer and all of my Manga books.-"'

"Yay, I guess." said Xinck.

"Who cares about you?! What do I get?!" yelled Demyx.

Xemnas scanned through Lexaeus's will. "I don't see mention of You, Marluxia, Larxene, Saix and Axel. I guess he hated you guys."

"Who cares what he hates? He's dead." said Axel.

"I"ll finish this up and I'll skip over the parts about Zexion and Vexen, because it's not like they're getting anything." said Xemnas. He found a spot to start reading and he spoke out loud, "'To Xigbar, I've always hated you, die of of rectal cancer.-"'

"That Dick!" yelled Xigbar.

"'-To Luxord, You were always on good terms with me, so I leave you the sum of all the money in my bank account, which should be a total of $18.51. Enjoy it-"'

"It's just eighteen friggin' dollars, what the hell could I buy with that?!" yelled Luxord.

"'-And last, but not least, Roxas, seeing as how you are the least likely candidate to be responsible for my death, the fact that you actually tried to sustain a non-work related conversation with me, and that you are the least likely candidate to spend it all on crack, I leave you the total sum of my Life Savings, which is a total of $1 Million. Enjoy it and do not let any of those sons of bitches take it from you. Farewell, Lexaeus."'

Everyone started at The key of Destiny, who was just as shocked as the rest of them. But surprisingly, Saix was the only one to speak.

"So, Roxas," He asked, " what will you be spending your money on?"

Roxas lowered his head to think about it, then he looked at Axel and Xinck, who merely shrugged. Then Roxas said, "I know."

* * *

3 days later in Twilight Town, on top of The Clock Tower, Roxas, Axel and Xinck sat down on the edge of The Tower, eating Sea-salt Ice Cream. They were each on they're 26th bar, a huge piles of Ice cream wrappers were behind them, moving in the wind.

Roxas seemed to be the only one who could eat it over and over again and not feel sick. "Come on, guys, we've still got over 999,946 Dollars left of Ice cream to eat!" He said, taking another bite of ice cream.

Axel was slumped over the side of the building, an ice cream stick melting in his hand , "I...I..I can't eat anymore. I Think...I'm starting to see everything in blue and yellow....and I think my liver just shut down."

"Brain Freeze!" yelled Xinck, falling over onto his back, legs in the air, his ice cream still in his hand. "I'm dying. This is it." A blue. Cold stream of drool trailed out of his mouth and down his cheek.

"You guys are over-exaggerating!" said Roxas, eating his ice cream and watching the sunset.

* * *

Well I'm not 100% satisfied with this one, but, hey, what are you gonna do?

I'm so mad. I got 358/2 Days the exact day it came out and I beat it in exactly One Week. It's weired because I was looking forward to 358/2 Days for 3 years and I finished it in ONE WEEK!!!! So now All i have to look forward to is Birth By Sleep. Okay so like i said earlier It will take a while for me to update, so the best thing to do is to Alert The story so that you won't be waiting everyday for me to update everyday.

Review! Review! Review!


	24. Interstice Slice, Captain of Nothing

Finally! Another chapter! Don't forget I already said that no matter how long it takes me to write a chapter, I'm going to keep writing.

This Chapter is just so i can update, other than that it's nothing special.

.....I can't really think of anything else to say, so...Yeah....I don't own anything....except that one guy.

* * *

In The Gray Area, The lounge room for the Organization, Demyx, Axel, Roxas and Xinck sat around, bored out of their minds. Demyx was lazily strumming his Sitar next to Axel, who was sitting across from Roxas, playing a game of checkers. Xinck had his own seat because he was stretche dout, reading one of the books he had taken from Zexion's room.

"Huh. Look at this. There's a spell in here for finger enlargement. Who the hell would want bigger fingers?" Xinck said as he looked through his book.

"Maybe you could find a spell in there for fixing boredom." suggested Axel, moving one of his checker pieces across the board.

Roxas moved his checker piece and jumped seven of Axel's pieces and landing it at the other end, "King Me."

"What?!" Axel looked at the checker board to see what happened, "That's cheating!"

"No it's not! I jumped all of your pieces and got to the end of the board! King me!"

Axel's eye twitched and he growled as he took one of the pieces he had taken from Roxas earlier and put it on top of the other piece, making it a King, "My move." he said afterward. He moved one of his pieces closer to Roxas's side of the board and let it go.

"Your move."

Roxas reached out to move his King piece, but was interrupted.

"Look over there!" Axel yelled, pointing to behind Roxas. Roxas quickly turned his head in alarm and Axel flipped the checker board, sending checkers flying across the Gray Room.

"Hey!" Roxas yelled turning back around.

"Freak accident. Couldn't have been prevented." Axel grinned.

"Hey, guys." Demyx said, finally speaking up, "If we're bored, we could go see a movie."

"Oh, yeah? What's playing?" asked Roxas.

"Let's see."Out of nowhere, Xinck had pulled out a newspaper and the book he was reading had disappeared.

"Where did you get that?"

"Hammerspace."

"What?"

"Just Google it." Xinck flipped open the Newspaper to the entertainment section, and he started to read of the currently playing movies, "Let's see here, uh, okay, there's...'Young Suburban Teenagers Go Back To That Haunted House part III','Thursday The 12th, Alvin and The Chipmunks vs. Jason Voorhees, I Shoot Your Face, I Shoot Your Face Again, Abe Lincoln: Pet Detective, Chocolat II: The Vanilla-ing, Muppets In Hell, Amputee Hooker, Blacula meets Black Dracula, and Cliché Part II: Cliche's To The Max.'"

"Oooh, that Cliché movie sounds good." Demyx said.

"I wanna see Abe Lincoln: Pet Detective." said Roxas.

"Personally, I wanna see Muppets In Hell. Mrs. Piggy will fry up nicely." Xinck chuckled.

"We should bring Xigbar." said Axel, "It's always...interesting when you go to the movies with him."

"Only because he can sneak us in." Roxas said.

"Well, Duh! Have you seen how much Tickets cost or that Theater Food?! $5.00 for a small Popcorn! That's Barbaric."

"We can't go with Him anyway, he's on a mission with Xaldin." Demyx said.

Axel huffed, "Fine. We'll just go by ourselves. But I'm not buying any of that Theater food. We'll stop at the store and sneak some in."

"We still haven't agreed on a movie yet." said Xinck as everyone started to get up from their seats.

"We'll just see Amputee Hooker. Let's go."

They rose from their seats and each of them opened their own Corridor Of Darkness and Disappeared into them.

* * *

The Story could go on to talk about what exactly happened as they watched their movie, but that would be boring, so let's switch over to The Freeshooter and The Whirlwind Lancer, who are out on a mission to find and capture someone's Heart.

It was Night and in a Forest filled with large Trees and other Woodland Features, Xigbar sat on high on a tree branch, waiting for his Target to arrive. He sat lazily and still, his guns floating lazily by his head as he watched the starry sky above. He turned his head and saw, far, far in the distance (and The only thing worth looking at for miles) an immense stone Castle situated on a huge cliff above a large lake, that gleamed with the light of the full moon. The Castle's windows were dully shining with light, that seemed insignificant compared to the light of the Moon that was fixed high in the sky. The Castle, The Lake and this Forest was all located around Mountains, so it was well protected from outsiders.

The cold air was creeping up Xigbar's back, raising the small hairs on the back of his neck. It must have been winter, middle to Late Fall at the most, he wasn't sure. He looked around at his surroundings. He was well hidden amongst the trees, but not too far away, a clear opening that looked too be a very wide, very shallow puddle. There wasn't much water in there, but what little was left was almost frozen over.

Xigbar sighed, and because it was cold, saw his breath hanging in the air, "Xaldin better get here soon, or I'll just have to take the kid out myself."

Then, Xigbar heard his Target before he saw him. He heard loud and angry huffing and fast running as his Target came running between the trees and into the clearing and stopping exactly in the middle.

"There's my bitch." said Xigbar, grabbing his ArrowGuns out of the air and preparing to attack. He saw his Target clearly now. A boy, who looked no older than 15 or 16, with black shoes and wearing a black robe with red/crimson undertones and a small yellow crest on his left chest. He had black messy hair and green eyes behind a pair of round glasses. His face was angry and had a few cuts and bruises and in his hand appeared to be a short stick.

"Where are you?!" the boy yelled in a British accent and breathing heavily from exhaustion.

"_Time to go. Can't wait on Xaldin anymore."_ Xigbar thought. He shouted out loud, "Wouldn't you like to know!"

The boy turned toward where he heard the voice. "There you are!" He pointed his stick up towards the voice, even though he couldn't see and yelled, "Stupefy!" A red beam of energy shot from the tip of his stick and up towards the trees.

"Whoa!" Xigbar yelled, moving out of he way of the beam and teleporting to another tree, on the opposite side of the clearing. _"Damn. He almost got me..._"

"Don't you dare hide! Show yourself!" yelled the boy, looking around the top of the trees for any sign of movement.

"Take this!" Xigbar fired his guns at the the boy and the red bullets came shooting from the trees and down below. The boy rolled out of the way of the bullets and pointed his stick towards the direction of the bullets, yelled out his previous incantation and the same red beam of energy shot out towards Xigbar.

"Ha!" Xigbar yelled from a different location, "That's not gonna work twice!"

He was still up in the trees, watching as the boy continued to fire random red magic into the trees. Then, Xigbar heard the sound of the wind blowing closer and closer to him. Xigbar turned his heard away from the boy and looked behind him to see Xaldin flying quickly to Xigbar.

He landed on the tree branch not to far from the one Xigbar was on and crouched down. The wind was still mildly blowing through the air, causing his hair to blow in the same direction.

"So what's going on?" Xaldin asked, "Is this the target?" He gestured toward the boy down below that was still firing random magic in the air.

"Yep. That's him." Xigbar replied, "The Kid Who Stayed Alive, or something like that. Did you tie up all those loose ends?"

"Yes. I had to kill a few of his friends, some redhead and his Girlfriend, but it was all for the sake of the mission. Now all we have to do is get this kid and we can leave."

"He's tougher than he looks. He almost nicked me with that last spell." said Xigbar.

"Hmph. You should have been more alert. I'm not going to be around to save you ass all the time, Braig."

"Oh? For your information, Dilan, _I _am Number II. I don't need saving, unlike you."

"What do you mean?"

"This."

Xigbar jumped and he disappeared into random space, leaving only a dull thumping sound. The Boy down below must have heard Xigbar teleporting away, he turned towards that direction, pointed his stick upward and fired.

"Stupefy!" he yelled.

A Red jet of energy shot from his stick and up towards Xaldin, passing through the trees and firing into Xaldin's face.

"Ahh! Damn it to Hell!" He yelled, grabbing his face, losing his balance and falling backwards.

"Oh!" He yelled, a branch hit him in the stomach, another in his arm and another in his back and he fell to the ground, landing on his stomach.

"Ugghh." He groaned, trying to pick himself up, "Oh, Xigbar! You Horse's ass!"

"Get up!" The boy yelled, he was standing over Xaldin, his magic stick pointing him directly in the face.

"Aw, crap." Xaldin groaned. He slowly got up, careful not to make any sudden moves. His coat was torn in several places and he had a few bruises on his face.

"Now, tell me who are you and where are my friends?!" He yelled.

As The boy tried to pry answers from Xaldin, who was still a little dazed and confused from falling out of a tree, Xigbar teleported back into the scene. He was on the other side of The partially dried out area, far behind The Boy, but facing Xaldin.

Xigbar held up his guns and took aim at the boy's head. He lined up the shot and prepared to fire. "Just stay still and I'll make it as painless as Possible, Harry-or Larry. Whatever the hell your name is."

Xigbar squeezed the trigger and fired and as the bullets shot across the area, towards the boy, the boy heard the firing of the bullets and jumped out of the way, letting the bullets hit Xaldin in the stomach.

"Oopsy." smiled Xigbar.

Xaldin went flying back from the force of the bullets, groaning as he hit the ground on his back. He landed with a thump as small amounts of blood trickled from his stomach.

He groaned as he leaned his head up to look at Xigbar who was now fighting with the boy. "Xigbar,...you son of a bitch! You shot me! Again! This is why no one likes going on missions with you! You always shoot your teammates! Ugh!"

"That's not true!" Xigbar yelled as he dodged another spell from the boy's wand and returned fire, which the boy also dodged.

"Don't you remember the last time you went on a mission with Xemnas!?"

"Uh...Yeah!" Xigbar answered back, shooting a long ranged bullet int the back of the boys thigh, causing him to run with a slight limp as he yelled.

"You shot him in the ass!" Xaldin yelled.

"No, I didn't!"

"He didn't talk to you for a week!"

"Uh...well..."

"He had to use a special donut just to sit on his throne!"

"Ha! Now, that I remember!" Xigabr yelled, laughing. He unleashed a stream of bullets at the now Limping boy.

The bullets came shooting towards him. He held up his wand and said, "Protego!" the air in front of him seemed to shift around as an invisble shield-shaped object was summoned. The bullets seemed to bounce straight off the shield and his the ground, breaking and disappearing as the made contact.

"Mmm." Xigbar's eyes focused on the boy as his invisible shield shimmered and disappeared into nothingness. Xigbar jumped and teleported with a grunt, disappearing from view and reappearing behind and above the boy, his left gun pointed directly at the back of his head.

As if in slow motion Xigbar started to pull the trigger and let a barrage of bullets let fly into the boys skull, when the boy quickly turned around, anger in his green eyes, he pointed his wand at Xigbar's gun and yelled, "Expelliarmus."

"Expelli-who's it's?" Moaned Xaldin.

Xigbar was shocked as Both his guns flew out of his hands and far across the field. He fell back to the ground and raised his hands.

"Alright, kid, you win." Said Xigbar.

"No! Tell me where are my friends!" Yelled the boy.

"Mmm." Xigbar thought, "Dead, probably."

"What?!"

"Killed 'em. Killed 'em dead. Killed 'em good."

The boy's expression turned even angrier and he pointed his wand at Xigbar. He was about to fire another spell, point blank, directly in his face.

"I'll kill you!" yelled the boy.

A quick wind, A lance and a fall. The boy's eyes went wide as his body went flying backwards, blood shooting forward from the deep, piercing wound in his side. He hit the ground and a pool of blood quickly started to form underneath him as the Lance that was sticking out from his chest at an angle disappeared into a column of light.

Xigbar put his hands down and started to walk towards the dying boy. He looked over at Xaldin who was also walking towards him, one blood covered lance in his hand.

Xaldin stopped next to Xigbar as they both watched the boy stare up at them, hatred raising and falling in his eyes as he drew his finally breathes.

"I told you I always save you ass, Braig!" Xaldin said.

"Dude, nobody likes a know-it-all!" Xigbar yelled.

"You are a Nobody."

"I didn't mean with a Capital N."

"It doesn't matter." Xaldin looked back down at the boy. His eyes were closed, but he was still partially breathing. "Quick, let's get his heart before he dies."

"Right." Xigbar leaned down towards the boy and he held up his right hand. Black and purple smoke started swirling around it. He placed a hand on the boys chest and he pressed hard, black and purple smoke shot out of the gaping black hole on the boys chest. Then a shining light appeared and a shining, pale pink heart floated out and up towards the sky, making its way to Kingdom Hearts.

Immediately after, The body of the boy was wrapped in darkness and he also disappeared, leaving nothing, not even his magical stick thingie.

"Explain it to me." said Xigbar, as he watched the sky.

"Explain what?"

"How we collect hearts."

"You already know, why should I explain it?!" Xaldin yelled.

"You know,like, just in case the events of our lives are written down, or we're in a videogame. You never know."

Xaldin groaned, "Fine. As you know, the Heartless are many in number and when a heartless is struck down by the Keyblade, their hearts are released and they gather to form Kingdom Hearts. Only the Keyblade can do this, and that's where No. XIII comes in. He takes out the many Heartless that exist and he slowly helps us make Kingdom hearts. But, what about the rest of us? We have been doing this for years before we finally figured out that we're are basically useless at collecting Hearts."

"But?"

"..But," continued Xaldin, "That is only true when it comes to Heartless. The Organization, excluding No. XIII, of course cannot collect Hearts from defeated Emblem Heartless. Instead we compensate for this by collecting the Hearts of Strong Hearted humans. We send out Lesser Nobodies to scour and search any and all worlds they can to find any being that has a strong heart. Then, when they have located one, a member, or a party of members, is dispatched to collect that heart. But Humans with strong hearts are, regrettably, few in number. So that's why we send Roxas on the majority of Heartless-based missions and the rest of us go looking for Humans."

"Yeah, I know that."

"Then why did you ask me to explain it to you!?"

"Just to get on your nerves." Xigbar said, laughing.

"I'll say it again, You are a Horse's ass! Let us leave this Godforsaken place." Xaldin held out his hand and a few feet away a Dark Corridor opened and they quickly departed.

* * *

Back in the Gray Area, A different Dark Corridor opened and Four Nobodies came walking out.

"That Movie sucked!" Demyx yelled, the first one to walk out.

"I paid 5 Dollars for that?" said Roxas coming out of the portal.

"I've seen better acting in Pornos." Xinck proclaimed as he walked out.

"That movie was awesome!" Axel yelled, jumping out of the portal, "Amputee Hooker! Yeah!"

"Axel, how can you actually like that movie?" Roxas asked, taking a seat on one of the couches.

"Did you see that part when she choked that one guy with her own stubs?! That takes talent!"

"Worst. Movie. Ever!" Yelled Xinck, leaning against the couch Roxas was sitting on, "The only good parts of that movie were the Previews and the ending. Other than that, complete and utter Crap-o-rama!"

You guys just don't know good movies." Axel Replied.

"Ha! The Nightmare Before Chanukah was a good movie." said Demyx, "Confessions of A Teenage Whore was a good movie. Amputee Hooker was not!"

"Hey, even The Small Female Mer-Creature was watchable." Roxas added.

"You have terrible taste in movies, Axel." said Xinck

"Whatever." Axel said.

"Maybe next time we can go see Paranormal Activity?" suggested Demyx.

Axel quickly punched Demyx in the shoulder and retracted his arm, "Copyright, dummy."

"Ow. Oh yeah, sorry. Paranormal Activity? I didn't say that, I meant Supernatural Going-ons." Demyx restated. Then he yawned and stretched a little, "Well, I'm tired. I'm goin' to bed."

Demyx walked out of the room, then Roxas got up, "Yeah, I'm going to bed, too. Goodnight."

" 'Night." said Axel.

"Goodnight." said Xinck.

Roxas left, leaving Axel and Xinck.

"So what are you gonna do?" asked Axel to Xinck.

"Um...well, I'm gonna go to my room, stare into the Abyss and slip slowly into madness...then I'll go to sleep.

"Are...are you serious?" Axel asked raising an Eyebrow.

"Actually...I don't even know anymore. Goodnight."

Goodnight."

"Goodnight." said Axel, watching as Xinck left the room.

Axel didn't wait. He opened a Portal around himself and disappeared out of the Gray Area. He reappeared on the Balcony above The Hall Of Empty Melodies. The first thing to catch Axel's eye was the Blue-haired man, leaning up against the wall.

Saix opened his eyes as Axel walked up to him. "It's been awhile since we've been able to talk together....Lea."

"We've both been busy, right?"

"Well, someone has to assign missions to this Motley Crew of Misfits."

"Well, we Do Fit Because We Misfi-"

"DON'T!" yelled Saix, getting off the wall. "What I wanted to talk about was what really Happened in Castle Oblivion....Lea."

"Well, what do you want to know?" Axel asked.

"I want to know everything that you know....Lea"

It only took abut two Minutes for Axel to sum up the entirety of the events from Castle Oblivion. He explained how he had gained evidence of Marluxia's betrayal and how Riku had taken out Lexaeus and that he had to eliminate Vexen in order to gain Marluxia's and Larxene's trust.

"All of that is unimportant to our plan, but what about Zexion,...Lea?"

"Dead. Like the rest of them...and....well..I sorta had to um." Axel started to stammer and rub the back of his neck while avoiding Saix's gaze.

"You had to what,...Lea?"

"I got some help from Xinck."

"What?!" Saix yelled.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch. He doesn't suspect a thing."

"EXPLAIN THIS!....Lea."

"Why do you keep doing that?!"

"What?" asked Saix.

"Ending all of your sentences with my name?!"

"Weird, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is, uh...um..whatever your original name is."

"You don't remember my old name?" Saix asked.

"Uh..I think it was-"

"It doesn't matter. What matters is what do you do with Xinck."

Axel sighed wearily, "He was pissed at Larxene for something, I don't know, but I did know that he desperately wanted to kill her. So I told him that She and Marluxia were planning a Coup. He readily accepted my offer to help take them out. So we both lied to the traitors, telling them that we would join them, but we had to eliminate Vexen first. Eventually, Sora eliminated Larxene, preventing Xinck's revenge, but I think all he cared about was the fact that Larxene was dead."

"Mmm." Saix said, "What of your orders to kill Zexion? That was the biggest reason why I sent you to Castle Oblivion."

"Ah, the interesting part. Xinck had told me that Zexion had sent Riku out to kill him, and from what Xinck said, Riku almost succeeded. But Xinck was able to calm Riku down and Riku told him that Lexaeus had told him to kill Xinck. Xinck didn't believe that Lexaeus would send someone to kill him. So Xinck assumed it was Zexion who gave the order. After I had gotten the Replica to absorb Zexion's power and kill him, Xinck came into the room and wanted to know where Zexion was. I told him that Zexion was dead. But Xinck said he could still sense Zexion somewhere far from the Castle, So Xinck went to go kill him."

"How can you be so sure that Xinck did in fact kill him?"

"I know Xinck. If he has a grudge, he'll definitely get his revenge."

"And your sure that Xinck doesn't suspect our plans?"

"Positive."

Saix raised a hand to his chin, "I'll admit, Xinck's skills are formidable and the Dark Power he uses could be helpful to us. Perhaps in the near future, we'll bring him over to our side."

"We might be able to do that. Xinck hated Larxene, but he had no problem with Marluxia, probably because Marluxia trained him and their powers have a few things in common, but if Marluxia had gotten to Xinck before I did, he Might have joined Marluxia." Axel replied.

"So he almost switched his loyalties, but he probably would have switched back in order to help you. Since you two are 'Friends' and all."

Axel said nothing and didn't have to look away from Saix because he was facing away from him. Instead he tried to redirect the conversation, "So what about you? Now that Zexion's gone, you-"

"With Zexion's death, his knowledge about our plans have died with him. No big deal."

"So what are the plans?"

"Same as always. We wait. We bide our time and wait for the right opportunity."

"Can I go to bed now?" Axel asked.

"Huh? Oh sure, I'll just stay here and monologue for a few more minutes."

Axel got up and started to walk away towards the Door that would lead out and away from the Balcony, until Saix called out-

"Goodnight,....Lea."

"Goodnight,....Isa.

Saix looked up and turned toward Axel, but he had already left.

* * *

The next day In The Castle, members have been summoned to Where Nothing Gathers, each member taking a seat in their respective chairs. And Xemnas was about to start the meeting.

"Good Tidings, Friends." He said in his usually deep voice. "Today, nothing of any real significance is happening. Except missions, of course. Now, I have personally assigned a special mission to-"

"Wait, Superior?" Luxord interrupted.

"Yes?"

"I would like to bring up some old business."

"I'll allow it."

Luxord reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small baggie. And inside was a small piece of used Soap with suds forming at the bottom of the bag and a small black line on the edge. Luxord cleared his throat and spoke, "People, as a common courtesy to the rest of us, please uses a washcloth when taking a shower. I for one am tired of finding hair on every bar of soap. And I think this is pubic hair! Do you have any idea how disgusting that is?!"

"Who's hair is it?" asked Demyx, which was a strange question to ask.

"Well." Luxord to a closer look at the hair on the bar, "Well the follicle is colored black...so.." Several pairs of eyes moved towards Xinck's throne.

"What? What are you all looking at?" he asked.

"Well, your hair _is _black." said Luxord.

"That doesn't mean anything!"

"Actually," came in Xaldin, "It's my hair."

"Haha! Xaldin's losing his hair!"

"I-"

"Enough!" said Xemnas, calmly, "As much as I do not enjoy conversations regarding pubic follicles, we must return to business."

Everyone settled down and tuned into Xemnas's words.

" As you know, you all will be assigned missions later from Saix, but I have a special mission today requiring 3 members."

Everyone sat up in their seats and leaned inward. Any mission that required 3 or more members was always important. It wasn't exactly a rare occurrence, but it was always interesting to have more than one partner on a mission.

"This mission requires the elimination of an exceptionally strong Heartless. So the Three members that shall be departing on this mission are, Roxas..."

Roxas looked up from his throne and around the room, _"Should have known I would have to go. It's a Heartless mission."_

"...Xinck..." Xemnas called.

"_Dammit all to Hell!"_ Xinck thought loudly, not letting his face express his thoughts as he looked up at Xemnas.

"...And..."

Everyone was so sure it would be Axel, since they were always, well usually, tripled up. Axel didn't bother to even look up. He was so sure he would be the one to go.

"...Myself."

"The Fuck, man?!" yelled Axel, nearly jumping out of his seat.

All eyes turned on Axel and a few chuckles could be heared, while Xigbar was saying "Oooh, you gonna get it."

"Problem, Axel?" asked Xemnas, eyebrow raised.

As if catching himself in the act, Axel regained his calm, "Oh..um....I was..uh just under the impression that I would be on that mission."

"No. Not only is this an important mission, with a powerful Heartless, so I thought it imperative that Roxas, Xinck and I test our skills and see how well they sync."

"But I-"

"If it makes you feel any better, Saix has assigned you to..um..what was that world called again, Saix?"

"Yaoi Porn World." Saix said, smiling evilly at Axel who seemed to grow a little pale.

"But, but...I-" Axel stammered, "I can-"

"Make sure you bring lots of disinfectant." said Xemnas, then he addressed Xinck and Roxas, "We will meet in the Gray Area. See Saix when you two are ready. Dismissed."

Xemnas disappeared into a portal, followed by Saix and Luxord, Demyx and Xaldin.

"Haha!" laughed Xigbar, "You kids have fun now!" He to disappeared.

Xinck sighed and lowered his head, "This is gonna suck balls." He also disappeared.

Roxas looked around at the empty, white room and looked at Axel, "I don't get it. Why is everyone getting so worked up?"

"You and Xinck have never been on a mission with Xemnas before and it is not a pleasant experience." He said, straightening himself up.

"Why, what happens?"

Axel sighed loudly, "Well, I wish I had time to tell you, but _I _have to go pick up some disinfectant." Axel prepared to disappear into a portal, "Just...be careful." He disappeared.

Roxas hesitated, then he also disappeared into a portal.

He later walked into the Gray Area, as he usually did before a mission. Scattered about the Room, Roxas saw several members awaiting their missions. Xinck was leaning up against the huge class window, a few feet away from Saix, with his head down and arms crossed.

Xemnas was in the exact middle of the room, standing perfectly still and staring out the window, up and towards the ever-expanding Kingdom Hearts. Other members, specifically Demyx and Xigbar were just sitting on the other side of the room, talking. The others must have already left.

Roxas walked past Xemnas, who didn't seem to notice him and towards Xinck. He stopped in front in front of him and he raised his head.

"I don't know about you, but something is telling me that this is going to be the worst mission ever." He said.

"Why, you've been on missions with Xemnas before?" Roxas asked.

"No. but there has to be a reason why he goes on missions by himself, right? His throne is always the highest, yet I've never seen him depart on a mission."

"Maybe because he's the Superior, he doesn't have to."

"Or he just gets Saix to do it for him."

"Well, I guess we're just gonna find out for ourselves, right?" Roxas said, feigning a smile.

Yeah." Xinck replied, faking a small laugh, "We're gonna die."

"What?"

Before he could say anything, Xemnas walked up to them, that look on his face that made his intentions nearly impossible to read, "So, are we ready to depart?"

"Uh, yeah, sure." Roxas said.

"Potions, abilities and magic all equipped?"

"Yeah. We have a few Elixirs." said Xinck.

"And we all have Zero Gear equipped?"

"Yeah." Roxas and Xinck both said.

"Very well then. Xinck, open a portal."

Xinck hesitated, then stretched out his arm. He concentrated for a few seconds and a swirling mass of Shadows formed a Corridor of Darkness a few feet away from him.

"Eh, I could have done it better." Commented Xemnas, moving towards the portal.

"Ah, what the-?" Xinck said, offended, also moving towards the portal, "If you could have done it, then why didn't you?"

"I'm the Superior, I don't have to _Do _anything. Let's go." Xemnas disappeared into the portal.

Xinck clenched his teeth, balled his fist and his left eye started to twitch. He was about to yell at Xemnas inside the portal, until Roxas clapped a hand on his right soldier.

"Just let it go." he said.

"Arrg! Fine!" He and Roxas disappeared into the portal.

* * *

They exited out of The Dark Corridor in Twilight Town's Train Station Plaza. Xemnas and Xinck were the only ones that had to momentarily shield their eyes as the eternal afternoon light hit their faces, but Roxas casually walked out, unaffected by his element. He stopped beside Xinck who was standing next to Xemnas.

"Damn this light," muttered Xemnas, "Someday I'll destroy you!"

"So, what Heartless are we after?" Roxas asked.

"We are here to eliminate the Shadow Orcus. It's like the regular Orcus, except it's bigger, stronger and can summon Neoshadows. In the words of your generation, 'It's pretty badass'."

"Well, let's start searching." Roxas started to walk forward, until he was stopped by Xemnas who placed an outstretched hand in front of him.

"Ah ah ah, _I'm _the Superior. _I _lead the group."

"Uh-but I-"

"He has the Keyblade." interrupted Xinck, "And besides, he always leads. I'm not sure way, and every time he does, everyone else always veers off to the bottom left of the viewing angle, but that's just how it is."

"It is of no importance. I will lead, end of discussion." commanded Xemnas.

Roxas was about to argue some more, until Xinck clapped a hand on his right soldier.

"Just let it go." he said.

Now," said Xemnas as he slowly raised 2 inches into the air, "_Ikimashou_(Jp-Let's Go.)"

"What the hell, man?!" yelled Xinck, "You're stealing my bit!"

"Excuse me?"

"_I'm _the one that speaks in different languages! Why didn't you just say 'Let's Go' in English like everyone else?!"

"Oh, sorry, Xinck, I didn't know that you were the King of Other Languages." Xemnas said sarcastically, which was something he was not known for being. "Don't get you panties in a bunch. Let's go."

" What the-? Panties...?" muttered Xinck.

Xemnas started to float in front of both Roxas and Xinck, leading the group as they jogged to keep up behind him. Though Roxas and Xinck weren't talking to each other (because they didn't want Xemnas to hear) they were thinking they same thing: "He's an ass. Why doesn't he just walk like the rest of us?!"

As the group made it to the exit of the Station Plaza, a black puff of smoke appeared, blocking their path. Out of the smoke appeared a large, floating humanoid Heartless. Clawed talons and hands, a large muscly frame with vague white and red designs all over it's body that formed a Heart design on his abdomen. A large Red and black sword was gripped tightly in it's hands and it's face was truly demonic in appearance, having white-tipped horns on it's head, jagged sharp teeth and it's yellow eyes were the only indication that it was still a Heartless.

" 'Ello, Beastie." said Xinck as the rest of the gropu gawked at the Heartless standing directly in front of them.

Roxas looked at the Heartless, "Ah, is that the-"

"Shadow Orcus." said Xemnas, "Weapons, now."

Two shining lights sparked in Roxas's hands and his Keyblades, Oblivion and Oathkeeper, appeared and he crouched down into his fighting stance.

Shadows flew from the corners and ground of the Plaza and flew around Xinck's hands. The Darkness was gripped in each palm and it solidified, forming two chained blades. He twirled them around in each hand so that bottom handles were facing upward and the blades downward.

Xemnas, having no real physical weapon, merely outstretched his hands and Blue Nothing Energy crackled around his hands. _"I'm too cool for a weapon." _He thought to himself.

The Shadow Orcus made the first move. As it was a 3 on 1 fight, it's hand became consumed in black and purple fire. It held the flaming hand in the air and all around it, dark pools of living shadows spread on the ground around it. Several Neoshadows pulled themselves up from the darkness and automatically started twitching as they stared down the Nobodies.

Xemnas shot up to the first Neoshadow and started to attack with his Ethereal Blades as they shone from his hands. He knocked the Heartless back a few feet, reared back and fired several shots of blades from his hands, killing the Heartless.

"Oh, yes. I rock." He declared in his deadpan voice. He wasn't paying attention as two other Neoshadows jumped him from behind and he fell with a grunt.

"Ha, serves him right." Xinck said as he turned away from Xemnas. Xinck jumped back as a Heartless made a move, missing as he had jumped out of the way. He came back down, swords ready and he struck the Neoshadow several times, sending it falling back. It started to melt into the floor, leaving a pool of darkness. The pool moved around and away from Xinck and stopped directly behind him and the Neoshadow shoot from the pool, flipped in midair and landed, sending out a circle of Energy, hitting Xinck head on.

"Ah! Damnit!" He yelled as the energy dissipated and he regained his balance, "Didn't see that coming! Once again!"

He saw the Neoshadow form into another pool of shadows, but this time it crawled across the ground and away from Xinck. Once again it flipped backwards out of the pool and shot like a bullet straight at Xinck. As it flew toward the Nobody, it gained speed and the wind formed a small dome around it. Xinck made an X shape with his swords and blocked the Heartless, sending it back. As the Neoshadow flew back, Xinck slashed his sword across the Heartless's chest and it hit the ground.

Xinck laughed through gritted teeth as he walked up to the twitching Heartless as it laid on it's back. Xinck held one of his swords over the Heartless. "Ah, you're no fun anymore. You just lie there!" He prepared to kill the Heartless, when he was attacked from behind by more Neoshadows, tackling him to the ground. "Ahh, Apaches!" He yelled.

Roxas was fairing better than the other two as he had already killed 3 Neoshadows. But 3 new ones were charging at him and Roxas readied in his stance. The Neoshadows jumped into the air and Roxas followed, scissor cutting the closest Neoshadow in the air, killing him. Another came falling towards him and it struck out a clawed hand at Roxas, but he blocked with Oblivion and killed the Heartless with Oblivion. The final heartless was too high for Roxas to reach and as he started to fall back to the earth. He threw Oblivion at his opponent and as it made it's way through the air, it bifurcated The Neoshadow and Roxas landed back to the ground.

Roxas watched as Xemnas was continuing to fight Neoshadows and the Shadow Orcus looming over the exit out of the Plaza. Roxas turned his head and saw Xinck finish killing off the rest of his share of Heartless and start walking towards him.

"Have I ever told you how much I hated Neoshadows?" asked Xinck.

"Yeah, you told me." Roxas looked upward, "You might wanna take a step back."

"Um, why?"

Before Xinck could get an answer Roxas pushed him back and he almost lost his balance as Oblivion fell from the sky and landed, impaling the ground with it's handguard facing upward.

"That's why." Roxas grabbed his Keybled out of the Ground and Xinck walked up to him.

"Wait a minute, Roxas." Xinck said, "My common sense is tingling. What if we just do our Redux, then we can get the hell out of here?"

"Mmm" Roxas moved his eyes upward and placed his hand on his chin, "I've always wondered if we have Reduxes, then why do we need Limit Breaks?"

"Huh, good point. I'm gonna do my Limit Break." Declared Xinck.

"Why?"

"Just to how off." He grinned.

"But, you hate showing off."

"So I'm complicated, sue me." He said, shrugging, "Now watch."Xinck saw a few Neoshadows making their way towards Roxas and Xinck. He held up one sword to the sky and the other he hung across the back of his neck. Momentarily, small lights and Nobody thorns danced around him and disappeared as quickly as they came.

"Sink into the Darkness!" he yelled. He was about to move when-

"Marluxia said that."

"What?!"

"That's what Marluxia said that when ever he did his Limit." said Roxas.

"Dammit! Even in Death they take all of the good ones! Okay, let's try this!" Xinck got back into his stance, The Neoshadows still coming. "Don't Threaten Me!"

"Saix."

"Dammit!" Xinck yelled.

"Haven't you been paying attention anytime you go on missions with them and they use their Limits?" Roxas asked, crossing his arms

"I don't know. They must be doing them when I'm not around. Alright, how about this; 'No Holds barred?'"

"Xaldin.

"You Had your fun?"

"Xigbar."

"Agghh!" Xinck roared. "That's not fair!"

"They're coming!" yelled Roxas, re-summoning his Keyblades to fight off the Neoshadows.

"No, no, no! Put those away! I'll do it. I just thought of one that no one could have thought of" Xinck once again got back into his stance and he said in a calm cool voice, "I'll take your life as forfeit."

"Oh, that's a good one."

Xinck started in a frenzy, Dark Lightning falling from the sky all around him as his eyes had turned completely black with dark smoke flowing out of them. Spouts of Dark energy were shooting up randomly from the ground and destroying any Heartless they touched.

Back to Xemnas, who had defeated the least amount of Heartless. He threw up his energy shield and blocked a direct attack from a Neoshadow.

"Agh!" he groaned emotionlessly as his shield went down and he was attacked from behind. "Enough of this! I'M the Superior, and You're an Eyesore!" Xemnas landed as he came out of a backflip, he outstretched his arms and a loud booming sound could be heard as he was consumed in a large orb-like forcefield.

The entire plaza and possibly a good portion of Twilight Town was enguled in Xemnas's own presence. The feeling of an entire Ocean's worth of pressure was being pushed down on every living thing within a few mile radius. Even Roxas was feeling the effects of Xemnas unleashing his presence.

"Ah!" Roxas groaned and buckled under the force. Xinck stopped his Limit and watched as Xemnas floated around in his Orb, killing any and every Heartless in the way.

Xemnas looked toward the sky and outstretched his arms again and from the palms of his hands, erupted concussive forces of white energy. The blasts swept across the entire plaza as Xemnas spun around. Roxas ducked and hit the ground as one blast nearly hit him and the remaining Neoshadows were instantly disintegrated.

The Blasts ceased and the forcefield around Xemnas disappeared and his pressure on Twilight town subsided. He took a look around, the Neoshadows had been completely killed and the Shadow Orcus remained at the Exit.

"Now, it's your turn." said Xemnas. He started to move, but so did the Orcus. It flew high into the air and towards the town, ignoring Xemnas. "No you don't." He too started to lift into the air to chase the Heartless, until he heard Roxas yelling.

"Xemnas! What did you do?!"

"Mmm?" Xemnas turned around and saw Roxas kneeling next to Xinck, who was sitting up against a nearby wall,a pool of blood forming under him. Xemnas walked over to the two and saw that where a good portion of Xinck's midsection should be was empty space and blood.

"Eww, Xinck, that is disgusting. I can see your Liver." Xemnas said, looking into the giant hole in Xinck, "Indecent Exposure is against the Organization's rules."

Struggling to breath and trying to stay conscious, Xinck muttered the words, "You..as..asshole! Gah!" He started to twitch with pain as part of his ribcage fell to the floor in a heap of blood. He was pounding his fist on the ground as neither of his lungs were working anymore and he had lost too much blood.

"What happened?!" Roxas yelled looking into the giant hole in Xinck's side.

"I must have accidentally hit him with a blast while I did my Limit." said Xemnas, "You should be much more careful in the future, Xinck"

"Don't we have anything to heal him?!" Roxas yelled, "What about those Elixirs?"

"Elixirs wouldn't heal a wound this deep."

"He's gonna die!"

"Yup, it appears so. We better start looking for a new member."

Xinck took in a large breath and started to yell. Xemnas and Roxas looked and saw that he was healing himself. From the inside out, they could see new bones forming and veins weaving in and out, attempting to resume their original form. Parts of his lung, liver and gall bladder were being reformed and placed in their original place, all this with a terrible squishing noise as blood flow resumed and muscles and skinned reformed. Starting out as a bloody reddish pink color and slowly turning into it's regular color tone, his skin returned to normal, and over that, his Organization XIII Coat. He took in a long deep breath and stood up.

"What the-? Xinck, how did you-?" Roxas stammered as he stood up.

"Healing Factor." He said with a strange grin.

"You mean like Wolverine?" asked Roxas.

"Eh, more like Deadpool." He replied. "I'll tell you more later."

"Xinck." said Xemnas, uncaring to the fact that he had almost lost a member in his Organization, "You got in the way of my attack. Because of you, the Shadow Orcus has escaped into town, probably feasting on little children as we speak."

"I didn't know that Heartless ate kids." Xinck's eyes had turned slanted and focused as he talked to Xemnas.

"Well, that one probably does. Did you see the way it looked? Now all those children have to die because you got in the way."

"Well, excuse me for getting my midsection disintegrated." he rolled his eyes with sarcasm

"You are excused. Now, we mustn't Dilly nor Dally, Children. We will find this Heartless. Onward." Xemnas turned from Roxas and Xinck and floated away out of the plaza, expecting them to follow.

"Did..that hurt?" Roxas asked.

"Of course it hurt!" Xinck replied.

"I didn't know you could heal like that."

"Healing and coming back from the Dead are just a few things I can do."

"Oh, what-?" Roxas raised an eyebrow, then laughed, "You can't be serious...are you? You can come back from the dead?!"

Xinck turned to him and nodded, "Mm-mmm."

"HOW!?"

"I said I'd tell you later. But we should go." He turned toward the Exit of the Plaza and started running, Roxas followed behind him.

They caught up with Xemnas In Market Street, who was slowly floating down the slopey, winding pathway that was lined with various shops on each side. All of the shops had the same basic design, square shape, various color schemes that blended well with the overall mood of the town. Each shop also had a sign, either neon or wooden, decorated with whatever it was they were selling. Lucky for The residence of the town, it was the time of day when they all slept, so they didn't see the three super-powered Nobodies walking through their streets.

"I saw the Heartless fly off in this Direction, toward Downtown." Xemnas said pointing left down the hill. Roxas and Xinck joined behind him, as they have to constantly jog to keep up with Xemnas.

No one talked, but Xemnas half-expected that his two companions would be talking to each other, but they seemed to be too busy trying to keep up with him. Everyone knew that Xemnas wasn't much for conversation, but now as He, Roxas and Xinck silently ran through Twilight Town, he continued to think that maybe he was really out of touch with his Organization (Not only was he out of touch with his Organization, but he was also out of touch with most 21st Century Society, as he is probably the only person in existence who still refers to TV as "Picto-Cube" or "Televisual Aid"). So in an extremely rare occurrence, Xemnas decided to try and start a conversation, just to get rid of this awkward silence.

"So, uh..." started Xemnas, "How are you two liking this Musical Televisual Aid thing I've been hearing so much about." He slowed down to a stop and allowed the two younger Nobodies to catch their breath on the Slope of Market street, directly in front of a green and blue sign that posted Job Offerings.

"W..What?" Breathed Roxas, putting his hands on his knees., "Musical What?"

"I think it is called MTV, correct?"

"I don't know. Xinck?"

Xinck was bent over, one hand on his knee and another on his chest, "I had no idea people still watched MTV. I'm a VH1 guy myself."

"Mmm." said Xemnas, "I was so sure that you two admired the MTV Lifestyle."

"MTV Lifestyle?" said Xinck, "What the-? Did they just unfreeze you from the 80's?"

"Then what do Normal Children your Age like?"

They had both already caught their breath from the running they just did, but both Roxas and Xinck were a bit taken aback by this weird question that their Completely Emotionless Superior just asked them.

Roxas stood up, "Uh..I don't know if you've noticed or not, but...nothing about us is Normal."

"That is not true." Xemnas said in his usually monotone voice, offering no reassurance, "You two are plenty normal. How many other adolescence can say they chase down monsters on a daily basis?"

"Uh...8?"

"5?" guessed Xinck.

Xemnas pointed to Roxas, "You're closest without going over. Now, enlighten me; what is it that Children do?"

"Um.." Roxas scratched the back of his Head, "Have you...ever heard of Hannah Montana?"

* * *

Meanwhile in The Gray Area, The rest of The Organization had already returned from their assignments.

"Worst Mission ever!" Axel yelled as he closed a Corridor of Darkness. He was wearing blue Latex gloves that were covered in goop over his regular gloves and he slowly started to pull them off.

"How was your mission, Axel?" asked Demyx from the couch, playing his Sitar. He had just gotten back from a Reconnaissance mission in Port Royal.

"It..it was..TERRIBLE!" Yelled Axel, "Oh, it was awful! There was..so..much..c-"

"Come on, Axel, "Shouted Xigbar from the other side of the room on the Couch, "No one wants to here that. Disgusting."

"Well, how'd your mission go?" Demyx asked.

"It went great. I personally put a Bullet In Franklin The Turtle's Head. It turns out that the little Bastard was a snapping Turtle. He almost took my neck off!"

It's good to know that all of your missions went well." Came the voice of Saix. Heads turned toward the entrance Of The Gray Area to see the Blue-Haired man. He walked straight to the huge glass window and faced his back towards it to look out to the rest of The Room. "Have Xemnas and the others returned from their mission?" He asked.

"No, I'm afraid not, Old Boy." said Luxord, sitting across from Xigbar, "I was the first one back and the place was rather empty."

"Ha! They're on a Mission with Xemnas." said Xigbar, "I wouldn't be surprised if those Kids came back scarred for life. Xinck might be fine with all of his "Crazies", but Roxas...Oh,man."

"I've never been on a mission with Xemnas." Demyx chimed in, "What's it like?"

"Look at this." Xigbar pointed to his scar on his left check, "The first mission I went on with Xemnas, I put my hood on for a few minutes and he thought I was a Heartless, then I shot him in the butt. He wouldn't talk to me for weeks."

"Wow." Demyx said in astonishment.

"And then Xaldin,..Well, let's just say his Hair wasn't always in Dreadlocks."

"Really?"

"Oh, yeah. What I don't get is how Xemnas got Xaldin to walk into the Giant Turbine in the first place, but that was before we were Nobodies and Xaldin's hair was just really long."

"Ouch."

"Miraculously, we were able to fix his face, for the better I think." Xigbar laughed.

"What did he used to look like?" asked Axel.

"Antonio Banderas. Weird, right?" Xigbar looked over towards Saix, "Hey, why don't you tell us what your first mission with Xemnas was like?"

Saix sighed deeply, folded his arms and closed his eyes, "Well...My Hair wasn't always blue."

Even started to laugh, but were quickly shut down by Saix, "Irregardless, we cannot help Roxas or Xinck at this moment. All we can do, is hope that they all come back with their limbs."

* * *

"So," said Xemnas, a finger on his chin as he talked, "You're saying that she automatically becomes famous anytime she puts on the wig?"

"No." said Roxas, "She's already famous, but only when she puts on her blonde wing and she becomes Hannah Montana, but when she takes it off, not in front of anyone else, she's Miley Cyrus."

"So, she has a split personality disorder?"

"No, no, She is Miley Cyrus, not famous, just a regular Brunette girl. But when she puts on her blonde wig, she is the hit teen sensation, Hannah Montana."

"Alright, I think I understand. But, question, while she is Hannah, doesn't anyone think that she wears a Brunette wig and turns into Miley? Hasn't anyone thought of that?"

"....I..I guess not." Roxas said, "But Xinck..."

"Oh, this is all crap anyway!" Yelled Xinck joining the conversation, "There is noway that Hannah and Miley are the same person."

"And for some reason, Xinck just will not accept that Miley is Hannah, no matter how many times I explain it to him."

"You don't have to explain it to me! They want you to think that they're the same person! But they can't be, because Miley has Brown hair and Hannah has Blonde hair!"

'They are the same person! They've shown her put on and take off the wig!"

"It's a fake wig!"

"....WHAT IS A FAKE WIG!?!?!" Roxas yelled. "You know what? Nevermind, I don't care, i'm not having this argument with you again."

Xinck scoffed, "Whatever."

"Whatever."

"I think I've had enough. Let us find this Heartless." Xemnas declared and he turned and Headed toward Tram Common.

A few minutes later they walked into the open area of Tram Common, the small Downtown, Store infested area of Twilight Town. Of course, it was the time of Day that the people of the Town were asleep, so the place was deserted and the Shops were closed.

Upon their entrance into Tram Common, Xemnas immediately stopped.

"What? What's wrong?" Asked Xinck.

A black mass rushed straight pass Xemnas and stabbed Xinck directly in the Chest with a large broad sword. Xinck yelled and fell to his back, the large sword protruding from his bloody wound and standing above him was The Shadow Orcus, it's Demonic Appearance glared at Xemnas, who was unfazed and Roxas who took a step back.

"Oh, yeah, Xinck, I forgot to say Watch Out." Xemnas said as he too slid back and his Ethereal Blades extended form his palms.

The Shadow Orcus, who was levitating in the air, reached down and grabbed his Sword from Xinck's body, drops of red falling from the exotically shaped blade.

Roxas looked down at Xinck and saw that the wound had almost completely severed the top of his Torso from his body.

"Xinck?" Roxas whispered to the bloody corpse, "Are you..?"

"I'm fine. Hurts like Hell, though." Xinck replied as he spat up blood.

The Shadow Orcus looked down at Xinck for a second and plunged it's sword downward directly into Xinck's stomach, repeatedly. Blood was shooting from the wounds like water from a park fountain as Xinck groaned and yelled.

"Aaagggghhh!"

"You know, I've had ample time, I should probably do something." said Xemnas. He leapt at The Orcus, pushing it off of Xinck and proceeded to unload combo after combo on the Orcus.

Xinck sat up, bloodied with his Torso cut up so badly that it would have been fatal to normal people. He got to his feet and looked to his stomach, and as expected, his body was healing itself, tissue and skin reforming from the damage and severed tissue and his organs also started to work again. And his Coat restitched itself(I'm not 100% sure why his coat reforms, but it's better than running around naked).

"Alright, I think I've seen your insides enough for one day." declared Roxas.

"You could have jumped in and got him off me."

"You looked fine."

"I was screaming! I can still feel pain!"

Xemnas blocked a sword strike from The massive sword of The Shadow Orcus, turned and yelled back to Roxas and Xinck, "Feel free to jump in anytime!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." All the shadows that were closest to Xinck flowed to the center of his hands and took shape into his two Chained Blades, "I'm gonna get that son of a bitch! I'm the only one can stab me!"

Xinck jumped and teleported into black smoke and reappeared high above the Orcus. He fell on top of it's shoulders, gripped his hand on it's left horn and started to stab it in the back as it thrashed around wildly, trying to fight Xemnas and knock away Xinck at the same time.

Roxas called his two Keyblades and ran toward the battle. He rolled out of the way of a sword strike and Xemnas blocked for Himself.

The Shadow Orcus made no noise, but it was obvious that it had had enough. It took it's free hand and grabbed Xinck of it's back and threw him at Roxas. They both went flying to the ground, their weapons flailed about as they hit.

"Oh, that sucked!" Xinck yelled, picking himself up.

"You landed on my leg." Roxas said as Xinck helped him up.

"....."

"What?"

'Oh, nothing, I just couldn't think of anything funny to say." He laughed.

Xemnas slid all the way back next to Roxas and Xinck as he had put up is shield and blacked a powerful strike. "He is strong. We need to catch him off guard if we are going to defeat him."

"How?" Xinck asked.

"I have an idea." Xemnas grabbed Roxas by the arm. "I need to borrow you for a second."

"What the-?"

The Shadow Orcus raised it's sword-free hand to the air and it caught fire, a black and purple fire. It was preparing to summon a Horde of NeoShadows.

"It's summoning NeoShadows!" Yelled Xinck.

"Let go, Xemnas!" yelled Roxas.

"Hammerthrow of Nothingness!" Xemnas spun around on his Heel, spinning a screaming Roxas in a Circle. He clutched his Keyblade and yelled while Xemnas spun 'round and around. He let go and Roxas went flying straight at The Shadow Orcus. He hit and sliced Oblivion directly through it's abdomen.

The Shadow Orcus dropped it's fading giant sword as it's upper torso started to fall off the rest of it's body. It faded before it could even hit the ground and it's powerful Heart was released and flew towards the sky. Roxas hit the ground, his Keyblades clattered to the hard ground.

"Mission complete. Good wok, you two." said Xemnas.

"That's not cool." said Xinck, shaking his head at Xemnas

"What?"

"You threw him!"

"It was the only thing I could think of."

"You suck, Xemnas!" Roxas yelled from a few Yards away.

" Your Fine. Just walk it off. Let us Return To The Castle."

"You mean RTC?" asked Xinck.

"I don't care for Acronyms."

* * *

This chapter was originally going to be something else, but the that idea didn't really work for Me. So don't forget to Review.

Also, I had already said that i had no intention of making this story all about Xinck, but a few weeks ago, i got two different emails from people who read the story and they basically said that they thought Xinck was kind of interesting and they wanted to know more about what's going on with him. So i decided to write a chapter about Xinck, about his personality and ....well all that other crap. So there's that to look forward to.


	25. Way of The Dead Darkness

And so here it is, my Chapter about Xinck. It's Terribly shorter than most of my chapters and not entirely funny, but Honestly this story is only meant to be Fifty Percent Funny.

While you're reading this take into consideration that Xinck is...complex; He is...different, meaning that it was kind of Hard to sum up his personality and I left out a few things for time reasons.

I Don't Own Anything Except Xinck.

* * *

_XIV. XINCK_

A sarcastic and dangerously complicated youth who is often known for his "Different" Sense of Humor. He'll wait in the **darkness**and maul his target before they even know what happened.

Weapon: Chained Blades.

The Fallen Deviant is the Organization's Fourteenth Member, although he was not the first Fourteenth member. Since Roxas had joined the Organization, there were 4 weeks in between before Xinck joined and during that 4 week period 3 Nobodies occupied the 14th Position. They all died one way or another, so Xinck is actually proud of the fact that he lasted the longest. But, with the arrival of Xion, Xemnas strangely demoted Xinck to Number 15 and even marked it down in the records. But after Xion died and the events of 358/2 Days passed, he was brought back up to Number 14, but Xemnas never officially wrote it down, so Xinck is regarded by every other member as The 14th but is technically Number XV. (Of course no one remembers those events).

**Story**

Xinck was found by Larxene in a World Who's Name He Does Not Know. This was not his Home world, but, like all Nobodies, he was "Born" in The Realm In-Between(Specifically Betwixt and Between), but his Dark Power activated and he accidentally teleported to the world mentioned above, where he would wander around aimlessly, confused and naked for a day or two until Larxene brought him into The Organization.(He would later return to this world and kill thousands of people).

"What I vaguely remember about that place was that it resembled Feudal Japan, except it was modern. It's hard to explain, like, despite being dressed in ancient gowns and tunics, having no shoes and people riding in carts, I heard Techno and modern music, and I saw people holding Swords and a few holding Guns."

Xinck was one of the Seven members chosen to go to Castle Oblivion, although no one is exactly sure how he was chosen to go, since he was not a traitor, nor in Saix's way, unlike Vexen, Lexaeus and Zexion. Unlike the rest of the C.O. Team, he was not in on any conspiracy or coup, he was actually the only one there hoping to do research. As Marluxia and Larxene moved forward with their plan for Sora with Namine, Axel approached Xinck and told him of their plan and how He could help Axel bring them down. Xinck agreed to do so, only because his relationship with Larxene had strained so severely that he actually had a plan to kill her and dump her body somewhere unsanitary. He was the third to engage Sora in battle, but as a result, when he went back to the Main Room, Larxene saw it as disobeying orders and threw him in the dungeon, where Marluxia would later ask if Xinck wanted to join him in his quest to Take The Organization. He agreed only because he was already on Axel's side(Although Axel does speculate that if Marluxia had approached Xinck first, he would have joined with Marluxia).

After Axel and Xinck both eliminated Vexen in order to gain Marluxia and Larxene's trust, they later let loose Namine so she could encounter Sora and ruin Marluxia's plan. Later, after Sora killed Larxene, much to Xinck's delight, Axel and Xinck confronted Marluxia and fought but he got away with Namine as his prisoner. Sora barged into the room, just in time to challenge Axel and Xinck, but Axel refused and Let Sora pass to fight and kill Marluxia. Xinck, in a rare display of gratitude, provided Sora and his friends with Elxirs and departed.

Throughout the entirety of the events of Castle Oblivion, Xinck was unintentionally putting Dark Pressure on Riku's unique darkness as he made his way up from the basement. Zexion, Vexen and Lexaeus had taken note of this and Vexen had reasoned that Xinck would only continue to Pressure Riku, but after Vexen's death, Zexion and Lexaeus decided to heed Vexen's suggestion and Eliminate Xinck so that they could use Riku at his full Dark Potential to take down the traitors. Although an exact plan was never established, it was agreed upon by Lexaeus and Zexion to kill Xinck. Lexaeus encountered Riku and after his defeat thought that he would tell Riku to go after Xinck or Sora would be killed and Riku's horror would never end. Lexaeus faded and Riku eventually found Xinck(eating chips in a secluded Atrium off the course of the main Castle).

After a long and devastating battle, Riku almost brought Xinck to his knee, seeing as he had broken out from the huge mass of pressure Xinck had been accidentally putting on him, but before Xinck was killed, he stopped the fight after He realized that Riku was actually using what he considered "Real Darkness". They talked and eventually had a truce with Riku telling Xinck that Lexaeus had told him Sora would be in danger as long as Xinck is alive. Xinck and Riku departed on Neutral terms, but Xinck reasoned that if Lexaeus wanted him out of the way he would have done it himself and not sent Riku to do it, so Xinck knew it was Zexion who wanted him Dead.

After Zexion had confronted Riku and lost, he went back to the Observation Room to find Axel there with Vexen's Riku Replica. The Replica absorbed a good portion of Zexion's essence, but he had a magical failsafe that transported him miles away from The Castle. Xinck later came in and Axel told him that he had already gotten rid of Zexion, but Xinck could still sense that Zexion was alive. Xinck later teleported to the weakened Zexion and brutally murder him.

(If you think about it, Zexion dying by Xinck's hands was Lexaeus's fault. If he hadn't thought that by telling Riku to go after Xinck, something that Zexion did not know, Riku wouldn't have told Xinck that Lexaeus sent him and Xinck wouldn't have thought that Zexion was the one that wanted him dead)

**Appearance**

Xinck stands tall at about 6 foot and 1 inch, taller than Roxas, but shorter than Axel. His size lets him look several years older than what he really is(About 15-ish). He wears the standard Organization XIII coat, complete with black gloves, pants and and ankle-high shoes(Not boots for some reason) and his sleeves are long enough that he sometimes has to shake them back just to see his hands. Majority of the time, Xinck's face is in a neutral expression, a permanant scowl or melancholy expression, becuase of his abnormal pessimistic and cynical attitude. Possibly his two most exotic features are his teeth, which are perfectly sharp and pointy, and his eyes, which are an unnatural combination of Black and White and underneath both his eyes are extremely dark circles that make him look as if he hasn't slept in months or he's wearing guy-liner.

"Someone saw my teeth once and actually compared me to that guy from _Soul Eater_. I can't think of his name right now, it escapes me at the moment..." says Xinck.

Xinck is black with light/pale brown skin, though as a human, had a more cinnamon complexion due to his avoidance of the sun. His hair is darkness black and in very thin, long twists. His hair appears ambiguous in shape, due to his element not allowing any light to reflect off it.

**Personality**

Xinck's mental state has been called into question several times(about 34 times to date). He is mentally unstable and unpredictable with several, if not dozens of colorful mental disorders. Some of which include, Sociopathy, megalomania, delusions of granduer, schizophrenia, severe bipolar disorder, and several as-of-yet undiagnosed illnesses as well. He was once seen arguing with the mailbox(not the Organization's, but just a random mailbox).

He knows he has no heart and no emotions because of it, but his "Personality" ranges from Highs to very extreme lows. In fact, because of these extreme lows, Axel and/or Roxas have to watch him occasionally so that he doesn't have one of his "Accidents"(He's suicidal and has gotten away with it several times, but for some reason won't die). He can be quite sadistic when he gets overly excited or angry(especially when he fights, which Zexion knows all too well), something he blames Larxene for, that, and his Homicidal tendencies. He is abnormally pessimistic, cynical and "unstable", which combined with his Sarcasm makes others see him as funny if they haven't already decided to avoid him. But besides those traits, he has an overwhelming Dark Personality, something that some would call an evil presence. Dogs, most other animals, both small and undomesticated shy away from him, excluding cats who don't mind him. Weak-willed individuals who come by him either Die if they stay around him too long or faint and won't wake up for 4 days. He says he can turn this off and on when he wants but claims that a natural Dark Aura around him causes people to avoid and/or fear him, making him"feel" Loneliness.

Despite other numerous negative traits, Xinck does have redeeming qualities: He can be loyal when the situation calls for it, mostly when it come to Axel, Roxas or The Organization. Once, in an act of kindness, he brought fruit to a couple of vegetarians, but later he tied them up and force fed them meatloaf. He says he's not sure why he does anything( good or evil) and that he mostly just goes with the flow. At random times when he does play the "Good" and "innocent" character, he will seem awkwardly childish in nature, almost to the point where his eyes and face take on a Chibi appearance, other times, he'll do that just to manipulate people and get what he wants. Although he might seem absent-minded and "Off" he's a smarter than he looks. He has other nice qualities, a lot less than the Negative, but they're still there...somewhere.

**Powers/Weapons/Abilities**

Xinck's main power is **_Umbrakinesis_**, meaning He can Manipulate Darkness and Shadow in any form he can think of. He is a Dark Prodigy and can use these powers almost with no limit or drawback. He can manipulate dark energy, travel and teleport through shadows, turn into a cloud of gaseous darkness, create constructs from solid darkness and nearly anything else his mind can come up with. Truly, the only limit is his imagination.

Xinck's second power is **_Necrokinesis_**, meaning he can Manipulate Death and the Dead to a certain degree. Unlike his Umbrakinesis, Xinck's Necrokinesis takes up more energy and really only uses it for a last resort. As this power is inate, he can speak to and see ghosts (He says this ability is always on, but he never mentions it because the dead rarely have anything to talk about). He can summon hordes of ghosts to maul his enemies, call forth dead soldiers to attack (the more he summons, the more energy it takes). He does have the power of resurrection, but only those who have recently died and if their bodies are still intact. He can also exorsice spirits, and temporarily place the dead in a sleep (only if someone or something more powerful than him has control over them). Xinck also has the option of maximizing his powers by combining them. He can use both his powers and temporarily gain Geokinesis by calling jagged rocks of darkness from the land of the dead (The Underworld).

"Death and Darkness go hand in hand. They're both misunderstood, seen as evil when they are really not and people fear them. I can relate." says Xinck.

Xinck's weapon of choice are two double edged, short and jagged blades that have no handguard. Their Blades are Dark Gray in Color and the round leather handles are Jet Black. The most unique thing about these blades are their long range and short range capabilities. Of his own will, Xinck can separate the blades from the handles and swing them on a chain, then they snap back into the hilt. The name of The sword pair is **Thanatos**.

"Some guy actually compared Thanatos to the swords that guy from the God of War video game uses. Ha!...oh...I hope no one in copyright finds out..."

**Other Abilities and Skills**

Master Swordsman-Xinck is an expert at wielding not only his blades, but other swords as well. Including swords, Xinck has also shown skill in various other weapons.

Expert Hand-to-hand Combat- In the event Xinck looses his swords, or if he just doesn't feel like calling them, He can fight bare-handed. He has shown prowess in Capoeira and Northern Shaolin Kung Fu.

Immunity to Mind Control Due to Insanity- Xinck's mental state, his constantly shifting mind, makes him impervious to telepathy and other mind control techniques.

High Level Sorcery-Xinck is very adept at magical spells, rituals, incantations and objects. AFter Zexion's death, his studying of magic lead him to receive Zexion's former title of 'Head Mystic' in the Organization.

Perfect/Imperfect Healing Factor- Xinck's healing abilities are incredible, but unpredictable. Majority of the time, his body and bones will heal fast on their own, but occasionally, if he should lose a limb, it will not heal if the limb is still intact and in certain range. He would have to retrieve the limb and physically stick it back onto his body.

Physically Enhanced-As a Nobody, Xinck posseses superhuman strength, speed, agility, durabilty, intelligence and enhanced senses.

Polyglot- Xinck has the ability to quickly learn any language if he is exposed to it for an extended period of time.

Genius-Level Intellect- Xinck has a high I.Q., but, due to his insanity, his genius manifests in unorthodox ways that seem to make no sense to others (i.e Arguing with the mailbox).

**Miscellaneous**

Xinck's lesser Nobodies that serve under him are called Reapers. They are small and no more than 4ft tall. They appear to be wearing baggy black and gray jumpsuits and coats with long sleeves that completely hide their small hands. Their bodies are slender and thick and the Nobody symbol is decorated randomly on their bodies. Their legs were small and their "Pants" are baggy and almost completely hide their "Shoes". Their Heads are circles that are half-covered with a long hood that wavers behind them and hides their eyes from view(They don't have eyes, but no one could tell that because the hood hides it) instead they have two black circles on the top of their hoods that represent eyes and they change depending on the situation. They also have a zig-zag line that acts as their mouths on the front of their faces. When in battle, their legs disappear and form a wispy clear tail. Their hands form into scythe blades and their "eyes" take on an angry exression.

Xinck's Leader of his Servant Reapers is named Xercivio (Zer-siv-eo) and his real name is Rioveci(Re-o-ve-chi). He actually doesn't like Xinck, but Xinck is oblivious to this fact. He is unique among The Reaper Nobodies as he actually remembered his real name. He says if he didn't have to serve under Xinck, he wouldn't and the reason he doesn't like him is because Xinck always does the bare minimum. And although this usually goes unnoticed, Xercivio is actually more of a homicidal maniac than Xinck is, other than that their personalities are almost similar. Xercivio actually has really strong will for a Lesser Nobody, so strong in fact that he is on the border between Superior Nobody(The Organization) and Lesser Nobody(Lesser). He's very bitter about that and says that if he had a more human form, he would kill Xinck.

Xinck has gained a number of enemies throughout his time in the Organization. Here are a few, Sonic The Hedgehog, Carmen Sandiego, Denzel Washington, Mr. Incridible, El Presidente De Mexico, Beatrix Kiddo, Pikachu, Edward Cullen, Hades, The entire Country/Continent of Australia, Zommari Leroux, The Shinigami Ryuk, Spongebob, The Black-Eyed Peas, Ash Ketchum, Lindsey Lohan, Yu Yevon, Jashin, Arceus and Cthulhu.

In addition to enemies, he also has a few allies. Here are a few, Sephiroth (very interesting how they know each other), Davy Jones, Deadpool, Sly Cooper, Alucard, Freddy Krueger, Gregory House, Bayonetta, Puss in Boots, Stewie Griffin, Dante Alighieri, Huey Freeman, Death and Kenpachi Zaraki, etc.

**Other Miscellanea**

Xinck occasionally cooks for the Organization, while Xaldin is a better chef, Xinck is actually well adept at Dessert.

When needed, Xinck is the only member who performs Torture on interrogation victims. He once pushed a heated up needle into the tear duct of Happy The Squirrel's eye, only to find out later he forgot what he was torturing him for.

Since joining the Organization, He has tried to kill himself 42 times to date.

Xinck's nationality has never been determined. Although, some members believe him to be somewhere from America, he was neither confirmed or denied this. When people ask him what he is, he always says one thing and that he'll be something else tomorrow. "I'm Brazilian, but I'll be French tomorrow and on Friday, I'll be Saudi Arabian."

Despite having such a dark alignment, Xinck has said his birthday is actually, "Sometime in the spring. I know, I'm just as shocked as you are." Whether or bot this is true or not is unknown.

Xinck attempted to kill Spider-man after watching Spider-man 3.

After Luxord's liver was shot after 2 weeks of Binge Drinking, He and Xigbar sneaked into Xinck's room and tore out his liver. It regrew before he woke up.

Xinck has been known to Bite when he fights and with his sharp teeth, he tears off skin.

Xinck has a strange ability when he fights People. He learned this ability after reading a certain spell book, He can actually turn a weaker opponent into chocolate, cookie dough or a blueberry muffin. He'll ask, "So, do you want to be Chocolate, cookie dough or muffin when I eat you?"

Once, he tried to siphon off Demyx's blood, then forgot what for half-way through.

One of Xinck's favorite shows is _Dexter _except he has never seen more than one episode because he says Xemnas is cheap and won't pay for the extra Channel that that show comes on.

Although they hate each other, Xinck and Xemnas occasionally watch Daytime television together. They are quite fond of _Jerry Springer_ and _Regis and Kelly_.

Before becoming friends with Axel and Roxas, Xinck hung around The Dark Meridian and would play a game called "Desolate Soul" were he would walk around moaning like a Zombie. Xigbar filmed him and put it up on Youtube.

Vexen, before he died, diagnosed Xinck with a mild case Asperger's Syndrome. Evident by his occasional childishness, lack of empathy, lack of good social skills, staring blankly at people when they talk, and having one-sided conversations...with himself.

Xinck's favorite characters from the Simpsons are Sideshow Bob and Mr. Burns And In Honor of Mr. Burns, when Xinck answers the Phone, he says "Ahoy-hoy".

Xinck found a photograph of Zexion's Other, Ienzo from 10 years ago and called him "Adorable."

Whether true or not, but Xinck has claimed to have actually met Death on several occasions.

Xinck isn't 100% sure whether or not he wants a Heart. He says that, for him, thinking he has emotions and having them is the exact same thing. But no matter what, he says, if or not he does get a heart he will never go back to his old life.

In short, Xinck is just one of those rare Nobodies with Issues. He doesn't know what he wants, but when he sees what he wants, he'll go after it and cut down anyone in his path.

* * *

I had to repost this because I had thought of a few more things to add.

I'm almost finished with the next Chapter it's over 30 pages so that should keep you enteratined for a while.

REVIEW


	26. Something Frosty This Way Comes

It took a while, but I finally finished this Chapter, enjoy it because it's over 30 pages long. It only took so long for me to do it because my Computer crapped out on me.

Maybe if you weren't so cheap, you could buy a new one.

Shut up. No one's paying attention to you! Anyway, I won't start writing about Kingdom Hearts 2 for a while, but in the mean time, after the next chapter, I have something big planned, so just bare with me.

Also, I've been going through some of my old chapters, and editing a few of them. But the earliest chapters I don't even bother to touch because I was just testing and trying to figure out what exactly I was going to write about. I hate looking at my old work, so....The Following Chapters have been deemed Crap-WTF part1, WTF part 2 and all of the Q&A Chapters. Feel free to never read them again.

I can't think of anything else to say, so I Don't Own Anything.

* * *

The Lesser Nobodies, when not ordered to scourer random Worlds, were prone to just wander aimlessly around The Castle That Never Was. The Leaders of Each class of Nobody, Sorcerers, Snipers, Dragoons, Beserkers, Assassins, Dancers, Gamblers, Samurais and Reapers, occasionally meet once or twice a week and discuss their Non-existent lives.

In a Long Dimly lit hallway who's windows took up the entire wall and the hall turned to the left at a 90 Degree angle, They stood, or floated as The Dancer talked.

"And Then I was all like, 'No way! I'm not doing that!' and Lord Demyx didn't make me. He's so cool." said The Dancer, Not surprisingly, a girl. Of course, Lesser Nobodies don't really speak, but they have the power to put words into your head.

"Oh, I envy that." says the Berserker, taller than the rest of The Group. Despite his giant size and his Giant cursed Hammer, he's a softy. "Lord Saix barely pays us any attention."

"Agreed." mumbled The Samurai, "Lord Roxas, despite our best efforts, pays us little mind. Us Samurais are shy by nature. We wanted him to play with us and he thought we were testing him and he started to attack. I got away, but he killed three of us.....we just wanted to play..."

"Bah!" grunted The Gambler akin to an old man. "Those Superiors think themselves greater than us. At the end of the day we're all still Nobodies and if it weren't for us, they would be shit out of luck. We are the ones who search the endless worlds to find Hearts for them."

"I'd quiet that mouth-to-mind thing of yours, Iribon(Eh-re-Bahn)" Came the voice of The Sniper Leader.

"And who, by chance, put you in charge, Desui(De-Sway). I don't remember a Hierarchy being established amongst us Lessers."

Desui, being a Sniper Nobody, was floating and drifting through the air around the other Leaders. Like his Superior, he couldn't stand to be in one place for too long. "There isn't, but you never know who might be eavesdropping."

"But, _I _am listening." said The Sorcerer Leader, "And, If Necessary, I will report all hints of treachery to _The _Superior."

"Go away, Bill. No one likes you!" yelled The Assassin Leader, His Shoulders slumped over and his head lowered and covered by a long, thin clothe.

"I told you to call me Valmont! It's not fair that the rest of you have really cool names and I don't!" The Sorcerer yelled, floating an inch or two into the air.

"Valmont; Gayest name for a peon ever." said The Dragoon Leader, also floating in the air and laughing lightly.

"Seconded." said The Berserker.

"I agree." said Assassin.

"Me, too." said Dancer.

"Couldn't be more idiotic." said Iribon.

"Worst. Name. Ever." said Samurai.

"Do you think we could talk about something else other than how dumb Bill's Alias is?" suggested Xercivio, making his presence known, "I mean, every meeting we come to is always about the same thing!" Despite Xercivio's loud outburst, he was easily the Shortest Nobody attending the meeting.

"Xercivio, you little shit, how dare you question what we do here." said The Sorcerer, "This is only, what, your sixth meeting here with us? Ha!"

"Well, Reapers are considerably new to the species of Lesser Nobodies." He replied.

"And I've seen the way you strut around the Castle-"

"What? I don't strut!"

"It's true." said The Assassin, " I've seen him run and walk...and trip on his own two feet...I have to admit It's kinda cute."

The Two black dots on top of Xercivio's hood turned into a quizzical expression as he looked at Assassin then back to Sorcerer, "You hear that, Bill? I'm cute!"

The Sorcerer could be heard growling, "You strut around this Castle just because you have an official anagram Name! Why should your aberrant Lord Xinck turn your real name into an Anagram!? That Honor is meant only for-Gah!"

In less than a second, Xercivio had made the blades extended from the inside of his sleeves. He leaped into the air and yelled, "Kill Bill Vol. 3!" He stabbed at The Sorcerer and tore through his head and down his body, completely obliterating him and leaving nothing left.

Xercivio landed and his blades retracting back into his long sleeves, "Even though I hate Xinck, I Am the only one who can openly say how much I hate him."

"Great." said Desui, continuing to float around the area, "Now the Sorcerers need a new leader."

"Oh, who cares. I-

-SNAP!-

Xercivio heard a snapping sound, "Oh, great. What does he want now? Does he want me to open the can of Drink, too!? I gotta go, see you guys later." Xercivio front-flipped into the air and disappeared into a white portal.

Awkward silence. Then, The Dragoon spoke up, "If you ask me, that kid's as crazy as Superior Xinck."

"Agreed!" The rest of them said.

* * *

In The Meeting room, Where Nothing Gathers, a cloud of Darkness spooled over the 14th Seat and disappeared, leaving Xinck seating on his Throne. He put his arms across his armrests, leaned back against his Throne and scanned the entire room. 3 other thrones were filled and the highest throne was occupied by Xemnas, leaning his head on his hand. The other two thrones were filled by Demyx and Xaldin.

"Xinck do you know why you are here?" Xemnas asked, leaning up in his seat.

"Is it because of what I did in the coffee pot yesterday?" Xinck responded.

"No-wait. What did you do in the coffee pot?!"

"Uh..nothing." Xinck replied, now wanting to change the subject, "What exactly am I hear for?"

"Mmm. You made a bold decision to acquire all of Zexion's spell books after he died. And I have heard that you have become quite adept at various spells and incantations, am I right?"

"...Yes..." Xinck wasn't sure where he was going with this, "What about it?"

"We have decided to-"

"Wait, Superior!" yelled Xaldin from Xemnas's left side, " I want to hear what the little bastard did to the coffee! I had three cups of that!"

"It can wait." Xemnas said Calmly, "Anyway, Xinck, we've decided to award you the new rank of Master of Spells."

"Oh?" Xinck raised an eyebrow. _"Wow," _he thought, _"this morning I tried hanging myself and now I'm being rewarded. Life is funny." _

"This was Zexion's rank within our own circle of research and development, he handled all matters that were magically related and since he is now departed and you have been getting acquainted in various arcane practices, we are now placing you in charge."

"...Yay, me, I guess."

"Yes, Yay and all of that." Concurred Xemnas.

"I didn't know Demyx was apart of this "Circle of Research and Development"." Xinck said. He looked over at Demyx's Throne. He was asleep with his head leaning on his hand.

"He's not, he's here for something else. The circle consists of Me, Xaldin, Xigbar and Saix."

Xaldin grumbled while eying Xinck, "Little bastard....doing things to MY Coffee!"

"Speaking of Saix and," Xemnas continued, "Saix has informed me that you have a mission and you are to depart as soon as you are ready. You are dismissed and once again, congratulations on the New Rank. Golf Clap, everyone."

Xemnas clapped his hands together lightly a few times. Xaldin just sat there doing nothing and Demyx woke up abruptly.

"What!? What's goin'...on...I'm here, I'm here!" He yelled then suddenly fell back asleep with his shoulders back and head tilted upward and mouth wide open.

Xemnas ended his clap, "Whatever. You may go."

Xinck disappeared into a portal, leaving the other Three members by themselves. Xaldin spoke up, "Well, not that I wouldn't love to stay here and chat, and I wouldn't, but I have to go and hide the coffee." He, Too, disappeared into his own portal leaving Xemnas and Demyx, who had fallen back asleep.

"Demyx." Xemnas called eying him from his throne. Demyx continued to sleep with his head facing to the ceiling.

"Number IX." Xemnas called in a more stern voice, "Wake up!".

He still slept, drooling and snoring,

"Dammit, Demyx, Wake up!" Xemnas yelled. He leaned down to his foot and pulled of his boot and hurled it at Demyx's head. The boot smacked him on the forehead and fell to his lap, he jerked his head forward with a yell.

"Yo!" He yelled as he awoke, "Yes, Superior?!"

"Give me back my shoe." He held out his hand and motioned for Demyx to throw it back. Demyx tossed it back up to Xemnas, but missed because Demyx cannot throw to save his life. The Shoe landed far below at the bottom of the Thrones and at the foot of Xemnas's throne.

Demyx chuckled nervously. Xemnas sighed, "Well, are you going to get it?" He asked sternly.

"Yeah." Demyx hopped down from his throne, which wasn't that high up and walked across the circular platform with the Nobody Symbol decorated across the top. As he hopped down off that and walked to the bottom of Xemans's throne, Xemnas spoke.

"I've taken notice of your various activities around the Castle on you free time, Demyx."

Demyx hesitated as he reached down to grab the shoe, then he replied,"Well, in my old world this is usually the time when we put decorations all over the place and have a good time. I'm not sure why, but, out of habit of old memories I started doing it. It's the same reason why I do my hair every morning." He was a little shocked that he just calmly shared personal information with the Man that everyone in the Castle feared. He stood up, shoe in hand and held it up to Xemnas to grab. Unfortunately, Xemnas's throne was too high up and he could not reach.

"To be honest," Xemnas said, "I'm actually...interested in this." Xemnas moved his hand slightly and mentally called the shoe to him, snatching it from Demyx's hand. He grabbed the shoe and placed it back on his foot. "Demyx, you have my permission to follow-through with your...thing."

"Christmas." said Demyx.

"What is that, some type of alcoholic beverage?"

"No it's the name of the thing I've been doing. Haven't you ever heard of it?"

"On Television, once or twice. You may go."

Demyx bowed respectively and a Dark corridor opened up around him and he disappeared. Xemnas sat there on his throne for a few more seconds, staring into nothingness. Then he chuckled a little and closed his eyes. "Soon, Frosty, your Heart will be mine."

* * *

Xinck walked, head down and hands in his pockets, down the long white, machine-like corridor that lead to his room. He snapped his fingers signaling his Reaper to appear by his side as he walked.

A small white portal appeared on his left and out popped Xercivio, front flipping out of the portal and landing on his butt(He says he doesn't do this on purpose but that all Reapers do that). He shot up and over to Xinck and started to walk beside him.

"Yes, My Liege?" He asked.

"I'm going on a mission in a few minutes. Could you bring me...oh..I don't know... 2 Mega-Elixirs?" Xinck asked as he neared his Room door.

"Yes. Anything else?"

"Mmm....Nah. Do what you want 'til I get back."

"Okay." Xercivio back flipped into a white portal and disappeared as Xinck came up to his room. He stopped in front of it, a large door marked "XIV". A few weeks ago Xinck had taken the liberty of drawing a kiddie skull below the numbers. Xinck leaned nad banged his head against his door, staring at the metallic ground below.

He sighed, but before he opened the door, he heard Music, party music. Specifically, _Move Your Feet_. He didn't remember leaving his Ipod on before he left. Hell, he wasn't even sure why he put _Move Your Feet _on his Ipod. Sure, he listened to it every once in a while, but other than that it served no real purpose.

Xinck pushed open the door and was a little shocked at the sight. On the second level of his large room, jumping on his black satin-sheeted bed were Axel and Roxas. The loud music was pulsating through the foyer-sized room as his Tv, which had a built-in CD player, was the source of the ruckus.

_Everybody! Move your feet and feel united! Whoa-o-o!....._

The music blared from the Tv as the song _Move Your Feet _moved invisibly around the perpetually Dark room. Axel and Roxas jumped continuously, laughing and yelling on top of the bed, ruffling the blanket and sheets and pillows that Xinck meticulously remakes every morning.

"What the hell?" Xinck said, barely raising his head to look. "What are you doing?!"

"Jumpin'!" yelled Roxas, breathing heavily as he jumped. "Come on, join the party!"

"Why do you have to party in my room?!"

" 'Cuz its bigger!"

_Don't-don't-don't-don't stop the beat! Pe-pe-pe-people in the streets!....._

"Xinck!" Axel yelled, "You think you could turn on the lights?!"

Xinck's room was always dark. Not because he kept the lights off, which they never turned off, but because when Xinck got the room it was too bright for him to sleep, so he darkened it with his powers.

At their request, Xinck raised his hand into the air. He opened his palm and a small Dark orb with rings floated in his hand. As if his entire room was covered in a shadowy blanket, the darkness was ripped from his walls, pillars, floors and ceilings and drawn to his hand and disappeared into the black orb, bathing the room in natural light. Xinck lowered his hand, and the orb disappeared. He squinted as the light filled his eyes. Without the shadows, the room looked like every other room in The Castle.

"Thanks!" yelled Axel

"You're welcome. NOW GET OUT!"

The music stopped and Axel and Roxas jumped off the bed and onto the flooring. They walked up to the railing and looked down at Xinck.

"What the matter with you?" Axel asked, "Did your Imaginary friend try to kill you again?"

"No." Xinck said staring at the floor, " Zetsubou Billy's been cool. Its just that....I got promoted today."

"Really? That's great." Roxas said, "Promoted to what?"

"Master of Spells or something like that."

"Well, that's not so bad. It's definitely not something to be depressed about. You're not....thinking about killing yourself....again....for the 43rd time?"

"Eh, anything can happen." Strangely, as Xinck started to talk, he seemed to start cheering up, "I have to go on a mission, so I'll kill someone and, y'know, I might be a little better later."

"Well, that's good to know." said Axel.

"So why were you guys jumping on my bed again?"

"Oh!" Roxas exclaimed, " We just got here after Demyx told us we were having a party."

"What does that have to do with you jumping on my bed?"

"You're room's the biggest." Axel said, "If we did it in my room, we'd hit our heads."

"But what was the point in the first place?!"

"We were excited about the party."

"Yeah." yelled Roxas.

"For two people who don't have hearts, you two do the strangest things." Xinck said

"We can be just as crazy and weird as you!"

"No, you can't. And I prefer the term 'Voodoo Shiznitted', if you don't mind. V_erstehen Sie?_ "

"....."

"What..?..." muttered Axel.

"Oh yeah, sit on that and think about it for a while. I'll see you later." Xinck opened a portal around himself and exited from his room and to his mission.

Axel and Roxas looked at each with bewildered looks. They thought he must be feeling better if he's speaking in German. They turned their heads back to the floor as a small white portal opened up and a Reaper Nobody flipped out, landed on its butt then quickly got up. He was holding a shining golden container underneath his sleeve.

"_Lord Xinck, I have your-wait..where'd he go?"_

"He left." said Axel as he started to step down the staircase and down to the first floor with Roxas.

"_Ugh! I hate it when he does that!" _Xercivio started to turn and walk from towards the door.

* * *

The Mission

A strong Hearted individual has been detected

In a world Unworthy of Naming

Member(s) dispatched-Xinck.

Father Patricio walked down the aisle way of his Cathedral, lined with numerous pews on either side. Patricio was the head of his church and was a well-respected man in his community, who was known for his funny, yet grumpy sense of Humor, a rare trait for a man of his profession, but not unheard of for an old man. He was 53 years old and had been with the church since he was 13 years old and became Father of the Holy Cross Church and Catholic School at the age of 32.

Although a man of the cloth, he did have his wild side. He has a bit of a gambling and had a drinking problem. In fact, he skipped church one Sunday and his excuse was that "God had called me to do charity work elsewhere that day." When actually he was passed out in the ally behind the church from drinking too much on Saturday. As for his Gambling problem; Once, when one of his church members had called him to tell him that she had caught her son masturbating to a pornographic magazine. She wanted Patricio to scare him into never doing it again, so, On a Monday Night (Football Night) she had her son, Timmy call him. Unfortunately for Timmy, The Father had money riding on a Packers Game.

"Well Timmy as Long as you never do it again, you-OH! Son of a bitch! They Fumbled! Goddammit, Timmy! Never call here again, you're bad luck!"

Despite Patricio's many vices, he definitely earned his position as Father of an Entire Church and having hundreds of Nuns working under him. He attends all bible-studying groups and oversees every other activity in the church. Also, during the heat of Summer or the cold of Winter, he lets a few Homeless sleep in the warm basement or brings them bottled water. He was a good and faithful man.

Patricio made his way down the row of pews and to the confessional. It was usually this time of the day that he would sit in The Confessional and let people confess their sins to him so that he could absolve them. Of course he had the Power to do this anytime and anywhere he wanted to for himself, so no matter what he did wrong, he could always forgive himself.

The ceiling and front wall of the Church was adorned with golden statues of angels and Jesus, but this went unnoticed as Patricio had seen it hundreds of times and he was on his cellphone with one of his gambling buddies.

"Look, look, look, Morty." Patricio said, reaching The pulpit, "I'll get you your money, if you just get off my ass! Well, how was I supposed to know He would get knocked out in the third Round?!" He stuffed his iPhone into his robe pocket.

He sighed, "$1200. why the hell would I bet all that money?!" He looked up and over at a Statue of a smiling Jesus. The statue was called 'Smilin J' because the it seemed to stare and smile at everyone in the immediate vicinity. It was Kinda Creepy.

"Got nothing to say, huh?" said Patricio, "Gonna keep out of this? Fine!" Father Patricio was known to occasionally talk to the Statue. Patricio looked around a little, "Fine, Marty, I'll get your damn money." He looked around some more and saw that the entire room was empty. He looked down at a small wooden box that was marked 'Tithes'. He reached his hand into the slot and pulled it out, his fist clenched with a multitude of Money. "Don't worry. This one's on Jesus." He stuffed the money into his pocket, winked at Smilin' J and walked over to the Confessional Box.

He opened the door to The Confessional and stepped inside. It was a reddish salmon color on the inside and a small bench that he was meant to sit down on. The Box was big enough that two very large people could sit in and a thin metal grate separated the top half of the box so that the confessor's identity would be a secret and he/she could tell Patricio their sins without apprehension. Patricio sat down and closed the door.

It was quiet. There wasn't much to do inside the Confessional if you were by yourself. The main church area had been deserted lately. Sometimes people would sit in the pews and pray, but lately no one's been in the church, except the nuns and the students. Patricio found it weird, but not unheard of, that people weren't coming to Confession.

"_Oh, well, " _Patricio thought, _"More time for Facebook."_ He took his iPhone and started typing away. He didn't think there was anything weird about a 53 year old Priest having an iPhone or using Facebook.(Tila Tequila was on his Facebook)

Suddenly, the other door to the Confessional opened and someone stepped in. Patricio put away his iPhone, but kept his right hand on it in his pocket and he watched as the person sat down on the bench. He couldn't see much, but he saw black clothes, hair and tan skin. Then he heard a voice.

"Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned." It was a teenage voice, possibly prepubescent.

"Ah," said Patricio, a wise, yet comforting tone in his voice "I see you are new to the Catholic faith. It is 'Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.'"

"Wow, really? Because, you would think you would say "Forgive me" if you've sinned, instead of "Bless me"."

"Yes, but that's how it is, what are you gonna do? Anyway, this is the part where you tell me how long its been since your last confession." Patricio was now loosely paying attention to the other occupant as he played a game on his iPhone. The man stammered his words, Patricio had a feeling that either He had never been to confession or he just couldn't remember. Patricio decided to cut the kid a break.

"Why don't you just tell me your recent sins and we'll go from there." Patricio wasn't getting impatient, but he just couldn't stand awkward silences.

"Okay," The kid sighed a sigh of relief, "Well, I've done a lot of bad things, I mean A LOT."

"The Lord forgives all who come to Him." Patricio muttered, barely paying attention as he played his game. He thought saying something spiritual would loosen the kid up and get this over with.

"I've lied, I've cheated, I've stolen so many times in my life recently-ever since I joined a..uh...secret Organization."

"Well, then that Organization isn't good for your spiritual health, son. You should leave them."

"But, that's the thing; I have no remorse or regrets about the things I've done or the lives I've taken."

"Lives!?" This caught The Father's attention.

The Kid sighed, "In this..group that I belong to, I've killed, literally, thousands of people for them."

Father Patricio sat his phone done in his lap. He wasn't surprised or anything, because, quite honestly, he had had dozens of kids in here saying that they had killed someone, or were about to kill someone. He would later find out that all of these false confessions were just to find out what their punishment in Hell would be, so the Father never took a confession of Homicide seriously.

Patricio laughed, "Oh, son, you're not serious are you? Killing someone is not the way to go.. I'm sure whatever your problem with this person is, you can work it out without resorting to violence."

"No, I'm serious. I've killed someone before, thousands of people."

The Father laughed harder, "Oh! Come on, son, you don't have to try and impress me! HA!"

"I'm fucking serious, you stupid old man!!" The Kid yelled, his voice surprisingly high.

Surprisingly, The Father laughed harder, "Oh, you really shouldn't-" He stopped laughing, His eyes widened and he broke into a cold sweat. He felt his entire body slow as if he had been emerged in a Deathly cold wind, but at the same time, he felt a warm sensation in his chest, as if it was keeping him alive. He felt like he was on a train track and a speeding train was heading towards him, but the train was nowhere in sight and he could only feel the terrible vibration of the tracks, pressing down on him as he was consumed in Despair, like nothing would ever shine or bring joy to him again. Fear and Despair were all around him, trying to end his life, but that warm feeling in his chest kept him going.

"Can you feel that?" Came the voice of the kid, much more menacing than before, "Can you feel the Death all around you? It's all me. It's my presence and it is bathing the entire building and a good portion of the streets and buildings outside. Everyone within my presence is Dead, or at least unconscious. I told you, I've killed thousands of people for The Organization."

Millions of thoughts were racing though Patricio's head. All the children and Nuns in the Building...were all dead...because of him...Why? Why was he here? Why would he do such a thing? What does he want?

Through trembling lips, Patricio asked, "What...what do you want, Demon? And how can you enter the Holy Ground of The Church?"

"First off, I'm not a Demon, I'm just like you except I don't have a Heart. Second, I'm not unholy, at least, I don't think I am. And Third, I want you."

"M...me?"

"I told you that I've killed people and you are just the kind of people I kill. You see, you have a strong Heart and a strong will, it's what is keeping you alive underneath my presence. Me and The Organization I belong to collect the Hearts of people like you, the only downside of this, and pay close attention because this concerns you, I have to kill you to collect your Heart. Savvy?

"But..but why? Why would you do such horrible and damnable things!? TO INNOCENT PEOPLE!?" Patricio yelled. He could feel The deadly presence lifting off him. He must have drawn it back in.

His response was simple, "It's what I do. I've no regrets."

Father Patricio thought about dialing 911 on his phone and call the Police, but then he thought that he would just be calling more innocent men and woman to their Death. He couldn't have that on his conscious. He knew that this man was no ordinary man, so what to do?

He decided to accept his fate.

Patricio put his phone in his pocket, said a quick prayer and closed his eyes. "I'm ready."

"Good."

"But, one question: why did you go into a confessional and tell me that you were going to kill me? Why not just do it and get it over with?"

"Well, I have a thing for Drama. What can I say? It's one of my few flaws."

"You can be as dramatic as you want, you're still a Demon. You soul will never know rest for what you have become."

"I am what The Darkness has made me. I think I can live with that."

A sword was summoned. It slashed through the metal grate and there was a sound of piercing flesh and draining blood.

Xinck stepped out of the Confessional. He looked around. No one in sight. He really did kill everyone. He wiped his hands over his coat, not that there was anything on him, it was just a force of habit.

He sighed, "I just killed a Priest. I am _sooo _going to Hell for this."

He walked to the other side of The Confessional and opened the Priest's door. Xinck saw Father Patricio sprawled out, his eyes glassed over, his mouth open and a giant bloody gash, stretching from the middle of his neck to his chest. Xinck wasn't literally trying to carve out his heart, he just wanted to sever the Jugular Vein.

"It's a Dirty Job, but, hey, I'm good at what I do." Xinck stepped in a little into the small space, just enough to put his hand over the man's chest. Xinck's hand glowed with a Dark aura around it and he dug his hand into Patricio's chest. The hand faded into the chest and a black hole formed around it as Xinck retracted and pulled out the shining Heart.

He held the shining Heart closer to his face and started at it. It's luminescent glow shined in his dark eyes and partially warmed his face.

"Time to go." He held up the Heart to the sky and it floated away from him, twirling in the air and phased through the ceiling, where it would find it's way to the top of The Castle That Never Was.

Father Patrico's body was wrapped in swirling Darkness and he disappeared into it.

Xinck's own swirling Darkness wrapped around him and he disappeared into a Dark Corridor. Xinck's portal opened up and he stepped out into The Brink Of Despair, the boundary between The Castle That Never was and The Dark looked around, and there was nothing there, then he looked up. "Holy [bleep] Ass Crackers!" He yelled, staring at The Castle in Shock. The Castle, which was always a grayish color, was now White with Red undertones with random Christmas Trees on top of several Towers. A few ribbons decorated the long poles that reached high into the sky and random fake Reindeer were stationed on top of a few turrets.

"Yep, that's what I said when I saw it." came a voice.

Xinck turned around and noticed Xigbar walking towards him. That constant cocky smile plastered on his face.

"What's going on?" Xinck asked.

"It's like someone took a giant Santa, stabbed him and he bleed all over the Castle." He stopped nect to Xinck and started up at the Castle, "Demyx is going on about some Christmas Crap. I have no idea how he got Xemnas on board with this, though."

"Oh, this is gonna suck balls." Xinck sighed.

"Yeah." Xigbar held out his hand, palm upwards and They saw a small white snowflake fall into his Hand. Xigbar and Xinck looked around and saw more snow falling from the Dark Clouds above.

"Snow spell." Xinck declared, staring at the white-specked sky.

"Friggin' Holidays."

* * *

Out of The entire Organization, Xemnas was the most impossible to read and the Organization was so fearful of him, thar no one dared to question his orders, or edicts. No one even made the notion of asking him why he let Demyx go ahead with his "Holiday" idea or why Xemnas put him temporarily in Charge.

"He's just trying to fuck with us!!" Xigbar yelled.

That was Xigbar's response to any idea that Xemnas had that he thought was stupid, of course he wouldn't say it to his face.

Within a few short hours, Demyx had been hard at Work decorating the Castle. He had enlisted the help of the Dancers to string the halls of the castle with silver and red decorations and decorating every major room with a Christmas Tree. He was also searching for the other members, who were hiding and trying to wait out Demyx's Holiday. Originally, Axel was excited about the idea, but after he realized that it was a pathetic excuse of a Christmas Holiday Celebration, he would have to work, and it wasn't a party after all, he, like, Xigbar, Xaldin, Saix, Luxord, and Xinck, panicked. Roxas was the only one not blowing the situation out of proportion because he had never celebrated a holiday before.

Axel, Saix, and Luxord urgently ran down a random hallway. Breathing heavily, and panicking. They were running from Demyx, who was a little confused about why they were running in the first place.

"Faster! Faster!" Luxord yelled from the back of the group, "Run as if the Devil himself is behind you!"

"We need to hide somewhere where he won't think to look!" Saix yelled behind Axel.

Axel frantically looked around down the Hallway as the group ran. Him being at the head of the group meant he had the best view-point. He spotted a Door on the left hand side of the hallway, "There!" He pointed and slowed down, "A utility Closet! Demyx hates work, he'll never look in there!" Axel dove for the door and pulled it open as he slid to a stop. The Closet was small and filled with cleaning supplies, a mop, two brooms and a bucket. Saix, and Luxord dove inside with Axel close behind, he closed the door.

Inside the cramped space, the only light available to see with was from the small opening at the bottom of the door. Everyone was breathing heavily, filling each others' lungs with everyone else's breath, what little

"Aghh!" Luxord cried, "Why won't he let us be!?"

Saix clamped a hand across Luxord's mouth, "Quiet, you fool, do you want him to hear us!?"

"Mm-mm!" Luxord mumbled.

"What do we do now? Any ideas?" Saix asked to Axel

"Right now, all we can do is wait." Axel said.

"We cannot stay in here forever." Saix said, taking his hand away from Luxord, "We will eventually run out of air."

"True."

Axel took in a deep breath and almost gagged as he sniffed the air, "What smells like Haggis?" Saix and Axel's eyes darted to Luxord.

"What?" His eyes darted to and from each person. Saix leaned in closer to Luxord and sniffed the air around him.

"You smell like disgusting Haggis! We can't let what little air we have be contaminated with that crap!" Saix yelled.

"Oh, I get it! Just because I'm English that means I eat SCOTTISH food! For your information, I just ate Ranch Style Doritos, you Ass!"

"Eww!"Axel said covering his nose, "Point your mouth in the other direction when you talk, and Saix is right!"

"You can't actually be going along with him?!" Luxord yelled.

"Our Air supply in this closet is limited," Saix Declared, "But if there's a chance that the rest of us can survive, at the unfortunate expense of the other, then the only wise decision is to eject one of us."

"I vote Luxord." Axel said.

"Agreed." Saix said.

"You Bloody bastards!" Luxord yelled, wanting to move his hands in protest but couldn't because of the confined space, "You can't throw me out! I'm The Bloody Gambler of Fate!"

"No one will miss you." Axel said.

"Shove him out!" Saix yelled.

Axel reopened the Door and The Two Nobodies proceeded to push The Gambler of Fate out the Door. But Luxord jumped and placed the bottoms of his shoes against the left and right door frames, pushing back against Axel, and Saix, who were pushing against his back.

"No! Don't! Please! I beg of you!" Luxord cried.

"Come on, put your back into it!" Saix Yelled as they pushed harder on Luxord.

"No! You're killing me! You're killing me!"

Axel gave one good push and out went Luxord, flying in the air for one second then falling flat on his face. He grunted, got up and turned around just in time to see Saix blocking the closet door, preventing him from getting back in.

Luxord was on his hands and knees, his eyes went big and he looked up at Saix. He pleaded, "Please?"

"I wash my hands of you." Saix did a 'Washing my hands' move then pretended to flick water off his hands. Then he went back into the closet with Axel.

"You think we might have been to hard on him?" Axel asked as he closed the door.

"No, he's fine." said Saix.

"NO! He's Coming! Let me back in!" Came Luxord's shrill cries.

Footsteps and jingling bells could be heard, then Demyx's voice. "Oh, hey, Luxord. Got a job for ya!"

"Kill me now!"

"Oh, it won't kill you, I just need you to hang up these authentic wreaths on all the doors."

"Kill me!"

"Mmm. How about this." Demyx said, "If you tell me where everyone else is, I'll get them to help you! How about that?"

"They're in the closet, there!"

"Sweet."

A knock on the utility closet door, Axel and Saix cringed farther into a corner. "Hello, anyone in there?"

"No. go away, please." said Saix.

"Saix? That you?"

"...No. Go away."

"Hold on, Demyx." said Luxord, "I'll get them."

-TIME-

In a split second, like everything had skipped around, Saix and Axel found themselves out of the closet and face to face with a Smiling Demyx and Luxord.

"Son of a Bitch!" yelled Axel, looking around, stunned at his new surroundings.

"What happened?" said a confused Saix, looking at Luxord.

"He's a witch!"Axel yelled, pointing at Luxord.

"Time Manipulation, gentlemen." Luxord smiled, "If I have to suffer, the rest of you will accompany me. And don't try to run off or I'll stop Time again."

"Now, I have a job for each of you." said Demyx. Upon closer inspection, Demyx was wearing a Santa Claus hat, red and white in color with a white poof ball at the end. And under his arm were long rolled up cords of festive Christmas lights. "First, Axel," Demyx turned towards Number 8, "It's your turn to get presents for everyone."

"Everyone?!" Axel said, "No way! I don't have that kind of money or time!"

"Don't worry, you don't have to go now, just know that you have to go to the store and buy at least one present for someone."

"I hate you so much right now."

"Oh, you're just a little angry that I found you in the Closet. Don't be mad." Demyx feigned a smile.

"We were hiding from you!"

"So you had to hide with two grown men in a dark utility closet?"

"What!? Just...What!?" Axel stammered, "What are you implying!?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing. I'm not here to judge."

Axel stood there, confused and his left eye twitching in anger and disgust. He desperately wanted to stick something sharp and metal into the base of Demyx's spine.

"So, you'll go pick out a present or two later, right?" Demyx asked to Axel.

Still a little confused, Axel said, "Yeah...sure..I guess so.." With that he opened a Portal around himself and disappeared into a mass of Shadow.

"And, Saix," Demyx continued, "You can-"

"No." Saix Declared, closing his eyes and crossing his arms, "I'm not hanging up any lights."

"Huh?" Demyx remembered that he was carrying rolled up Christmas lights under his arm, "Oh, don't worry, these are for Xinck. Instead, you can go with Luxord and help him Hang up some wreaths."

Instead of fighting and trying to resist, Saix thought it better to just go with it for now. This idiotic attempt at trying to act human couldn't last for long, he thought. He sighed, "Where are they?"

"I left a few boxes in The Grey Area, if there aren't enough, you can find some more on the 49th Floor in the Southern Basement Tower."

"All's well then," said Luxord, suddenly enthusiastic about the whole idea. "Ready to go, Saix, old boy?"

"Can't you just speak regular English like the rest of us?" Saix asked, opening a portal next to himself.

"I can't tell whether or not you are joking, but either way I think you're rather jealous of the air of sophistication my accent grants."

Luxord and Saix walked into The Corridor of Darkness, leaving Demyx by himself. Demyx laughed a little to himself and continued to walk down the hallway, whistling a Christmas tune.

* * *

The snow Spell that Demyx had summoned was operating at full force. Already Three Feet of white snow had blanketed the Dark City, flat areas of The Castle and even the Giant Green Ditch below the Castle was almost completely frozen over and covered in Snow. It was cold outside, but The Coats that the Organization wears were specially designed to stay warm when surrounded in cold and vise versa in Heat.

In The Seldom seen Kitchen of the Organization, Xaldin, wearing cooking mittens and an apron, opened the Oven and looked at the cooking try of cookies baking in the heat. He reached inside and with his mittens, pulled out the tray of treats and closed the oven and placed the tray on top of the stove.

"How're the cookies comin'?" Xigbar asked from the Table on the other side of the room. He was knee-deep in wrapping paper and was currently wrapping a present.

"Fine in my opinion." Xaldin sighed, taking off his mittens(And showing his black gloves) and walking to the table to sit down, "This is the fifth batch of Fucking cookies Demyx made me make. He said the others weren't 'Jolly enough'. Tell me, How the HELL do you make a jolly cookie?!"

"I'd rather be baking cookies than buying and wrapping presents." Xigbar placed the last piece of tape on a present. Xigbar's wrapping skills were terrible, he was finishing wrapping a present that was originally square shaped, but after Xigbar was finished with it, it was a sphere.

"You'd you by that gift for?" Xaldin asked pointing to Xigbar's sphere-shaped object.

"Axel."

"What did you get him."

"Flame-proof underwear."

"...Fascinating." Xaldin said in disgust.

"This is stupid."

"Mmm?"

"This Christmas Crap!" Xigbar got up from his seat and and three the present to the ground. "Out of all the shit we've had to do all these years, this is the worst!"

"I know!" Xaldin agreed, "Out of all the holidays there are, Demyx picks this one, but that's not even the worst part! The worst part is that Xemnas actually let him go with it!"

"It doesn't make sense, you know? I bet Xemnas is only doing it because he's got something planned, or somethings going on."

"Yes, True. Xemnas has never done anything without a reason and I don't think the 'Holiday season' would be a good reason why Xemnas would actually-"

"Xemnas would actually what?"

Xigbar and Xaldin both turned to the Kitchen door and standing there, with the same expression on his face that he always had, was Xemnas. He walked into the Kitchen and Xigbar and Xaldin stood attention. They thought if Xemnas was going to attack them, then they would at least have a better chance at survival if they stood up

Xemnas stood at the stove and eyed the holiday treats that sta innocently on the stove. He plucked one from the warming tray and sniffed it. "Mmm." he bit down on the cookie and started to chew. His eyes almost glazed over as he moaned with the cookie in his mouth. "Oh, Oh, Xaldin, these cookies are positively orgasmic. Tell me, do I detect a hint of..uh..Nutmeg?"

"Uh..oh, no." Xaldin stammered, "It's a special combination of Peanut Butter and Cinnamon."

"Oh, oh, oh, yes, indeed." Xemnas continued to chew the cookie, savoring every taste. He took another bite and chewed even slower. Through a full mouth and gritted teeth, he said, "My compliments from me to you, on this your most excellent display of your culinary brilliance."

"Thanks."

No longer being able to shoulder the suspense, Xigbar yelled out, "What do you want!?"

"Mmm?"

Xaldin quickly slapped a hand around Xigbar's mouth and said, "He means what are you doing here, Superior? It's a rare sight to see you out and about The Castle."

"Well," Xemnas wiped his mouth of cookie crumbs and quickly swiped a few more cookies into his pocket, "I figured it was the time of year when people get together...talk and partake in various forms of..." Xemnas seemed to shudder at his own words, "Enjoyment."

"....."

"Yes."

Xigbar wrenched Xaldin's hand from his mouth, "But, you know, we all thought that you, well,....hated..everyone?"

"Is that what you honestly think of me, Braig?"

"Uh..uh..well." Xigbar was confused. First, Xemnas rarely ever called anyone by their real name. Second, Xemnas rarely interacted with anyone. And Third, He had actually given Xaldin a compliment, which everyone knew that if Xemnas gave someone a compliment, it was usually followed by being crushed by his very presence. Xemnas, being the oldest and most powerful of all Nobodies, had the most terrifying presence of all. Not only could it be felt by Humnas,(And crush them all, irregardless of how powerful they are) but Nobodies could be overwhelmed by it as well. So he is the Only one in the Castle who has to hide it at all times.

Xigbar continued, "Well it's just that, and no offense by the way, that you were kind of a sociopath before we were Nobodies."

Xemnas raised his eyes to the sky, as if he was thinking of an intelligent response, "Yes, I was, wasn't I?"

Xaldin pushed his face closer to Xigbar's ear and whispered, "Are you happy now, Doofus? You've doomed us all!"

"Anyway." Xemnas said. Xigbar and Xaldin turned to look at him, "I just came in to see how you all were doing. I guess I'll take my leave." Xemnas turned on his heel(after stuffing more treats into his pockets) and exited out of the Kitchen. Xigbar and Xaldin sighed with relief.

"X..Xaldin."

"Yeah, Xigbar."

"I think I wet Myself."

"Me, too, Xigbar. Me, too."

* * *

It was cold outside and Axel was pissed. Him being a Fire elemental meant that he did not like the cold, but he did like to look at snow, but being around it was something he hated. He was on top edge of the Western Tower, pulling on a rope of Christmas lights. The cold air, wind and snow whipped at his neck as he pulled on the over-weighted cord of lights, of course the lights wouldn't be so heavy to pull up if Xinck wasn't hanging off the end of them.

In an attempt to get out of stringing up lights on top of the Tower like Demyx had told him to, Xinck opted to try and kill himself(again) by hanging. He didn't die(again) and was just hanging 50 feet off the edge of the Tower, coincidentally directly in front of Xemnas's office. Xemnas tried to ignore Xinck's body hanging there, not moving and staring blankly at the back of Xemnas's head. Then Xemnas left, came back in 10 minutes, eating a cookie from his pocket and stared at Xinck, who stared back. Xemnas finally got annoyed enough to call Axel to get him down.

Axel grunted as he hauled up another length of rope, "Xinck! You've gotta stop doing this!"

"No! Leave me to die!" Xinck yelled back, now ten feet from the top.

"Dammit, you're heavy! How many times have you tried to kill yourself?! At some point have you even considered that maybe you need a Hobby!" He grunted, pulling Xinck closer up.

"Like what?"

"I don't know, but, suicide is kinda..you know, played out. Don't you think it's getting a little old? I mean, how many times have you tried to killed yourself?"

"Uh..about 25+"

Axel gave one last tug and hauled Xinck over the edge. Xinck got on all fours, then stood to his full height, his neck popped back into place and he took off the rope of Christmas lights around his neck.

"Uh, well, I gotta go."

"Go where?"

"The mall. Demyx is making me buy presents for everyone.

"Oh, can I come? I don't wanna stay here and hang up more lights."

"Sure." Axel shrugged. "I'll go find Roxas, then we can leave."

"He's probably with Demyx."

It only took Axel and Xinck 10 minutes to locate Roxas, who was, at Demyx's orders, stringing lines and lines of holly across random halls. After that, they headed over to an Unnamed World(A world with a nice, sizable Mall). Three Corridors of Darkness appeared in a nice shaded area, adjacent to the area of the mall and The Three nobodies walked out. Anytime they came to a 'Regular World' they made sure to exit their corridors in dark areas so that no one would start shouting "Aliens! Aliens from space!" or "Demons! Demons from Hell!", nothing could ruin your day more than an elderly woman calling you a demon from hell. As Axel, Roxas and Xinck walked from the side of the large, multi-story building and into view, their shoes made crunching sounds in the 1½ inches of snow. The sky was filled with gray clouds as white specks of snow fell freely and softly. The wind blew and the soft snow was pushed in every direction, going unnoticed as it pelted the heads of the mass of people heading to the door. It was the Holiday Season and all malls were usually crowded with people who embraced the idea of gift-giving(or in Axel's case, being forced to do it).

The group of Three moved closer to the Mall's entrance. "Remember the last time we came to the mall?" asked Roxas.

"It wasn't fun, the way I remember it," Axel said, "We didn't even get inside the door."

"That's because you guys got stuck in a van, remember?"

"Wait a minute!" Xinck said, "Did that really happen?"

"Yeah, you were there. It was Axel, Xigbar, Xaldin, Marluxia, Larxene, Zexion, You and Me. We all got stuck in a van, I escaped and tried to go get help, but some girl tied me up..I...don't really want to talk about the rest."

"I could've sworn that I dreamed that..."

"No, I remember." Axel said, "The mall blew up. God, I swear, I can't take you guys anyway without something blowing up."

"I really don't get why we didn't just leave through a portal." Roxas said, "Not a very...smart day for us..."

More and more people started filling up the small spaces around the three. People of all shapes and sizes, pining to get into the store and buy last minute gifts for their ungrateful little basta-Oh, darling little Children and their undeserving relatives. Thy passed into the foyer of the mall and were in a large open area, lined with clothing, electronic, toy stores and knick-knack shops. The walls of the mall were lined with red and green colored decorations, giant golden ornaments hung from the large open and domed-shaped window on the roof and two large pillars, that stood evenly away from each other, enough apart so that the large Christmas crowds could pass by. The pillars held up a large sign that said, "Welcome to Valley Hill Mall and Happy Holidays! Now, buy something expensive!"

Xinck watched as the happy people all around him walked with smiles on their faces, carrying bags and bags of useless crap(He defined 'useless crap' as anything that didn't look shiny and entertaining). The people walked in groups or by themselves, talking on their phones or text messaging, mindlessly bumping into people. The mall was loud and crowded, two combinations he just hated. Children ran around screaming and laughing with glee, pudgy, middle aged soccer moms laughed idiotically as they walked with bags in hand, old people shuffled along, not knowing where to go to find someone to fix their 'MyPod' that they had gotten from their granddaughters. All things Xinck stared at and listened to with disgust.

"Oh, what fresh Hell is this?" He asked no one in particular.

"I don't want to be here all day, so I'm just getting everyone the same thing." Axel said.

"What are you getting?" Roxas asked.

"Whatever I can find. I'm not going to look too hard. And I have a Seven Dollar Limit." Axel, Roxas and Xinck walked forward with the crowd. Axel led, and because he was not looking for anything in particular, headed to the first store he saw, a Decorative Antique Shop called "Surly Grandma".

The Group of Three walked into the store, which was pretty much filled wall-to-wall with useless, antique and decorative knick-knacks of all shapes, sizes and colors, the kind you would find at your Grandparents house. Upon entering, Roxas went over to the first object he saw, a small white bowl, encrusted with fake emerald jewels.

"Hey, this looks nice." He said, holding the bowl out to Axel to see.

Axel held the bowl up to see, "Yeah, but it looks a little too nice." Axel turned over the bowl in his hand and saw the price tag. It read 8$. "Ha! Like they're worth that much."

"Then, what are you getting us two?" Roxas asked, pointing to himself and Xinck.

"What do you mean what am I getting you?" Axel asked, putting the bowl back on the shelf, "I'm getting you two the best present ever-Me."

"You're so full of yourself."

"And not that funny." Xinck added.

"Well, what are you getting everyone?" Roxas asked to Xinck.

"Hope."

"Hope?"

"Yes. Hope I get them something for Christmas! HA! Now that's funny!" He laughed and Axel joined in.

"You know, "Roxas said, "I wish you guys would take this seriously. I'm actually looking forward to this. I've never done a Holiday before."

"What about that time we did April Fools' Day?" Axel asked.

"That was just Xigbar running around, punching people in the stomach and yelling 'April Fools', asshat'!"

That was funny!" Axel laughed.

"It wasn't for Demyx." said Xinck, "I heard he crapped himself. He ruined a good pair of Pants, like when some kind of fat ass buys a pair of pants two sizes too small, sits down and rips them, those pants are forever ruined. All because of some fat guy."

"But, Xinck, you are kinda-"

"I told you, its just my coat, It makes me look bigger!" Xinck grabbed at his coat to show how much space was between it and his body, "See?"

"Sure, Xinck, whatever you say." Axel said with obvious sarcasm in his voice. He turned around and started to walk down the aisle-way in the store, his head going left and right as he looked for something to buy. Out from behind the cash register, came a Man, who couldn't have been over his 50's. He wore a yellow sweater vest over a white shirt with black slacks and shoes. He walked up behind Axel and said, "Can I help you, sir?" He talked with an effeminate accent and even moved his hands and face as he talked.

"Oh, uh" Axel turned around from another row of Decorative objects and turned to the man, "Yeah, uh..um looking for some Christmas presents for my douche-bag roommates. Got any suggestions?"

Mr. Karn, which was his name, looked Axel up and down and saw nothing of any interest in the man. But he hadn't had a sell in days and couldn't risk scaring away another potential customer. He really hoped it wasn't because he had now had a little blue dot on his house on the Internet telling people that he had gotten in trouble with the law a few years ago for having some Illegal pictures of Young boys on his Hard Drive.

"Well, what is your name, sir"" Karn asked.

"Axel."

"Well, How do you do, Axel, I'm Tom Karn, owner of Surly Grandma. If you're looking for a great gift for Friends, we have some lovely scones over on the next shelf."

"Ahhh, I'm not really looking for anything too fancy for my roommates. And lets keep it under 7 Dollars."

Karn gasped, "Oh?!" He lightly smacked Axel across the chest twice, "Oh, you bad man, how can you not care about your Friends?"

"I said Roommates, not friends." Axel replied, scratching his chest.

"Well, how about-" Before Karn could finish he saw Roxas and Xinck down at the other end of the Aisle, looking at the shining objects situated peacefully on the shelf. Mr. Karn's eyes nearly bulgd out of his head as he saw the two yound boys, even with their long, black and intimidating coats, he couldn't help but look. "Well, my, oh my, what _do _we have here?"

"Excuse me?" Axel said.

Mr. Karn walked down the aisle and Behind Roxas and Xinck as they paid him no attention. "Well, hey, how y'all doing?" he asked. The turned around and Roxas said,

"Fine, thank you. We're just looking."

"I can see that. But do you two boys need help with anything, though?"

"Um, no, but our friend probably needs help. He's supposed to be buying some presents." said Xinck turning back around to the shelf.

"Oh, my, you sure do look strong." Karn said, smiling at Xinck's back, "With your nice shoulders and fit physique."

"Uh....thank you?"

"And you, "Karn turned to Roxas and stared him deep in the eyes, "You have the most B-E-A-U-tiful eyes I have ever seen." Karn, looking deeply into Roxas's face, started leaning in closer and closer until Roxas leaned sideways and called out, "...Axel?"

Karn leaned away, still keeping his uncomfortable stared on Roxas and Xinck. "Are you a Pedophile?" Xinck asked.

"What? Little old me? Never!" Karn replied, faking being offended, even running his hand over his own chest, "Would you young boys like some candy?" He reached in to his front pocket and pulled out a hand full of Tylenol Pms, a few blue pills with the letter 'V' and a cough drop. "Go ahead, take one." He smiled.

Roxas looked at the handful of so-called 'Candy', "I don't think this is candy."

"Only old people think Cough drops are candy." Xinck said, looking at the Cough drop. Axel came up and stood behind Roxas and Xinck.

"Okay, you guys," He said, trying to redirect the conversation, "I think we should hurry up and get out of here, _Now._"

"Hey look at this." Roxas leaned down to the bottom row of the shelf and picked up a white ceramic and green feline figurine with wide eyes, a smile and a paw positioned next to it's face, as if it was calling everyone to it. "This looks nice."

"Oh, "Karn exclaimed, "That is called a _Mineki Neko _or-"

"'Beckoning Cat'" Xinck interrupted.

"Oh, my, you are a very smart, and beautiful boy." Karn said, eying Xinck. Then he looked at Roxas, "And _you_ have a fine eye for decoration. Those nice, deep, mysterious eyes...."

Axel cleared his throat and Karn turned to him "I'll take 6 of those cat things." Axel said.

"Right, of course." Karn smiled and gently took The _Mineki Neko _from Roxas's hand, winked at him and walked up to the counter, Axel, Roxas and Xinck following him. Karn walked through a back door, presumably the storage room, where he yelled back to them as he searched for the other 5 _Mineki Neko._

"I remember a few months back, I went to Japan on a...uh...recreational trip and I found these little guys and I just thought they were sooo cute!" The sound of boxes could be heard being moved around as Axel, Roxas, and Xinck stood at the front desk. "I've always admired Asian culture, especially their art, like in the Philippines, and I spent a lot of time in the Philippines..." He continued to babel on and on about South East Asian culture until he emerged from the back room carrying Five _Mineki Neko _in his arms. He smiled when he laid eyes on the group.

He placed the items on the counter, typed a few buttons on the cash register and said, " 24$, please. Lucky you that these little cuties are only 4 Dollars."He quickly wrapped the Cat figurines in protective paper, stuffed them into a paper sack, all the while His eyes darted from Roxas and Xinck, "I wonder how much those little cuties cost...?"

Axel, having enough and his eye starting to twitch, quickly pulled out his wallet, threw a 20 and two 5s down on the counter, grabbed the bag of kitties and pushed a bewildered Roxas and Xinck to the Exit.

"Thank you" Karn called after them, "Come again...and again..and again..."

"Hey, Roxas, I think he wanted to rape you." Xinck said as He, Axel and Roxas walked out of the store.

"No, he wanted you. Didn't you notice when he sniffed the back of your head when you turned around?"

"What?!" Xinck yelled.

The group walked away from the store and to the exit of the mall and when They walked passed a group of Five younger boys, Xinck turned to them and said, "Hey, guys, that Guy in there has Candy. All you have to do is take off you shirts, jump around and he'll give it to you!"

"Yay!" the Group of young boys yelled, running past them and into Surly Grandma.

"Ha ha!" Xinck laughed to himself, "Little bastards."

* * *

At this point in time, The Castle's Insides reflected it's Outsides. Every hall was decked with boughs of holly(Fa la la la la la la la la), because it was the season to be jolly(Repeat). The snow spell that Demyx had shot into the atmosphere had stopped falling and the Entire Dark City and The Castle That Never Was was covered in a peaceful, beautiful blanket of snow. Down in the Giant, Green Pit, where The Castle Floated above, it was nearly covered in snow, so much snow that you could walk on top of it and not fall in and freeze to Death. And standing on top of this snow pile were 8 figures, hoods up and shivering in the cold, brisk wind.

"Th-T-This is unacceptable!" Xaldin grumbled, rubbing his shoulders for warmth. The coats that The Organization wore were meant to accommodate it's wearer depending on the whether around it it. The Coat can keep the user nice and cool up to 110 Degrees and it can keep the user Warm down to -5 Degrees and no more. Unfortunately, it was -10 Degrees, so they were all screwed. "What the hell are we doing out here for anyway?!"

Freezing and chuckling to himself, Xigbar said, "Hey Xaldin, guess what I'm doing?"

"What!?" He called out against the blowing wind.

"I'm bewaring The Winds Of Despair. Ha!"

"I hate you so much right now."

"Okay, guys, I think we're ready!" Called Demyx's voice from the crowd of hooded figures. He was the most distinguishable because his Shoulder blades were very pointed. He walked up to the head of the shivering group and the wind died down to a stop as he spoke. "Okay, as a reward for everyone getting their Christmas shopping down and decorating the Castle, I have decided to host a day in the snow! Isn't that great?!" A ball of melting snow smacked Demyx in the face through his hood and he fell over backwards.

"You bastard!" Axel yelled out, distinguishable by how narrow his coated forearms were. He was actually warmer than everyone else, because he generated his own Heat(A lot more than the average human) and he was melting the now around him, making him sink inch by inch, so now he was about Xinck's height. "This is stupid! I'm going inside!" He turned around, taking a huge stride out of the snow and tried to make his way out of the giant ditch. Another snowball came and hit him in the back of his head and he fell forward into the snow.

"What's the matter, Axel, scared?" Demyx asked, standing up and holding another ball of snow in his hand.

Axel growled, standing up and turning to Xinck, distinguishable by him being the only one who puts his hands in his pockets, and Roxas, distinguishable by him being the Shortest. "Well, what are you two doing just standing there?! Get him!"

"Whatever happened to please?" Xinck asked, leaning down and picking up a handful of snow and hurling it at Demyx, who dodged out of the way.

"What are we supposed to do?" Roxas asked to Axel, getting up and walking back to them. "I've never been in a snowball fight."

"What's to know?" Axel leaned down, picked up some snow, molded it into a ball and threw it at Demyx, hitting him in the stomach. "Just pick up some snow. Go ahead." Roxas leaned down and picked up a handful of snow. "Now, roll it into a ball." Roxas lazily rolled the snow, then rolled it faster until it took the shape of a ball, "Now, chuck it at somene!" Roxas looked around and saw everyone throwing snowballs. He picked a target and threw it at the back of Xinck's head.

"Ow! Dammit! I thought we were on teams?!" He yelled, holding his head.

"Wow, that _is _fun!" Roxas laughed, "

"Snowball Fight, Bitches!" Xigbar yelled.

It had been 4 minutes into the snowball fight. They were all divided into two teams, Axel, Roxas, Saix and Xinck on one side, Demyx, Luxord, Xigbar and Xaldin on the other. Snowballs were flying through the air and so far Demyx's team was winning because they could use their powers to their advantage. Xigbar was manipulating the space around the snowballs so that they never missed their targets; Xaldin called up a terrible wind to make his strikes more effective as they hit; Luxord was making time slow down and speed up randomly around his snowballs, making it difficult for his targets to dodge; Demyx was manipulating the molecular density of the water in the snow, making it much harder as he threw it.

The other team, Axel's, wasn't doing so well; Axel was having a hard time balancing his powers between keeping warm, not melting their snow fort and keeping his snowballs from melting; Xinck and Saix were the only ones actually doing a good job besides Roxas, who warped the light around snowballs to temporarily make them invisible.

"Take this!" Xigbar reared back his arm and threw it across the designated 'Dead Zone' and towards Saix. Saix saw it coming and prepared to duck, but saw the ball turning sideways out of his direction and into Axel's face.

"Oh!" Axel growled wiping melting snow out of his face.

"We're losing, Axel. We need a plan." Saix said, tossing a snowball.

"Any ideas?"

"Mmmmm." Axel put his hand on his chin in a Sherlock Holmes manner, "Elementary, my dear Watson...."

"I head that he never actually said that."

"He didn't say it in the movie, either!" Xinck threw a snowball.

"The new one?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah, I saw that whole movie, hoping he'd say it and he didn't. I wasn't disappointed at all because the movie was good, but I kinda thought that that was his catchphrase."

"Just like how in Star Trek no one ever said 'Beam me up, Scotty.'.

"Now, that's not true." Saix chimed in, "They said it in the movie."

"I was talking about the old show, they never said it."

"You watch old episodes of Star Trek?" Axel asked.

"No, I heard it over the internet."

"Interesting, my dear Watson..." Axel said, putting his hand on his chin again, "Anyway, we need a plan."

"Aaagh!" Saix yelled, taking a very dense Snowball from Demyx in his eye.

"That's for hitting me in the head with a clipboard!" Demyx yelled from his teams' snow fort.

Saix groaned, gripping his face. He turned towards his other teammates, "Is it bad?" they looked at his face, specifically his left eye, which was now swollen and purple and the eyeball was bloody red.

Staring at his eye, Axel said, "You're beautiful...on the inside...probably."

"With that eye, and if you gave yourself an accent, you might be able to pass for Irish." Xinck said, quickly dodging three snowballs.

Saix bent over and started to quickly make multiple snowballs. After he finished, he stood up and held his ammo in his arms. He looked straight at the opposition and he moved from behind the safety of the fort.

"Wait..wait, Saix! What are you doing!?" Axel yelled.

"I've a plan." He turned from the enemy and looked at Axel, "I'll rush them and take out as many as I can. All I have to do is get close enough and I can at least get most of them in the face."

"Wait, you can't do that!" Xinck said turning to Saix and taking a Time-snowball in the chest from Luxord(He sent the snow ball to the Ice Age, millions of years ago, making it colder and harder).

"Ha ha!" Luxord yelled in triumph, "_ Viva La Britannia!"_

"Saix, you don't have to do this." Axel said, "We can definitely come up with abetter plan than this."

"We don't have any time! Besides, i"m growing tired of this. I don't mind." Saix turned to run out from behind the small fort.

"So you're just gonna run out there?!" Roxas yelled, "That's Suicide!"

Saix turned toward the three and in a calm, authoritative voice, he said dramatically, "Then I'll see you in Hell!" He turned away and started running across The Dead Zone and throwing Snowball after snowball at Xaldin, Xigbar, Luxord and Demyx. He nailed Xaldin in the neck, who fell over backward.

"Aggh!" He gasped, sprawled out on the snowy ground as the snow melted on his neck. He gasped, "Everything's...getting c-cold..."

Saix roared, nailing Luxord in the chest.

"Oh, I _Do _say!" He sounded a little offended. As he fell over backwards.

Xigbar took a snowball in the face.

"Damn!" he yelled. He swallowed hard in his mouth, "Strawberries. Why does everything taste like Strawberries...?" He, too, fell over.

Saix had made it all the way to Demyx's side. Demyx held one snowball and Saix only had one. He roared and jumped into the air, Demyx screamed, seeing The Beast high in the air above him. They both let fly their snowballs and both were hit in the face. Demyx fell back into the snow, Saix fell back out of the air and back onto the ground. The Fight was over.

* * *

**Xemnas builds a Snowman**

Sitting by a window ledge and watching the activities down below, Xemnas took a sip of warm Cocoa from a mug in his hand. He was at the lowest level of the Castle, making it easier for him to see Demyx's snowball fight. A gust of Wind, generated by Xaldin down below, found it's way in through the window and almost blew the old Silk top hat that Xemnas had on his head.

He straightened the Hat after the wind had settled and he went back to quietly observing his subordinates. Hats weren't particularly Xemnas's style, but this hat was supposedly special. As a side quest, he had been looking for this Hat for a while due to a legend he had heard concerning this Hat and magical snow. And after searching for a while and going through several fakes, he finally found the _Authentic_ one at an auction. He had to beat out an old man for it, but he finally got it.

When Xemnas noticed that The Snowball fight was over, with Saix and Demyx pounding each other in the face with only one snowball, They all got up, wiped the snow off their bodies and disappeared into Portals of Darkness. They were gone and Xemnas now had a chance.

He cleared his throat, sat down his now empty cup and leaped out the window into the ice cold air. His feet hit the side of the cold Castle and he slid down, like a snowboarder on the side of a mountain. He barely had to move his arms as he slid down, he casually veered to the left to avoid a turret and when he came to the ledge, he jumped off. He flew through the air momentarily, then plummeted straight down. Before reaching the ground, he levitated then hit the ground with a quiet thud.

"Ow." Xemnas quietly said. He had popped his neck a little when he hit the ground. He popped his knuckles, sighed and said, "Well, then, let's get started."

_35 Minutes later_

The Superior stepped away from his recently crafted snowman. It was nothing special, large, perfectly round bottom, a medium sized midsection with three charcoal buttons, and a regular sized, round head with a carrot nose and Charcoal eyes. A very plain snowman, indeed. It didn't even have arms.

Xemnas put his hand on his chin and stared at his recently conceived creation, "Mmmm. It's still missing...something..A-ha!" He reached into his Black Coat, searched around a little, then pulled out a Black scarf with crimson red details on the edges. He wrapped the black scarf comfortably around the bottom of the Head of the snowman. He stepped back again to admire his work, "There we go, now you look like a real snowman." Despite not having a Heart, and not caring for anything in general, Xemnas was actually a little proud of his handiwork. Too bad it had to die.

Xemnas raised his hands, took off his top hat, and messed his own hair to his own hair. He ripped his own coat in several places and he even injured himself by blasting a hole straight through his side, not a fatal wound for him, but it would serve it's purpose for now. "Now, let's start the fireworks." Xemnas took the Top Hatand placed it on the Top of the Snowman's head and stepped back.

A quick gust of wind blew and swirled around the Snowman. Then the oddest thing happened; The Charcoal eyes blinked, a small black crease appeared on it's face and limbs of snow formed at the sides of it's midsection. It rose with newly formed Legs out of it's round bottom and the the Crease on it's face turned into a smile.

Frosty The Snowman lived.

Frosty took in it's first new breaths of air and sang, _"Let there be Snow! Let there be Snow!" _He started dancing on it's newly formed legs and stared at the sky, spinning in circles, _"This Kind of Weather brings people together so Friendships can grow!" _Frosty made another spin around then gasped in Horror. A man with silver-gray messy hair came limping towards him. He was bleeding from his side and his clothes were tattered.

"Hey, what's the matter friend?" Frosty asked, going to the man and helping him to his feet.

Although no one else knows this, but Nobodies are exceptionally good actors. Xemnas leaned into Frosty's frozen arms and peered into his empathetic charcoal eyes, "Friends.....that's a word....that has hurt me..nearly killed me...and kidnapped an innocent child!!"

"What?!" Frosty, in all his days, has never seen or heard of such terrible things, "What's your name friend? Mine's Frosty."

Xemnas thought of the most untraceable, mot idiotic name he could think of, "Monkey. Monkey D. Luffy."

"Tell me, Monkey-"

"Call me Luffy." Xemnas forcibly spat out blood onto the white snow on the grund.

"You have to tell me, Luffy, what's going on?!"

Xemnas coughed more and struggled to talk, "M-my Friends...or, at least I thought they were my friends...Kidnapped a young boy. I tried my Hardest to convince them to let him go..but they...I though they were my friends..but they..tried to kill me and they through me out a window and left me for dead."

"No!"

"Yes! Frosty!" Xemnas peered into Frosty's eyes and fake Tears streamed down The Superior's face, "Frosty, you..you have to stop them before it's too late!"

"Where are they?! Where's the boy!?" Frosty's voice filled with anger. Kidnapping an innocent child..that wasn't what the spirit of winter was about.

"Up....there!" Xemnas/Luffy weakly pointed towards the Castle that Never Was. It loomed menacingly over them and luckily for Xemnas/Luffy it only helped his performance. "Be careful...they'll have weapons...they'll use force if necessary."

Frosty's eyes filled with determination as he stared at the Castle, "What does the boy look like?"

"He..He's blonde..short..blue eyes...He'll be by a dangerous man with red hair. Be careful....others are in the Castle..they're all dang...er...Ugh!" Xemnas groaned and fell still and limp in Frosty's hands.

Frosty wanted to cry. He was sad, but he knew what had to be done. He had to save that Boy so that he wouldn't end up like Luffy. He wasn't much of a Fighter, but if these people were going to play rough, well then so would he. He slowly let Luffy down to the ground and rested his head on the ground, "Rest, My Friend and Don't worry, I'll save him!" With a yell and a leap, Frosty turned into a living mass of flying snow, the Carrot nose, charcoal pieces and old top hat were hidden inside. The mass flew through the air, towards the Castle and into an open window.

Xemnas stood up from the cold ground, wiped the excess snow off his torn coat and stood to his feet. He wiped his hands free of snow and sighed. "Those acting lessons paid off. Eat your Hearts out, Will Smith, Ben Affleck, Denzel Washington, Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Johnny Depp, and that gay guy from _Twilight._" He opened a Corridor of Darkness and started walking through it, "This is going to be good."

"Xaldin, please, come ON!" Xigbar pleaded as he and Number III walked down a hallway, "Is there ANYTHING else we can talk about?!"

"No, no, no, you don't understand." Xaldin, who was probably the most Nobody-like after Saix, seemed to always get a little excited about the MOST boring subjects, "You see, here's the thing about Feudal Agriculture-"

"No! Shut up!" Xigbar yelled, "Let's talk about something that we both actually enjoy."

"Enjoyment? Ha! As if beings such as us can "Enjoy" anything."

"You got as giddy as a school girl while you gave me a 10 minute speech on Agriculture, it sounded like you enjoyed it."

"Fine, then. What do you want to talk about?"

"This!" From his pocket, Xigbar thrust a magazine page into Xaldin's face. Xaldin read the Headline out loud, "'_Mail-Order Brides From Chechnya'. _You can't be serious." He eyed Xigbar.

"But I am." Xigbar pulled the Magazine page back into his pocket. "I only have half the money so far, but I wanted to see if you'd be interested. So?"

Xaldin stared at Xigbar as if he had a 'Stare at me' sign on his head, "You, want me, Xaldin, to help you pay for a mail-order bride?"

"Yes."

Xaldin sighed, then took in a huge breath and yelled,"WHY THE HELL WOULD I DO THAT?!"

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down." Xigbar patted Xaldin on the shoulders, " You'll own half of her. She can clean for you-"

"The Nobodies clean."

"-Cook for you..."

Xaldin was about to say something, then thought of how he would no longer hear anyone complain about his cooking, especially if someone else could take the blame, especially if it was some Russian chick. Xaldin was about to reply out loud to Xigbar's proposition, when Xigbar said...

"Is that a snowman?"

Xaldin's eyes darted to where Xigbar pointed and he was right; a Simple snowman with a top hat, Charcoal accessories and a black and red scarf tied innocently around it's neck. It just stood there with it's carrot nose stick straight at them.

Xaldin scoffed, "Damn Demyx, I asked him to keep this Christmas crap out of the Southwestern part of the Castle."

"How did he get it in here without it melting?" Xigbar and Xaldin started walking towards it, but suddenly stopped when the snowman started to rise with newly formed legs. Arms started forming out the sides and it's charcoal eyes started blinking. Xigbar rubbed his eye a few times and looked at the morphing snowman, "Am I high?"

"No." A mouth formed on the face of the snowman and he spoke, "Just tied up." With impossibly fast speed, the snowman rushed past Xigbar, took off his scarf, pulled Xigbar's legs and arms behind him and quickly horse-tied No. II and gagged him with one quick motion. Xigbar's body fell to the ground, first his stomach hit then he fell to his side, mumbling as he tried to process what just happened.

"Xigbar!" Xaldin yelled. He jumped back from the snowman and in the air he prepared to summon a lance. But, instead he fell from the air, yelling, bleeding and clutching his right eye as he hit the ground. "Aggh!" Xaldin looked at the snowman and saw that his carrot nose was gone. Xaldin looked down and saw the the orange carrot was now covered in blood. He clutched his eye and yelled, "Aggh! Why does Xigbar get the Scarf and I get a fucking Carrot in my eye?!"

Frosty walked to Xaldin, grabbed him by one of his Dreadlocks and pulled him up to eye-level, "Now tell me, Where is the boy?!"

"What boy?! I'm gonna be blind for the rest of my life, you ass!"

Frosty growled, let Xaldin drop motionlessly on the floor, grabbed and repositioned his Carrot nose to his face and he ran past Xigbar. He jumped and turned back into that mass of snow and ice and rampaged down the hall.

Saix liked to go on walks in the hallway every once and a while. He always finds them relaxing, especially after dividing up missions among the members. Unfortunately, because for some unfathomable reason Xemnas decided to go along with Demyx's 'Crhistmas'. As such, Saix was temporarily removed from his position as Second In Command and Demyx was placed in charge, so everyone had to obey his orders or risk being confronted by Xemnas. Everyone was forced to buy at least one present for everyone else, but at least it was Christmas Eve and after this is over, everthing would go back to normal...or at least as normal as it gets.

Saix rounded a corner and his thoughts were immediately interrupted by a rumbling and the sound of Demyx yelling. Saix had to take a second look as he could have sworn he might have been high. It's not everyday that you see a giant wall of living snow and ice rolling towards and roaring at you with Demyx caught inside of it, screaming his head off.

"Aggh! Saix! Help!"

As the living avalanche rolled at him, Saix knew that he wouldn't have enough time to do anything. So instead he pulled his hood over his face to hopefully protect his face and eyes, pulled on the side strings to make the small hole even smaller and let his arms fall limply to his side. He joined Demyx as the wall of snow rolled over him.

Xinck walked down a decorated hallway. Demyx had magically installed magic to play soothing Christmas Muzak throughout numerous halls. Xinck found it annoying, but payed it little mindas he was on his cellphone. The conversation wasn't going well.

"Hey!" Xinck yelled, "I don't have to take that from a Wallaby, or Kangaroo-whatever you people have!" Xinck, for whatever reason, liked to harass the Country/Continent of Australia. He would call random citizens and deride them until they hung up, "Oh, you people think you're so great because you can call yourself a Country and a Continent, well, guess what? In my book you can't be both!" a Petty Reason, indeed, but he seems to think it's a good enough reason to harass innocent people. "Hey, guess what? I think I hear a Dingo eating your baby! Ha! Suck it!" he flipped his phone shut and sighed, "One person at a time...."

He wanted to find Axel and Roxas, but had no idea where they went. He had to-

"Hey!"

Xinck turned and faced an open hallway, that on both left and right sides were covered in white snow. Huge piles had collected on either side and Xinck could see Saix and Demyx's heads sticking out from the snow and standing in the middle of the hallway, facing Xinck, was a Snowman, glaring at him.

A little confused, Xinck waved innocently, "Hi."

"Bye." the Snowman replied. He bent down and raised his hand into the air. As he brought it down, ice shards formed on his hand and he jammed his frozen fist into the ground.

"Hey, what are you-Agh!" Xinck was hauled into the air by Giant, blue Ice spikes. Frosty had no intention of killing anyone, but he had to knock them out. The ice spikes only hauled Xinck up by his clothes and pinned him to the wall. The Attack was fast and strong enough to have the force equivalent to an Eighteen Wheeler hitting Xinck at 70 miles an Hour, and because he Hit his back against the wall, but luckily because he was a Nobody, his spine was only moved 6 Inches out of place. Apparantly it was enough to knock him unconscious because he didn't move or flinch as Frosty moved on.

Axel and Roxas stood in The Hall of Empty Melodies, the shining light of the Kingdom Hearts moon shined through the glass window above, adding more illumination to the already well-lit platform.

"I can't believe how much you actually enjoy this." Axel said, crossing his arms.

"What's wrong if I enjoy it, huh? I told you I haven't celebrated anything like this before, how can you not get excited?!" Roxas looked aound the Decorated Hall of Empty Melodies, the hall that he had personally decorated. Streams of green and red decorations hung on the ceiling, bows were hung on the top mantle of every entrance and gold ribbons were wrapped around the railings on the top levels and a Christmas tree in the center of it all.

"Maybe you should start watching HGTV to get decorating tips." Axel suggested.

"Demyx said it looked good."

"Demyx wouldn't know what good looked like if it bit him on the lips."

"I tried my be-"

"Little boy!?" Axel and Roxas turned around and saw a living, walking Snowman running towards them, arms outstretched to Roxas.

"Well, now I've seen everything." Axel said in shock.

"Have you ever seen a man eat his own head?"

"....No."

"Then you _haven't _seen everything."

Axel was going to reply, when a wall of Snow smashed into him, sending him flying off in a different direction. The Wall of snow stopped upon impact and turned back into it's snowman form. "Axel!" Roxas yelled. Frosty put his hands on Roxas's shoulders, got down to his level and looked into Roxas's confused eyes, "Little Boy,are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"What are you talking about?! Let go of me!" Roxas yelled, backing away from the snowman. Frosty tried to reach out to Roxas again, but his arm was sliced off by a quick wheel of fire as the snow quickly turned to water.

Axel's Chakram returned to his hand and he took up his stance, "Let him go!" Axel shot towards his target, raised his chakram and struck at his side, snow and water fell from the wound, but it healed, leaving no scratch. "Damn." Axel yelled and the snowman struck back with a fist to Axel's face, sending him back a few feet. Axel stood straight up and saw the snowman charging at him, growling. Frosty quickly waved his hand, generating 5 ice spikes targeted at Axel. Axel ducked from the path of the spikes and they broke against the ground, then, as he jumped into the air, the bottom of his shoes caught fire and he flew in a wide circle around the snowman.

Frosty growled and Axel flew and hovered directly behind him. He held out his hand, saying, "Burn, baby!" a jet of fire erupted from his hand and engulfed the yelling snowman,who tried to protect himself with his hands.

"No!" Frosty yellled, melting into a puddle of ice blue water, leaving nothing but his old top hot and a few pieces of Chacoal.

"Someone get a mop!" Axel yelled, landing on the ground and dismissing his chakram pair. He and Roxas both looked at the puddle of the snowman, his top hat and charcoal pieces. "Well," Axel said, "that is one of the most random things that have ever happened to me."

"What about that time when that old lady smacked you on the butt and called you Glenda?" Roxas asked.

Axel stopped and thought about it for a while, "Okay, second most random thing to happen to me."

"What was that thing?"

"A snowman."

"A living snowman?"

"Yeah, weird right? Maybe a Heartless possessed it or something."

They turned away from the puddle to leave, and as they did, Axel caught a glimpse of a snowy white hand reaching towards Roxas from the puddle.

"Look out!" Axel pushed Roxas out of the Hands way and instead it grabbed Axel. Roxas hit the ground, but quickly got back up to see the Snowman rise from the puddle, his Hat back on his head and his charcoal eyes in their right position. The Snowman growled at Axel, holding him up by the collar of his coat.

"Axel!" Roxas dashed at the snowman, Oathkeeper shined into his hand and hecut the snowman horizontally across his midsection, snow and ice fell and He let go of Axel.

"Little boy?" Frosty whispered, turning his head toward Roxas just in time for Him to cut diagonally up, slicing his face and the old Hat in half. The Hat, before it could even fall to the ground, faded away and left a considerably large, shining Heart. As the Heart of Frosty The Snowman floated through the ceiling towards the Kingdom Hearts moon, the snowman's body melted into a lifeless puddle, and it's charcoal eyes, stuck in a sad position, fell innocently to the floor, making a small splash.

"You know," Axel said, picking himself up, completely unfazed by his near-death situation, "If I were killed by a snowman, you guys would never let me live that down."

"If you were killed by a snowman, they wouldn't even let into Heaven..or Hell for that matter." Roxas dismissed Oathkeeper, "I mean, COME ON, a Snowman?"

Axel laughed, then stopped, "Still," He looked up at the Kingdom Hearts moon, "Don't you wonder how a snowman got in here in the first place?"

"And what did it want with me?"

"I believe I can answer that."

Axel and Roxas turned to see Xemnas walking towards them. He wore a new black coat and the other members were following Behind him, Xigbar(who was limping), Xaldin(Who was borrowing one of Xigbar's eyepatches), Demyx, Saix(They both had freezer burn on their faces), and Xinck (Who had his hand on his back and a cane in his other hand).

"Wow, what happened to you guys?" Axel asked.

Everyone except Xemnas grumbled something about a snowman and when Xemnas spoke up they all fell silent and listened, "You see, a Possessor Heartless had taken control of a random Snowman, probably crafted by some punk children somewhere in the city. The Heartless-possessed pile of Snow must have found it's way into the Castle, looking for you." He looked at Roxas, "And your Keyblade."

Demyx seemed to be close to Tears, "Why'd it come after us?!"

"Possibly because you all were in it's way to locate Roxas."

"But it actually spoke, I heard it talk." Roxas said, with several other members agreeing with him.

Xemnasput a hand on his chin, making his words sound more convincing, "It isn't entirely impossible that a few Heartless might actually be getting Smarter."

"Impossible!" Xaldin chimes in, "All the work we did on Heartless, they don't have the potential to evolve naturally. They need Hearts to evolve."

"True. But we cannot rule out the possibility that a few Heartless might be able to mimic Human speech patterns."

No one said anything, mostly because they had no relevant opinion that could dispute Xemnas'. So Axel said, "So...uh..what now?"

"Mmm?"

"Please, please tell me," Demyx said, "Please tell me, we can still do this Christmas thing?!"

"Huh?" Those last two questions seemed to pull Xemnas out of a self-imposed trance, "Uhuh...sure, whatever, I don't care. Do what you want." Xemnas was wrapped in a Portal of Darkness and he disappeared.

Demyx caught everyone's attention with his loud voice, "Alright everyone, go get your wrapped Christmas presents and we'll put them underneath the giant Tree in the Gray Area."

No one moved.

"Oh, come on, guys, do-"

The others grumbled as they walked, limped and shuttled into their own Corridors of Darkness. The Hall of Empty Melodies was completely empty as a different portal opened and Luxord stepped out. He looked around and no one was there, "Hello? Where is everyone? Did I miss something? I don't appreciate being left out of the loop!"

* * *

Christmas Eve Night

The Nighttime walks in the Castle That Never Was were, in Saix's opinion, the most relaxing thing he could hope for, even if he didn't have a Heart. The walks always relaxed him, especially since he had been dealing with Demyx's Christmas annoyances, Christmas crowds, Snowballs and killer Snowmen, so he REALLY needed this walk. Besides, someone had to patrol the Castle for intruders, Solicitors, Mormons or anything that could decrease the property value of The Area. Everyone else in the Castle was asleep, per Demyx's orders that 11:00 was the bedtime so that Santa would have time to visit. Ha! Santa Claus. What a Joke. Saix had no need to ever believe in such things, especially now, but when he was younger, that was a different Story. As a very young Isa, Saix remembers that he really wanted a specific toy one Christmas, but did not receive it, which, in Saix's opinion, was a Clear violation of the Santa/Good Child Agreement of 1951. at that moment Saix knew that there was no Santa, but, on the off chance that he did exist, he swore revenge. Of course, now that he thinks about it, he could probably go and buy his own toys, but that would cost money and every know that Santa worked for free.

Saix felt a bit peckish as he rounded the corner into the Hallway that contained the Kitchen. He was hungry, so why not eat? Even people who don't exist have to eat. As he walked into the Kitchen, that first thing he noticed was that the refrigerator was open, casting it's bright light across the shining white floor. The second thing he noticed was the half eaten cookies, have drunken milk on the counter next to a coffee cup filled with Candy canes. The third and final thing that Saix noticed was the Fat man dressed in Red, black boots and red hat, peering into the refrigerator.

Santa Claus. Saix really couldn't believe this. This ancient symbol of good was right here in His Castle, about to eat his food(And his roommates food, but he didn't care about that). How did he get in here? How did he get past the nobodies and the security System? Why Was he eating our food?! Wasn't the milk and Cookies enough!? Wasn't I a good enough boy that year, Klaus?!, Saix thought. All of those old memories came flooding back to him like a riptide. Tonight, he would have his revenge.

"Klaus!" Saix yelled, catching the red man off Guard. He jumped, turned and saw the blue-haired man.

"Oh! You're not supposed to be here! You're to be asleep!" Santa yelled back.

"Oh, how can I sleep knowing you're here. I will make you pay for what you did, you will pay what you owe!" Saix yelled, raising his voice.

"What are you talking about, young man? I just came here to bring presents!"

"What about the presents for young Isa!?"

"Isa?" Santa thought for a while, "That mean little boy from the Radiant Garden that wanted a Crossbow for Christmas!?"

"Yes, dammit!"

"I wouldn't dream of giving such a horrible child a dangerous weapon for Christmas!" Santa said, looking offended by the very idea.

"You gave Lea a Frisbee!"

"Lea gave to the Homeless!"

"Rocks! He gave them Rock Soup. Rocks with mud!"

"But the Homeless were happy to receive a gift! And that's what Christmas is all-"

"Oh, Shut up!" Saix reached over to the Counter and grabbed a Candy cane from the empty mug. He smashed the tip of the cane on the edge of the counter, making a sharp point. "Let's dance, Klaus!"

"Very well!" Santa closed the refrigerator door, opened the silverware drawer and pulled out a butter knife, 'i'll silence your night!"

They charged at each other.

* * *

The Next Day-Christmas Day.

Christmas Day came and per Demyx's orders everyone was ordered to wake up at 9:00 sharp to open gifts in the Grey Area, with the exception of Xemnas who already got what he wanted for Christmas. But as they entered the Gray Area, they found that the Christmas tree was smashed and so was every single present underneath it with Saix passed out on top of the Debris. He got up and found he had a black-eye and bruises all over his body. He muttered something like, "Next year, Klaus...Next year..." But Demyx payed him no mind as he was too distressed with the Destruction of his Christmas.

As for everyone else, except Roxas, they didn't particular care what happened to the gifts, since they all pretty much got each other the same thing-a Kitten Calander. Axel was the only one who's presents would have actually been original, except they were now smashed and ruined with the Calenders. But luckily, since Saix was now back in charge, he decided to hold off on the missions until tomorrow, so everyone had the rest of the day off. Xigbar thinks it's "Because something beat his ass so hard he needs time to heal!".

Demyx was simply livid because of all the hard work he put into this. Two days later he will get Revenge on everyone by baking brownies, slipping "Super-Choco-Lax" into the batter, serving them and magically locking every single door to a bathroom in the Castle. He couldn't help but cackle madly as everyone started Mudslidin' in their good pants.

Twilight Town

On top of the Clock Tower, Roxas, Axel and Xinck sat on the edge, not really talking,but just sitting. Axel and Xinck really were relieved that all the holiday crap was over, but Roxas wasn't. He broke the silence and told them how he kind of wanted to see what it was like to celebrate a Holiday and make an unforgettable memory. He said that the only reason why Axel and Xinck didn't care was because they have memories of their past lives having those special times, but he didn't. Roxas got up from the Clock Tower and started to leave, but then he told them that he still went through the trouble of getting them both presents that they would like, and he left, leaving them and their presents.

Axel and Xinck were a little stunned to know that that was how he really thought about the whole situation. They looked at their own individually wrapped presents: Axel's was wrapped in red and gold wrapping paper and was rectangular shaped; Xinck's was larger, rectangular and green and red. They both tore open their presentsand Xinckwas the first to gasp.

"Oh, God!"

"What? What'd he get you?" Axel asked.

Xinck held up a blue and pink box with a clear, plastic front with the words, 'My Apocalypse Pony Playset' in big bubble letters.

"Oh, my God! This is exactly what I wanted!" Xinck yelled, eyeing the four cut little ponies in the box, War Pony, Famine Pony, Pestilence Pony and Death Pony,"I was gonna buy it for myself, but I couldn't find it anywhere!"

"Not even on the Emo Shopping Network?" Axel laughed.

"DON'T RUIN THIS FOR ME!" Xinck yelled, "haven't you seen the Commercials?"

"No."

"My Little Pony, Apocalypse Pony! Punish Mankind For Their Sins!" Xinck sang, "My favorite is Death pony." Xinck placed the box next to him and took out the black pony. It had shiny, white mane hair, red eyes and a cartoon skull as a tattoo on it's back. "What'd he get you?"

Axel took off the top of his box and pulled out it's contents, "Oh, wow!" Axel's eyes widened as he stared at his new pair of Sunglasses. They were a fiery orange color that went well with Axel's hair and they had the vague shape of Diamonds.

"They're just Sunglasses."

"'Just Sunglasses'? Are you blind!?" Axel shouted, "These are Veomicci Designer glasses! Some of the most Rare Glasses in...ANYWHERE! These must have...cost him a fortune." Axel wondered where Roxas had gotten these from, and when he had the time to look for them.

They sat in Silence for a full two minutes, thinking about how Roxas had given so unselfishly. Xinck broke the silence, "I feel like such a Bastard."

"Me, too." Axel replied. He sighed, "Well, let's go make things right." He stood up on the ledge of the Clock Tower and slipped on his new Glasses. He looked good. He reached down and held out a hand to Xinck, who quickly stuffed his new toys in to their box, and they Disappeared into Corridors of Darkness, with Xinck saying, "It's weird that we celebrated Christmas in February."

It didn't take Axel and Xinck long to cheer Roxas up. They said that they really didn't have any money at the moment, but said that for his Present they would pay for all of His Sea salt Ice Cream for the rest of his life..Or until They both died, whichever came first. Roxas couldn't help but laugh.

* * *

**_DiZ, Riku and Namine_**

During the forgotten events of 358/2 Days, Namine, DiZ and Riku, played their part, but, sadly, they've forgotten, just as Namine said they would. But Xion, being made from Sora's memories, was absorbed by Roxas after their fight. Roxas absorbed Xion's powers and Sora's stored memories, but it would be impossible for him to recall those memories and Xion's memory, so he went on about his business, unsure of what had happened. Namine, not 100% sure why, continued to restore Sora's memories, but she hit a snag when the remainder of the memories were stored inside Roxas. She told DiZ that she would be able to draw them out, but it would continually become more difficult as He stayed with the Organization and then impossible. DiZ told her to continue to draw Sora's memory from Roxas for as long as she could until he could come up with a plan. Later, when Riku had discovered the whereabouts of The Organization, he and Diz developed a Plan: Since Roxas was continually under the Influence of The Organization and since the Memories that Sora needed were inside Roxas, and the memories were becoming harder and harder for Namine to obtain, they needed to get Roxas away from The Organization until Namine had completed the process. Riku told them that it would be impossible to get Roxas alone to capture him, since Axel and Xinck were always around, so Namine told them that while she was in Roxas's mind looking for the ineccesible Memories, she found a minute memory of Xion. The memory was so small and it wasn't enough for Roxas to remember Xion on his own, but Namine told DiZ and Riku that bit of information and DiZ ordered her to manipulate that Memory to Drive Roxas into their Hands.

Namine, having no real choice, but at the same time wanting Sora to wake up, obeyed and said that in order to use this small memory of this girl to get Roxas would take some time to set up. And in the mean time, Riku said that he will be keeping an eye on Roxas and the Organization, making sure that any plan to make sure Sora wakes up stays safe.

* * *

Yeah that's right, I went ahead and did a Holiday thing, But I HAD to finish it because I started it in December. I'm determined to finish my story, so no matter how long it takes, I'm FINISHING IT! New chapter will be up sometime and after that Chapter, I'll start my.....special Surprise chapters. They're definetly going to keep you interested.

Oh, sure, as if they 20-some odd chapters of pure entertainment haven't kept them hooked.

Wha-..was that Sarcasm? 'Cuz I have a place you can stick your sarcasm.

..Are you talking to me or yourself, because I can't tell anymore.

.....Me either.

EDIT-Really soon I will be deleting the Q&A Chapters.

REVIEW REVIEW


	27. You'll Get Sued If All You Do Is Copy!

Here we are again.

Oh! Check this out, a few weeks ago, i found a Fanfiction on this site, it's a different story and it has less than 50 chapters and when I saw this story(I didn't bother to read it) it had over 8,000 reviews and i was just shocked. I mean, come on! I had no idea that anyone could get THAT many reviews. It's ridiculously Insane! I mean, I'm not jealous or angry or anything, just...damn, y'know? I have no words to describe it all i can do is curse a lot...Dammit. And i just checked back again it it has 9000+ reviews. It's...Mind-Bottling.

...Mind-Bottling?

Yeah, Mind-Bottling. Like all your thoughts are trapped in a bottle.

Are you sure you don't mean 'Mind-Boggling?

No, I know what I said..or wrote..you know what I mean. I've been doing good so far. I haven't looked up Not one spoiler for Birth By Sleep. All I have to Do is by a new PSP. The one I have now is crap. But now I should talk about the chapter, anyway, This is is kinda drawn out a little bit more than I would like, but it still has a good plot. Now, think of it like this, after this chapter, I'm going to start writing something crazy, not stupid, but it's going to go off into a completely different tangent. Expect a few Ocs and also expect them not to live long. The interesting thing is that I have no idea how many chapters it will take, so..yeah..I can't wait.

I own Nothing

* * *

"Everyone, gather," Saix ordered, standing against the only wall in the Gray Area that was entirely glass, "Time for your assignments." Everyone who was in the room at the time, Xaldin, Xigabr, Axel, Demyx, Luxord, Roxas and Xinck (everyone), gathered around Saix and waited as he handed out Missions. "Now," He continued, " Missions have piled up and luckily I was able to divide them all up amongst all of you, so, Xigbar-" From the stack of files Saix had under his am, he pulled out a seemingly random one and Handed it to Xigbar, "Today, you're to team-up with Demyx."

" 'Kay, what's the Mission?" He asked Lazily, scratching the back of his head and grabbing the folder.

"You two are going to Egypt. Demyx and this File should fill you in on the rest. Get going." He motioned for Demyx to join Xigbar. Demyx walked over to Xigbar's side and stared at his face. Xigabr noticed.

"What are you looking at?" Xigbar yelled.

"You..uh..got a little smudge on your face. Right here." Demyx pointed to a small, white smudge on Xigbar's face. It was the glaze of two dozen donuts that Xigbar had taken upon himself to eat, even though they were not for him."

"Oh. Right here?" Xigbar pointed too high on his cheek.

"No right there!" Demyx pointed again.

"Here?" Xigbar pointed too low.

"No! Right-" Demyx groaned, "I'll get it." Demyx licked his thumb and rubbed against Xigbar's cheek, erasing the smudge.

"Ew! What the fuck, man?" Xigbar yelled, jumping away from Demyx's thumb, "That had your spit on it!" He started to wipe his cheek.

"What? My mom used to do that for me."

"You're not my Mom!"

"Stop playing around and get going!" Saix yelled as he opened a Corridor of Darkness. Demyx went in first and then Xigbar, shivering and twitching with the thought of Demyx's spit on his cheek. Watching this, Luxord Chuckled and looked at Xinck, "Hey, Xinck, you've got a smudge right here." He pointed to his own forehead.

"Oh, really? Right here?" Xinck rubbed his own forehead, rubbing at a smudge that really wasn't there.

"No, Here!" Luxord raised a hand and slapped Xinck in the Forehead, pushing him back a little. He groaned, looked at Luxord as he laughed and then punched him in his stomach. Luxord leaned over, groaning and yelling. His knees hit the floor and he clutched his stomach as he vomited onto the once-clean floor.

"Haha!" Xinck laughed

"See, that's what happens when you drink all day and skip lunch!" Saix yelled, "Now, If you all would shut up, I could continue." Saix interrupted and everyone fell silent, even Luxord as he stood up and wiped his mouth of any stray vomit, "The next Mission is Luxord's." He handed Luxord a Folder, "You're to go to Wonderland and Eliminate The Emerald Serenade Heartless."

"Oh, no." Luxord groaned, grabbing the folder, " You can't be serious, I despise the very thought of those wretched things!"

"Remember, chasing after a Serenade is an exercise in futility." Saix smirked. He knew how much everyone hated going after Serenades, but he loved the looks on their faces when he gave them their mission. It was his own sick pleasure. "Get Going." Luxord groaned and reluctantly opened a Corridor of Darkness. Saix continued, "Xinck, your mission's in New York City." He Handed Xinck a folder. "You're to eliminate The Crab Claw."

Xinck grabbed the folder, "Crab Claw? Is it New?"

"Yes, recently discovered by Xigbar. You know how he is, Luckily I was able to discourage him from naming it 'Giant Thing That Looks Like The Crabs On My Balls.'"

"What a Terrible name."

"Indeed. Exercise Caution, It's bigger than a Darkside."

Xinck groaned, opened a Corridor of Darkness and departed. Saix handed a folder to Axel, "You have a Mission in Agrabah. We have reason to believe that there is a new breed of Heartless roaming about. Gather any and all information on it."

"Alright." Axel smiled, "I'm getting off pretty easy, don't you think?"

"Mm? If you want, I have an extra-credit mission involving an Emerald Serenade and a Dustflier."

"Uh..Nevermind." He took the folder and Departed into a Portal.

Saix continued, "Xaldin-"

"I already know my mission." Xaldin said, he didn't wait to receive a folder, he simply opened a Portal and disappeared.

Roxas watched as Xaldin's portal dissolved into nothingness, then he turned to Saix, "What's his mission?"

"Remember that Castle you found inhabited by that Beast and those talking furnishings?"

"Oh, yeah, I remember." Roxas was the one who had sparked Xaldin's interest in Beast's Castle. For months now, Xaldin was working on gaining The Beast's Heartless and Nobody by manipulating his feelings and his current appearance.

"But you don't have to worry about that. Your Mission is to go to that Space Port." Saix handed Roxas a folder, which he grabbed, "There is a Heartless there that specializes in Time Magic. But it only appears at approximately 5:35 pm, Eastern Standard Time, and will only be there for about 25 minutes before disappearing again. It is relatively new to the Species of Heartless, so we don't know much about it, so be careful."

"Alright, but what am I supposed to do until 5:35?"

"I don't know, whatever normal children do, I guess." Saix opened a portal around himself and disappeared, leaving Roxas by himself.

"But, what do normal kids do?" He looked around and no one was in the room. He really had to stop talking to himself, he thought. He opened his own portal and disappeared.

* * *

_**Xaldin**_

Xaldin's mission, for the most part, was simple; Torment an innocent soul until his grief and pain finally overtook him, causing his heart collapse and forming a Heartless and Nobody. Although he didn't have a Heart, Xaldin loved his job. He stood in front of a Hideous beast, with a long, purple cape, and blue tattered pants. The Beast, which is what everyone commonly refers to him as, was covered in brown and dark brown fur, his feet were clawed and so were his hands. His tail was bushy and swept the floor behind him, of course it wasn't sweeping now because, despite the Beast being a fearsome being, he was very sad. Xaldin took advantage of this. Xaldin stood in front of the Beast as he was bent over, making sounds of exhaustion or angst. Xaldin really couldn't tell the difference.

The Beast's Castle, originally discovered by Roxas, was a cursed place. The once Human servants of the Castle's master were now living furnishings. They were desperate to get the Girl, who was staying at The Castle, to fall in love with The Beast so that everyone could turn back to normal...or something like that. Xaldin didn't care about those details. For months, Xaldin was slowly, but surely getting the Beast exactly were he wanted him. And the Beast was so sensitive that Xaldin could say anything to him and he'd start crying like a soiled baby.

Here came Xaldin's favorite part, the part where he had to make the beast feel even worse about his disposition, and his servants. The Beast was crouched in front of a hooded Xaldin, covering his face as he spoke, "X..Xaldin..."

Xaldin said, "You're fat, stupid, ugly, and hairy. Your feet stink, you talk stupid and you have B.O."

The Beast raised his head to the ceiling and sobbed.

"No one will ever love you, especially with those tattered rags you call clothes. And clip your toenails, what, were you raised in a barn? That's why Belle talks about you behind your back. Just the other day, I heard her and that Teapot talking about you." Xaldin smirked under his hood and said, "They said, 'Girl, did you see what he had on yesterday?' and then she said, 'Girl, Mm-mm, I just can't believe he would even bother to walk out the bedroom.'"(Followed by some snapping of the fingers) The Beast wailed again, yelling 'Belle! Oh, Belle'. Xaldin laughed to himself and thought, _"I am the Best at what I do."_

* * *

_**Xinck**_

People ran through the crowded streets of New York City, dodging idle cars and other slow people that weren't fast enough to get out of the way of the Giant crab claw that dived for them. The people screamed and wailed in pain as the Giant Heartless stepped on them, ate them and dragged them into the air. The Crab Claw was a King Kong sized Heartless with the lower body of a black crab with multiple legs, a ridiculously muscular Human-like torso that rose higher than most buildings in the surrounding area. It had long arms, as wide and as long as Sequoia Trees with wide, strong Crab-claws. In comparison with the rest of it's body, the Head was the ugliest part. It was vaguely Lizard shaped with yellow Heartless eyes. It was all colored black and a Heart-shaped hole in the center of it's chest obviously made it a Heartless. It was the Worst thing to Happen to New York since _Cloverfield _and a good portion of the city was in chaos. Buildings had been quickly torn down, thrown, set on fire, leveled and destroyed. From the Sky, random fires could be seen dotting the city and the only person with the power to stop this rampage was lazily sitting on the rooftop of a building, watching the destruction.

"Oh, red one." Xinck said, pointing at a red car that was just thrown across the city.

"Green one." Xercivio replied, pointing to a green one, also flying in the air. Xinck had asked him to accompany him. He looked around as the Heartless continued it's rampage, " Do you think what Lord Axel said is true? What he said about Lord Saix?"

"Well-Gray one-I'm a little inclined to believe Axel, but..." Xinck stalled.

"But what?"

He sighed, "I don't know."

"Why do you think Lord Saix is giving you all of these giant Heartless to fight? This is your third one this week."

"I know. Maybe he's trying to kill me." Xinck said playfully.

"If it's one thing you won't do, it's stay dead." Xercivio shook his head. He started talking about all of the destruction going on in the city and how the Crab Claw was doing a very thorough job, but Xinck tuned it out.

He was thinking. _"Saix keeps sending me on these 3-man missions alone and it can't just be coincidental. But then again, wishful thinking. Maybe one Giant Heartless, but not three in one week. I'll have to believe Axel unless he gives me a reason not to. But Saix is obviously up to something, but there is no way he could kill me, not if Xemnas is aware of this. I'm in that 'Inner Circle' thing, so I'm still of value._

Xercivio let out a sigh, "You could just do your Redux and we can get out of here."

Xinck snapped out of his deep thinking and quickly responded,"I know that I could..I just..don't want to."

"Why not?" Xercivio sighed, "It's more than big enough to kill the Heartless."

"Yeah..it's just that.." Xinck scratched at his head, "He's been so moody lately and I don't wanna..."

"Wait, wait, wait! Your Redux...is Moody?" Xercivio started yelling.

"Yeah, He's been mad about me not bringing him out enough. He's going through this whole 'I want to see what Sunshine looks like'- or something."

"You can't be serious..."

"Yeah, sometimes he just gets like that, you know?"

Xercivio stood up to his full height of 3ft, "But you can control Him! Make him...NOT MOODY!"

"I can control him, but that doesn't mean He can't speak his mind. He _is _technically alive."

"Alright then!" Xercivio yelled, "Bring his FATASS out here and I'll tell him what to do!"

"Ha!" Xinck laughed, "He'd peel the skin of your bones."

"I'll-" Without warning, the Crab Claw had made it's way over to where Xinck and Xercivio were and forcefully grabbed Xercivio and hauled him into the air. "Gah! Dammit!" He yelled, struggling against his captor's claw, but to no avail.

"Aaaggh!" Xinck yelled, jumping up and running in the opposite direction, "He wants the skin off my bones!"

The Crab Claw roared, completely ignoring Xinck and squeezing Xercivio tighter and tighter in it's grip. Xercivio could be heard struggling to get free, but he couldn't. He wasn't strong enough. He thought to himself, "Dammit! Never thought I'd have to do this..." He yelled out into Xinck's head, "Help me, Dammit!"

Xinck stopped running and turned back around to see Xercivio and he shouted back, "I help those who help themselves!"

"You Ass! Help me!"

"Why should I?" Xinck took a more defensive stance, crossing his arms.

"If you don't, I will hate you for the rest of my days!" Xercivio yelled back as the Crab Claw roared even louder, as if trying to get his attention.

"You already hate me!"

"Goddammit! Xinck!" Xercivio yelled even louder, as he was being squeezed harder. "If I die, I'll never pay you the money I owe you!" Xinck was preparing to jump away to a different building when he stopped and looked at Xercivio and the Crab Claw again. Then, with no effort at all, Xinck's hands become enveloped in shadows that were unnaturally pulled off of their respective surfaces. The Shadows became solid and formed his Sword pair, Thanatos. Xinck took his stance and sighed, "The things I'll do for $3.50."

* * *

_**Ansem (SEEKER OF DARKNESS!)**_

Ansem, as we all know, is trapped inside Riku. He is basically powerless since the last time he fought Riku, but since then, Riku is still able to sense Ansem's presence. He can't really do anything, except occasionally make rude and weird comments into Riku's head when he goes about his daily routine. "Not going to brush your teeth this morning? Ha! Go ahead! Everyday you neglect your Teeth will bring you closer to me! And Gingivitis! HA ha ha!" But luckily for Ansem, ever since Riku started conspiring with DiZ and Namine, he has been spending time in The World That never Was, spying on The Organization. That world is close enough to Darkness, that Ansem is able to draw power from it, but Only a little bit of power, not enough to permanently take over Riku's body. But he has discovered the Ability to physically manifest himself as a, what he calls "Physical ghost". He would not have any access to his old powers so fighting Riku for his body was out of the question. To be honest, he really couldn't do anything except touch things, be seen and mild teleportation. "Oh, wait, WAIT! I could get a gun and Shoot Riku in the Head! Ah ha ha ha-oh..wait...then..then He'd be dead..."

Ansem could physically be seen by others, but only for a few hours because he was still tethered to Riku. And since he had no powers, no Guardian and no Heartless, he thought he could just have some free time somewhere. He waited until Riku was out and about in a random world and right before Riku left for Twilight Town, Ansem left Riku and he was free, but only temporarily. He stood on a sidewalk in, what looked like, a middle-class neighborhood, Hotels and various shops of interest. People in all types of Common-wear walked the streets. They probably thought that Ansem was some sort of Actor or performer because of his strange clothes, but he payed them no mind. He had the next few hours to himself and he had no idea what he wanted to do. He didn't want-no. He didn't _need_ to collect Hearts like Heartless, so he was a little surprised when an old habit reared it's ugly head. As he walked down the street, his stomach started growling. He was hungry. He walked into a _McDonalds_. As soon as he opened the doors, several eyes looked him up and down, parents, their kids, several teenagers chuckled, but quickly shut up and looked away when Ansem looked in their Direction.

A half-hour later, after eating a Big Mac, Larger fry and drinking a large coke, Ansem walked out of the restaurant. He rubbed his stomach satisfyingly and burped. "Excuse me." he said to himself. Now, there was one problem; He had no idea what to do now. Maybe he could get some new shoes, some new clothes and get his hair done! Yes!...Except he was broke. Eating that fast-food had taken away much of his money, so he had less than 3 dollars left. One thing he, as well as most people in the universe knew, was that you need money in order to have some fun. So, what to do?

Ansem decided to carjack someone.

He walked out into the middle of the street and stopped the first car in his way by holding up his hand. The car came to a screeching halt and the driver started swearing behind the wheel and flipping Ansem the bird. The car wasn't anything special it was small and a pale yellow, it was obviously old and close to dying. The Driver stepped out of the car, just as Ansem walked over to the driver side door.

"You Dumb Fuck! What's you problem!" The Driver yelled, stepping out of his car.

"I need you car." Without hesitation, Ansem punched the Driver in the gut and dropped him to the ground. Ansem stepped into the car and sat down. He looked around the small car-it's upholstery was leathery and the back seat was immaculately clean. Sitting in the passenger seat were two CDs. Ansem held them up so he could read the titles- one was a Celine Dion CD and the other was Cher's Greatest Hits. Ansem scoffed and looked out the window to the man in the street. "What kind of a man listens to Celine Dion?" Ansem asked, tossing the Cd at the man's head. Ansem didn't wait to see if the man was alright, so he just drove off down the street. He popped in the Cher Cd as he put on his seatbelt. Safety first.

The sound of Cher's song, "_Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves", _played from the Cd player as Ansem turned the Corner. If he didn't have enough money to buy anything, the least he could do is take a drive and enjoy the scenery. He turned another corner and sang along silently with his music as he saw the city go by. _"..Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves! You hear it from the people of the crowd..." _He sang silently. The car passed by a few hotels and stores, a pawn shop and what looked like a gym. A red light was coming up and Ansem's foot slowly hit the brake pedal. The car came to a stop directly before the line in the street and pedestrians crossed the street from his right to his left. Ansem rolled up the windows because he didn't want people see him listening to Cher. The Light was still red and the pedestrians were still crossing, testing Ansem's patience.

He rested his head and his hand and put his arm on the arm rest on the door. He said to himself, "Could these people be any slower?" He looked to the right and saw a Donut shop sitting on the corner. Ansem licked his lips. He couldn't remember the last time he had a Donut. Maybe he could rob the store or something. People have done crazy things before, so it wouldn't really be much of a surprise if he robbed a Donut store, right? He thought to himself, Donuts are delicious and people are crazy, so it only made sense that-.

Ansem wasn't able to finish his thought because something had caught his eye. As the crowd of pedestrians thinned and the remainder of the crowd moved to the other side of the street, Ansem's eyes went wide and a person stopped directly in front of his car, turned to the left and looked directly at him. This person was caring a pink box marked 'Donuts' and He looked just as surprised as Ansem was. The man was wearing a long black coat, black boots and gloves, and his surprise turned quickly to what could be interpreted as anger.

"Mother fucks!" Xemnas yelled in surprise and shock.

Cher continued singing despite the awkward encounter. _"Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves! You hear it from the people..."_

Ansem, in the same amount of surprise, luckily noticed that everyone else in the cross walk was already on the other street. The light turned Green and Ansem floored the accelerator, tires screeched and Xemnas was smashed into the wind shield, brutally smashing it. Xemnas's limp body went over the car and as Ansem drove off into the 4-way intersection, another car, by chance happening, smashed into the side of Ansem, sending stray metal and broken glass in every direction, and knocking him unconscious as his car slowed down and rolled up onto the sidewalk...

* * *

_**Xigbar & Demyx**_

It was a Dark, dank and ruined tunnel and Xigbar and Demyx were walking straight through it. The Tunnel was large and showed no sign of growing smaller or different in any other way. Each wall was covered in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, with the same great, giant and flaming bird randomly drawn on the walls. The bird was surrounded with a ring of light with pictures of people bowing down to it. Xigbar had no idea what any of it meant, Demyx had an idea and it was the reason why they were there in the first place-they were here to kill the bird. "What's the thing called again?" Xigbar asked in an irritated tone of voice. He and Demyx were walking in a long and dark tunnel underneath dozens of feet of sand in a godforsaken desert in Egypt. His only conciliation was that he got to-no, he demanded that he get to wave the flashlight around in this dark tunnel.

Demyx reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the folder that Saix had given him. "We are here to collect the heart of..." He read the name on in the file, "The Winged Dragon Of Ra."

"I don't like the sound of that. Why the fuck would we get this mission?"

"Well," Demyx said, putting the folder away, " I was doin' some recon in this world and I overheard some guys talking about it. I did some digging to confirm the rumors and I found this map that lead to this tunnel."

"And what does that have to do with this dragon?"

"Well, I sent a few Dancers to check out this tunnel and they confirmed that something is definitely at the end of it. So I guess it has to be of some value to the Organization, right?"

Xigbar rolled his eyes, "I guess, but what is this dragon anyway?"

Demyx let out a big sigh and it echoed outward through the giant tunnel. He put his arms behind his head as he walked, "The rumors I heard said that it is One of Three Supreme Beings in this world and that it has power greater to or greater than that Ra himself."

"So?"

"So? It has to be something worth looking into!" Demyx looked at Xigbar and smiled, but Xigbar saw right through it.

"You liar!" Xigbar yelled, "I know what you did! You had told Saix about The Dragon and, as usual, you got scared about the thought of taking it on by yourself. So you bribed Saix to get me to go along with you with Donuts, GLAZED Donuts! His favorites!"

The look on Demyx's face wwas pure shock. Xigbar's powers of perception were definitely well-developed. "How...how did you know?"

"I overheard you talking to him this morning when you were giving them to him, BUT, you didn't count on me knowing about your bribe and I ate all your donuts, leaving Saix with nothin'. But one question remains-Why did Saix let me go with you on this mission?"

Demyx straightened up. He thought that even though his plan had been completely blown out of the water, he still got his way-he won't have to fight the Dragon alone. He looked at Xigbar and said, "I don't know. He said that the schedule had already been divided up and he didn't have time to change it back. Are you mad?"

"What? Mad? No!" Xigbar seemed to have forgotten all about the deep, dark tunnel, "If anything, I'm glad that you finally decided to act a little underhanded to get what you want, but why did you want me to go along with you?"

"Simple-Xemnas never goes on missions with others, Saix and Xaldin freak me out, Roxas has a tendency to randomly go into a coma, and I can rarely understand a word that comes out of Luxord's mouth."

"What about Xinck and Axel?"

"I read on Saix's mission list that Xinck had a giant, freaky Heartless to fight. And Axel went on a mission to find a new breed of Heartless and looking for those takes up a lot of time and effort and when we finally finish, Axel always wants to go to a strip club no matter what day it is. And let me tell you, Tuesday afternoons are not the time when Strip Clubs have out their "A" game. I actually saw bullet wounds and C-section scars."

Xigbar laughed out loud and almost fell over on his sides. "Oh, man! HAHAHA! C-section scars?" He had to stop walking and rest his hand on the wall. His hand felt the wall as he laughed, then he felt himself leaning and the flashlight fell out his hand. He stopped laughing as the stone, hieroglyphic wall fell through and at the last minute, before Xigbar let out a scream of shock, he grabbed Demyx by the hand and they both fell through the wall, screaming. They fell through what seemed like perpetual Darkness. Spinning and falling and screaming, they were just able to barely catch a glimpse of what seemed like a small, perfectly round, golden hole. They fell straight through and hit more stone floor. Demyx was the first one up. He had landed on Xigbar and his knee was in Xigbar's back. "Get off!" Xigbar yelled, pushing up with his hands and knees, Demyx fell off to the side and rubbed his head. Xigbar stood up, not letting the fall effect him. If anything inside him was broken it would heal in a few minutes, but until then he could ignore the pain. Xigbar scanned the room and the first thing that caught his eye, was the enormous, perfectly round, golden orb in the center of the room. It was a perfect orb that shined with it's own natural light and it was huge, about the size of a small building with intricate thin markings all over its surface. The second thing was the enormity of the room. It looked about the size of large Gymnasium, perfectly rectangular with 2 lit torches in each corner. On the ceiling, Xigbar observed, were more Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics with the same flaming bird with a ring of light over its Head.

Demyx stood up next to Xigbar, rubbing his head, "Well, that's it."

Xigbar looked at Demyx, "What's what?"

"The Winged Dragon Of Ra." He pointed to the giant, floating, golden orb in the center of the room, "That's it."

Xigbar looked at the giant orb again. Sure, it was fantastically beautiful, but it definitely lacked a...Dragon quality to it. "Doesn't look like a Dragon."

Demyx yawned like he was bored, "Well, we gotta bring it out first." Without warning, Xigbar had summoned one GunArrow, aimed it at the Giant orb and fired a single round. The laser bullet ricocheted right of the surface and hit the ground.

"I don't think that worked." said Demyx playfully.

"No shit, Sherlock. How do we get it out of it's egg?"

"It's not an egg, That's it! It'll transform into The Dragon."

Xigbar sighed heavily, "Well, then I guess, Demyx, what I was obviously asking was 'How do we get it out?" he yelled.

"You don't have to get so surly." Demyx crossed his arms and turned away from Xigbar.

On the inside, Xigbar wanted to strangle Demyx to death, chop up his limbs and dissolve them in acid so that no one would know of his dark deed, but that would get him nowhere. He sighed deeply, "Okay, okay, Demyx, I wasn't getting surly, I'm just a little irritated because we were in that tunnel forever and we fell and..and..I've just been stressed out lately. I'm sorry." He lowered his head.

Demyx turned around and looked at Xigbar. He laughed, "You're a crappy liar."

Xigbar raised his head and laughed, "I know. So how do we open this thing?"

Demyx laughed again and walked up closer to the orb. He turned back to Xigbar, "There's an incantation to open the sphere. Luckily, I know what it is."

Xigbar scoffed and rolled his eyes again. "Yeah, _Luckily._"

Demyx turned back to the floating, golden orb. He closed his eyes, breathed in and out and he held up his arms, and crossed the over his chest. He opened his eyes, stared at the orb and spoke. _"Great Beast Of The Sky, Please Hear My Cry! Transform Thyself From Orb Of Light And Bring Me Victory In This Fight. Envelop The Deserts With Your Glow And Cast Your Rage Upon My Foe. Unlock Your Powers From Deep Within So That Together We May Win! Appear In This Shadow As I Call Your Name! Winged Dragon Of-"_

"Are you done yet!" Xigbar yelled in the background.

"-What the-?" Demyx turned around to look at Xigbar, "You're messing me up! I was almost finished!"

Xigbar rolled his eyes again, "Fine! Hurrup!"

Demyx looked at Xigbar then turned back around to the orb, "Now..where was I? Oh, yeah!" He cleared his throat and continued, _"Appear In This Shadow As I Call Your Name! Winged Dragon Of Ra!" _Light bathed the entire room. The orb shined even brighter as it's surface started breaking apart along it's symmetrical lines. The orb split and as it did, the entire room shook, almost knocking Demyx and Xigbar off their balance. From the orb, like a machine, appendages sprang forth and the two halves of the orb unfurled themselves and formed huge, shining, feathered wings. Golden, clawed talons fell to the floor and a long, golden, segmented tail became visible. A roar and the dragon fully emerged form it's former shape. It's body, shining as bright as a mountain of gold, looked mechanical in nature and it's head resembled the ruffled feathers of a fowl. Jetting out from it's shoulders was an arch that meet a a few feet from the top of it's head. It's eyes were a flaming red, it's mouth was filled with teeth. At this sight, Demyx shrieked, pointed at it and yelled, "Kill it, Xigbar!" Turning tail and running behind Xigbar. Xigbar looked upon this supposed "God Creature" and thought that it looked like a combination of a golden chicken and an android. He really didn't see the 'Dragon' part in it, but at the same time, it did look really strong, so this might be fun. He grinned madly as Demyx made his way quickly to Xigbar's side. "Wow. I guess I can see why you didn't want to take this thing on by yourself." He laughed and his pair of Gunarrows appeared in his hands.

Demyx chuckled nervously, eying the menacing, golden-colored dragon that stared hungrily back at them. "He... You make it sound as if _your _scared."

Xigbar scoffed, "Scared? As if. Watch this." He jumped in the air and started unloading round after round of bullet at The Dragon. Demyx watched, then, surprisingly, He called out his Sitar and started to play. Water clones materialized out of the water in the air around Demyx.

* * *

_**Xinck**_

Xercivio was still in the Crab Claw's grip and as Xinck started running from the rooftop towards the Tenta-thing, It raised it's mighty left claw, ready to punch the building and damage Xinck in the process. Xinck got to the edge of the building just as the Claw collided with the building, destroying glass, metal, stone and any person who was on the top floor. Xinck jumped into the air, avoiding the destruction and the claw. As Crab Claw retracted it's claw, Xinck landed on it's black and rough surface. Xinck stabbed his swords into the flesh of the claw, so he wouldn't fall off as he went through the air.

"How could this possibly get any worse?" Xinck yelled, as the Crab Claw swung him around on it's arm. And if on cue, from Xinck's command, The Crab Claw sprouted 5 long tentacles from it's back. Xinck shivered, "Tentacles. Why did it have to be Tentacles?"

"I'm still in mid-peril, you clod!" Xercivio yelled from Crab Claw's right arm claw.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time." Xinck hauled up his lower body, positioned his feet below him so that when he pushed off, he would in an upward direction. Crab Claw shook it's arm up and before it brought it's claw down, Xinck jumped. Higher than the Crab Claw could reach and it roared, aiming it's Tentacles at the airborne Xinck. While high in the air, Xinck reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny, red, wooden model of a Chinese sky dragon. He crunched the model in his hand and it immediately caught Fire, but it wasn't burning his hand. The fire formed a ball, Xinck opened his hand, muttered something in Cantonese and breathed his own breath onto the flame. The ball of fire expanded in a huge band of living fire, flew through the sky and formed into an elegant sky dragon. The Dragon looked down at it's target with terrifying eyes and roared a terrible roar. It flew from the sky and to it's target, who was too slow to move out of the way. The Fire Dragon collided with Crab Claw's chest in a fiery explosion, knocking it back a few meters, but not killing it. The Dragon had dispersed, leaving a smoking scorch mark on the Crab Claw's chest, while the rest of it's body went limp-it was stunned. Xinck fell from the sky and shot his sword into the side of building on the right side of The Crab Claw, the side Xercivio was on. He jumped from the building to the Crab Claw's giant, stunned forearm. The claw that Xercivio was stuck in had fallen to the street and Xinck slid down forearm until he was at the claw.

"Okay, I'm here. Where's my money?" Xinck asked, stopping directly before the trapped Xercivio.

Xercivio grunted, trying to free himself, "Well, I don't have it with me! I'll get it to you later!"

Xinck groaned out loud, "Fine!" Xinck leaned down and used his arms to partially open The claw, wide enough for Xercivio to slip through, run over to Xinck and hop on his back like a little nonexistent backpack.

"Oh ho, What's all this, then?" Xinck asked, turning his head back.

"Don't read too much into this." Xercivio replied. "Look out!" Xinck turned his head just in time to see Crab Claw, waking up. It picked itself off and Xinck jumped off it's claw to the street(Which was now deserted. Except for random cars, both destroyed and abandoned). Crab Claw roared, moving it's multitude of legs as it started chasing after Xinck down the street. "So this is you plan!" Xercivio yelled.

Huffing and running, Xinck replied, "Plan? What plan?"

"What! What do you mean "What Plan"! You Motherfuck-!" Xercivio stopped yelling and started screaming as Xinck jumped onto a new building to avoid a punch. Crab Claw's claw made a ditch in the street and It saw Xinck jumping and flipping like a trained gymnast up the side of the tall building. With each flip, Xinck dodged the tentacles that quickly swiped at him, with each flip, Xercivio's screams changed frequency. "I'm gonna throw up..." Xercivio yelled. The Tentacles stopped coming and Xinck stopped flipping, planting his right sword in a stone section of the building. He just hung there, his left arm free, Xercivio strapped to his back and watching the Crab Claw rear back it's giant arm for another punch. "Uh..you might wanna move."

"Wait for it." Xinck watched the punch come.

"Move." Xercivio yelled impatiently.

"Wait."

The claw was a few meters away from punching Xinck and brutally making him part of the architecture of the building he was hanging from. He wasn't on the top of the building, more or less he was in the exact middle of the building. "Move!" Xercivio yelled even louder. Xinck was about to respond, but Xercivio kicked Xinck in the sides with his shoes, like a cowboy kicks his horse. Xinck shrieked, and hauled himself up higher, out of the way as the claw struck the building in it's side. The claw got stuck, broken glass, chunks of stone and metal from the building fell on the claw and arm. The Building, because it was struck in the middle, did not topple over, which was Xinck's plan. Crab Claw tried to pull it's arm away but couldn't. Xinck landed on the flat, unmoving surface of it's arm and started running straight forward like it was a flat strip of land. Crab Claw shot it's 5 Tentacles over it's head towards Xinck.

"Tentacles!" Xercivio yelled.

Xinck dodged the first tentacle by ducking. It He continued to run and the tentacle circled back and was cut down by Xinck and it fell limply to the street below. 4 more to go. The other four Tentacles came down at a fast speed, Xinck side-stepped, dodged the tentacles and grabbed them with both hands. The Crab Claw's giant, monstrous head opened its mouth and showed off its jagged teeth. From its throat, a beam of yellow energy shot forth directly in front of Xinck.

"Move out of the Way!" Xercivio yelled into Xinck's sensitive ears. Xinck ran bacl in the opposite direction along the Crab Claw's Arm, still carrying it's tentacle in his hands. The Beam shot out of the mouth with a dense ringing sound resonating through the air. The beam was already pre-directed at Xinck, but he moved, dragging the other four tentacles in the beams path. The tentacles were incinerated upon contact with the beam and the ends in Xinck's arms turned into wispy darkness and disappeared.

"Now What, genius?" Xercivio asked sarcastically.

"Back to my plan, Genius." Xinck replied sarcastically. Xercivio nudged Xinck again in his side, "Ow! You Dick!" Xinck ignored it and continued running up the trapped arm. He jumped and landed right before the shoulder inclined upwards toward the shoulder blade. Xinck stabbed both his swords deep into the giant, meaty arm. Crab Claw roared even louder, tried harder to move it's trapped arm out of the building but to no avail. Xinck slid down the side of the arm, chains keeping him attached to the top of the arm. After descending ten feet below the arm, Xinck started swinging, grunted with every swing. When he got high enough, he swung his feet out and swung completely around the arm until he was on the other side, his chains wrapped partially around the arm. He was directly above the arm when he pulled his body and his chains directly down on the arm, slicing it and falling to the ground. The blades and the chains shot back into the handle in the blink of an eye exactly when Xinck hit the ground to see the large, circular chunk of arm fall into the street and turn to darkness. The remainder of the arm, still stuck in the building, fell limp against the building and gradually started to fade. To make matters worse for the Crab Claw, it had tried to yank it's arm away exactly when Xinck cut it off, so it went flying back several yards. The Crab Claw let out an earth shattering roar, but went unnoticed by Xinck. He stared up at its ugly head and pointed, "It has nothing to do with politics! I just don't like you!"

"Now what?" Xercivio said.

"Mmm?" Xinck turned his head back, catching Xercivio's face in his periphery, "Well, I was thinking maybe a night on the town, dinner and a show."

"What the hell-Take This Seriously!"

"Calm down. I've got this." Xinck held up his hand, high enough so that Xercivio could see it, too. Xinck muttered in, what sound like a foreign and ancient language, "_Gire druy ho, Io sad ah, Jel ne-is-da." _(Restrain My Enemy, Bind My Foe, Lock My Adversary). On Xinck's pointer, middle and ring finger, 2 small rings of Indigo-colored energy swirled around each of his three fingers.

"Oh, pretty." said Xercivio, "And who do you plan on marrying?"

"You, If you don't be quiet!" Xinck snapped back. The Crab Claw angrily stumbled back up, growling and waving it's stumpy arm and its full arm in the air in front of it. It looked at Xinck and without hesitation, it supercharged it's multiple legs and started running wildly at it's target, ready to eat, stomp, punch, trample or blast the bastard that took its arm.

"It is coming." warned Xercivio.

"I see it." Xinck replied, keeping an eye, instead, on his small, glowing rings.

Crab Claw continued its charge, showing no sign of stopping. "It's coming." Xercivio said again, more urgently. "I see it." Xinck replied again. Crab Claw stomped on cars, put dents in the street, and destroyed the remaining buildings by flailing it's good arm around carelessly. " Dammit, Xinck! It's coming!"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch!" Xinck yelled and when he thought Crab Claw was too close for comfort, Xinck flung out his hand and all 6 magical rings flew from his fingers and grew in size. The first quickly landed far from Xinck and to the right of him, right on the sidewalk. Crab Claw payed it no mind as it passed. The second and third rings flew directly below Crab Claw and positioned themselves in a line. The 4th Ring flew up and caught Crab Claw directly on the neck like a collar, slowing it down a little. The 5th Ring flew past Crab Claw, then caught up with it and positioned itself on it's waist like a indigo-colored belt. And the 6th Ring flew to Crab Claws left arm (The good one) and wrapped itself on it's Wrist. But Crab Claw Continued running to Xinck. Until Xinck snapped his fingers. Like magnets, pulling and yearning for each other, the rings around Crab Claws body started pulling him back, despite his protests. He tried to move his front legs forward, but nothing worked as he was dragged back towards the circles on the ground. The circle on its arm dragged him downward to be with the circle on the sidewalk and when the two magical circles touched, they locked together and turned crimson red with strange, unknown symbols rotating around the circles (They read "Restrain"). The circle on Crab Claws waist was directly over the circle on the street. They attracted each other and dragged Crab Claws waist straight down. And with a loud thud, Crab Claw was down, the circles touched, turned crimson and symbols rotated around them (they read "Bind"). Crab Claw's neck collar was directly above the last circle and it was slowly dragging his head down to be with it. With one, final and loud roar, Crab Claws head fell and the circles touched, locked turned crimson and symbols spun around them(They read "Lock").

Xinck casually walked up to the defeated Crab Claw. He stopped directly in front of it and started it directly in the eye, its yellow, anger-filled eyes. Xercivio had seen this hundreds of times;This was the part where the victor was supposed to say something hilarious and quirky, to show that he had won, but was a good sport about it. Instead, Xinck said the first thing that came to mind, "Once, My Tv didn't work, so I kicked it." Xinck smiled evilly, "And it started working again."

Xercivio thought to himself, _"Well, better luck next time..."_

Suddenly, Xinck's cellphone started vibrating in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at the number strangely. He shrugged and opened it, putting it up to his ear, "Ahoy-hoy...Superior."

_**

* * *

**_

Xemnas

The only thoughts that Xemnas had as he sat unmoving on the Highest Throne in Where Nothing Gathers were completely incomprehensible to others. His thoughts were his own and it was these thoughts that allowed him to be the most powerful Nobody in existence (or nonexistence for that matter), these thoughts that could actually comprehend the whole of Nothingness, something that no other being, past or present has ever done. Xemnas always stared in the exact same spot, every time he was sitting on his throne. It always made the person directly in his stare uncomfortable, but Xemnas was merely thinking of everything. Everything, in this sense meaning, all of the variables and possibilities that will lead him to his final and ultimate goal-Kingdom Hearts. Kingdom Hearts will grant him ultimate power, beyond that of a Nobody, beyond that as a Human, a God, and all Planes of Reality. He will ascend above Existence itself and he will simply be Beyond.

But until that day, he would still have basic needs and his most basic need, which is the same basic need of all things, is food. His stomach was growling and he hadn't eaten anything today. It was still early and the others should just now be getting ready for missions. Xemnas wondered if anyone bothered to make breakfast. A dark corridor warped around Xemnas and he disappeared from the round room. The portal opened itself in the center of the kitchen which was just as white, metallic and depressing as the rest of The Castle That Never Was. Xemnas looked around then walked to the "Refrigerating preserving food rectangle (Refrigerator)". He opened the door and peered inside. The Organization had a policy, if you buy your own food and put it in the refrigerator, it becomes community property unless you put your name on it. Of course anytime a member sees something in the refrigerator that they liked and it was marked with the name of someone else, a very popular argument was "Well, that's not your real name, so there!". Xemnas saw nothing in particular that he just had to have and most of the food was marked anyway, but just being around food made his stomach growl for sustenance a little more. He saw a carton of eggs that read, "Xaldin's Eggs, The Eggs of Xaldin. Do Not Touch Except For Xaldin."

Slamming the refrigerator door and standing up, Xemnas peered around the still empty kitchen. "There has to be something to eat." he said to himself. He looked in the cupboards. Nothing. He looked in the pantry. Nothing. He looked in the Freezer. Frozen Nothing. His stomach was growling a little louder now. Was there nothing to satisfy his Superior gut? Then out of the corner of his eye, sitting idly on the floor underneath the table, was a pink box marked 'Donuts'. Xemnas licked his lips. He couldn't remember the last time he had a deep-fried, sugar-frosted, sweet ring. His stomach seemed to agree with him, he could almost feel it twitching in the direction of the box. He sauntered over to the fallen box, stepped over a sticky-note on the floor next to it and fell down to his knees to the box. He licked his lips again and grabbed the box-it was too light. No, he thought, please don't let it be empty. Maybe there was just one left. He opened the box. Nothing.

Anger And Hate Are Supreme...

Xemnas shot up and threw the empty box against the wall. He cursed to the sky, "Damn! Damn! Dammmmnn!" He stormed out of the kitchen, walking furiously and muttering to himself how he was cruelly surrounded by idiots, how the god must hate him so much to curse him with the incompetent 7! "..And why was the Friggin' Box on the floor? Do those people want Ants! Because that's how you get Ants!"

But then, the thought dawned on him to go and buy his own Donuts. "I shouldn't have to! I cannot believe how selfish they can be!" He stopped walking and ranting when his stomach had drowned out all his thoughts. He must silence his stomach, or risk getting Dysentery...again. "Fine." He said to himself, opening a Dark Corridor and walking into it, "But I still say that I should not have to buy my own donuts."

Unfortunately Xemnas did not read the sticky note that was next to the empty box of donuts. It said, "To Saix, from Demyx."

_45 minutes later_

"Give me my change." Xemnas said coarsely, yanking his change from the scared worker who handed him a pink box marked 'Donuts'. He stuffed the money into his pocket and turned to leave, passing several scared and innocent civilians. He walked towards the door, in no mood to be given funny looks. He opened the door and turned back to see that people were still looking at him. He was not in the mood, "What the fuck are you all staring at, mm? Have you never seen a man buy donuts for himself!" He walked out of the door and down the sidewalk, passing people who seemed to barely notice him. Xemnas knew he was in a "Modern-day" City or town, which one, he did not know. But it seemed regular enough that this world had no real value to The Organization at all.

Xemnas came up to a crosswalk that was crowded with people. He hated to be surrounded with too many people. While waiting for the 'Walk' sign to show up, Xemnas peered into his Donut box. Deliciously crafted, golden brown wheels, 12 in total, lined in two perfect rows. He could wait no longer. He carefully grabbed one, grabbed it and held it as if it was delicate and the last one of it's kind. He opened his mouth and bit down on it. Ambrosia. He felt his anger subside as he opened his eyes to see his food of the gods and he saw it was gone from his hand. He had eaten the whole thing, it was so good that he didn't even notice that he stuck the whole thing in his mouth. Weird.

The crosswalk signaled for the cars to stop and the people on the sides to cross. Xemnas was on the right, on the far side of on-coming traffic. He was covered on the left by two women wearing Birkenstocks and plaid flannel shirts. Xemnas thought they were lesbians. As Xemnas crossed the street, right out of the corner of his left eye, he caught a glimpse of something-or someone. He let the two lesbians pass him so that he could see more clearly. And he stopped in the middle of the crosswalk, and turned left to stare at the hood of a car. It was an old car, but what the car looked like didn't matter, but what dis matter was who was in the car. Xemnas's eyes went big as he looked at an Ansem who was looked equally surprised.

"Mother Fucks!" Xemnas yelled.

All he remembered was the windshield plowing into his shoulder and his body being thrown over the roof of the car, then nothing.

_**

* * *

**_

Xemnas & Ansem

"Oh, my God..."

"Is he dead?"

"He's dead. Definitely dead..."

"Oh, yeah. He's dead."

Xemnas heard voices. But, they weren't the voices of anyone he had heard before. He opened his eyes slowly and saw a dozen people staring down at him. His body ached and he could feel a few wounds bleeding randomly on his body, he was healing but slowly. He groaned and slowly rubbed his head. Surprisingly, when Xemnas opened his eyes, the people around him slowly grabbed him by the arms and started hauling him up. They were mostly women, but he did see one man. They helped him up to his full height and he could fell his brain throbbing against his skull. He was in a daze and could barely keep his balance.

Xemnas had a bewildered look on his face and a women who was wearing a business suit and was cautiously letting go of Xemnas's arm, said, "If you need someone to go to court for you I will be more than happy to. That guy was obviously a drunken maniac. He hit you, then plowed into that other car."

Xemnas was still trying to grasp what had happened, but he managed to say, "Who?"

"Him." She pointed across the street to a sidewalk where a busted car had driven up on it. Leaning out of the driver-side seat, was Ansem. Xemnas could tell it was him because of his clothes, his long, silver hair and the small Heartless symbol hanging off his neck. He was also surrounded by a group of people, a smaller group compared to Xemnas's. Ansem was holding his his bloodied face and picking out small pieces of glass.

Xemnas was surprised. Surprised that His Heartless was right here. "I'll be damned..." He said in shock. He had fatefully stumbled upon his Heartless and now he had the opportunity to kill him. The people around Xemnas had let him go, but he was still dizzy, dazed and a little confused. He flung out his arms and from the palms of his hands, his Ethereal Blades extended and crackled with energy. The group around Xemnas screamed loudly and ran off from him, but he payed them no mind as he limped and sauntered drunkenly towards Ansem.

Ansem groaned and out the corner of his left eye he saw Xemnas slowly coming towards him. He felt like he had just ran head first into a building. He had a pounding headache and his leg felt gimpy. Luckily, he was also healing, much slower than a Nobody, but he was still getting a little better. From the middle of the street, Xemnas lazily raised his right hand, aimed a fired a shot from his hand, and fell over from the force of the blast. Ansem quickly reacted, sensing the danger and jumped out of the car. The blast from Xemnas, instead, hit a female bystander in the chest, throwing her back and hitting the ground. Blood shot from the wound and she yelled out in pain. Xemnas came, limping and sauntering down the street as Ansem limped/ran down the sidewalk. Ansem was breathing heavily, trying to keep his balance. Xemnas came up on the sidewalk and stumbled, fired another shot, but missed and hit the cement on the sidewalk. Ansem turned a corner into an ally-way and Xemnas hit a telephone pole with his shoulder and stumbled again. Ansem limped, huffed and stumbled through the alley, careful not to trip or fall. Xemnas turned the same corner slowly and saw Ansem turning left just as he came around the corner. Ansem stopped and leaned up against the corner, holding his bloody sides and breathing heavily. Xemnas held up another hand and fired off another energy shot and fell over as the shot hit Ansem's corner and ricocheted into the air, scaring Ansem as he jumped and started running again.

Ansem needed to find a place where he could ambush Xemnas. He seemed calm and cool on the outside but on the inside he was saying, _"Damn, Damn, Damn, Damn, Damn!" _He looked around and to his left he found a store, he didn't bother looking to see what kind of store it was or what they sold, but he swung open the door and ran inside. At first glance, he saw it was small store, lots of metal shelves around and behind the counter crowded and bursting with various items, such as stereos, small TVs and other devices of entertainment. It was a Pawn Shop, but Ansem didn't care because he was sure Xemnas saw him running inside this store and would soon follow. At a second glance, Ansem saw, standing surprised behind the counter, was a man, middle-age, hairy and average build, beard and mustache. He wore a gray shirt underneath a red open-buttoned shirt with its sleeves rolled up. Behind him, on there own shelves, were weapons, mostly knives and other valuable objects that couldn't be out on the floor.

"Can I help you with somethin'?" The man asked in a Southern drawl.

"Shut up!" Ansem yelled, breathing heavy. He only looked at the man for a second because he had rushed in so quickly, but he quickly turned away towards the door to wait for Xemnas

"Hey, you just wait one goddamn minute now!" the man commanded, but was ignored. "What the fuck are you up to?"

And just at that, Xemnas came stumbling into the store. "Come here, Mansex!" Ansem yelled, grabbing Xemnas by the hood of his coat and pulling him in. Xemnas pushed on his feet and they both fell to the floor in a fighting heap. Ansem kneed Xemnas in the stomach, Xemnas punched Ansem in the face and he turned both of them around so that Xemnas was on the bottom. Ansem sat on Xemnas's stomach and started punching him in the face.

"Tell me how you like it!" Ansem yelled, punching Xemnas repeatedly. Xemnas's eyes could be seen rolling in the back of his head with every punch.

"I'll kill you!" Xemnas managed to say. Throwing a fist into Ansem's eye and he fell off his stomach. "Do you feel that sting!" Xemnas pulled his fist up again, ready to hit, when He and Ansem heard the sound of a shotgun cocking.

"Hold it right there, Goddammit!" yelled the man from behind the counter, pointing a Double Barrel Shotgun directly at Xemnas. Xemnas had to stop. He was extremely, but he didn't now how powerful he was to withstand a shotgun shell directly in the head from 4 ft away.

"This is none of your Business!" Xemnas yelled, expecting the human to back down. He didn't.

"Well, I'm makin' it my business!" Xemnas wasn't sure what it was but, he was having a hard time concentrating, so crushing everyone with his presence was out of the question. Plus, he had just gotten hit by a car and he feared that he was about to pass out from the blood that hadn't yet been removed from his skull and was pulling in his brain. His eyes started getting heavy and his head was pounding. He fell over forwards, closing his eyes and losing consciousness. His head hit Ansem's head and he, too, blacked out.

The man behind the counter, seeing that the two intruders were immobilized, put his gun down across the counter. He reached over to the phone to his left, held the receiver over his ear and started dialing, still keeping an eye on the two men, in case they tried to wake up. After dialing the number, the phone started ringing and ringing until someone on the other side picked up. The man behind the counter spoke, "Hello, Zed? Maynard. Looks like the spider caught himself a couple of flies..."

_**

* * *

**_

Xigbar & Demyx

So far, the fight was not going so well. The Winged Dragon of Ra had so far destroyed a good portion of, not only it's holding Chamber, but also a good portion of the underground temple around it. Xigbar and Demyx fought it as it made it's way above ground. They had to kill it before it got out to the open atmosphere or risk losing it. They were now fighting in a large room, with large chucks of rubble dotting the floor. The Dragon attacked furiously with jets of golden fire and the two Nobodies took cover behind a large rock of debris.

"Ugh! We're getting our asses kicked!" Xigbar yelled, turning around and firing several rounds at The Dragon.

"This was a bad idea, this was a bad idea, this was a bad idea..." Demyx chanted to himself, rocking back and forth and cradling his head.

"Shut up!" Xigbar yelled, firing another round over the rock at the Dragon, "You're breaking my concentration."

"How can you concentrate at a time like this? That thing is gonna kill us!"

"I thought you said it was a god or something?" A jet of fire from the Dragon struck their shielding rock, but kept them safe from the heat.

"I don't know. I guess in Ancient Egypt, the word 'god' was thrown around a lot!" Demyx yelled over the roar of the fire blast that eventually subsided.

"You think maybe it's-Look Out!" Xigbar grabbed Demyx by the arm and with a deafening thump in space, they teleported away from their shielding rock as The Dragon destroyed it with a swipe of it's tail. They reappeared without any protection and out in the open directly behind the Dragon. "Make it rain! Or do something!" Xigbar yelled at Demyx as he let him go.

As if Xigbar's words had flung Demyx a pair of badly needed testicles, Demyx let out a quick sigh and remembered that he was Number IX in a group of Beings who couldn't even feel fear. He swung his sitar in front of him and started to play, "Dance, Water, Dance!" The quick and small notes and tunes of his sitar filled the air of the destroyed room. The Dragon slowly turned around and once it heard the music it reared it's head back and golden fie could be seen forming in it's mouth. It jerked it's head forward and the jet shot from it's mouth to Demyx. Still playing, Demyx seemed as if he wasn't paying attention at all, "Drowning Mist." He said, not even looking up. On cue, right above Demyx's head, rain clouds formed on the ceiling and a deluge of water fell to the floor. The jet of fire struck the wall of falling water and before it could reach it's center the fire flickered out into nothing. Demyx looked up from his sitar playing, stopped and the clouds and water disappeared. A smile creeped across Demyx's face, "Oh! I did it!" He sang, dancing in place, "My name is Demyx, Ooowhoo! My name is Demyx, Ooowhoo! Go, me! Go, me! Go, me! Go, me! Go, me!"

The Dragon was fast. Too bad Demyx was too busy dancing to notice it standing directly behind him. Xigbar tried to say something, but The Dragon quickly moved it's hand down and reached for Demyx. It's reach was wide and Xigbar had no time to save Demyx as The Dragon wrapped its fingers around Demyx and hauled it into the air. Demyx screamed, "Aaah! Help me! Help me! Help me!" He lost what ever manliness had overtaken him.

Xigbar had teleported right onto the Dragon's mechanical, golden arm, jumped and started firing into it's face as he sailed through the air, "Yeah, get some! Get some! Get some!" Xigbar unloaded round after round after round into The Dragon's face. The Dragon roared and held up ut's free hand to it's face, shielding it from the blast. It smacked the flying Xigbar out of the air, like a fly from the air and Xigbar flew into a nearby wall. He slid from the high wall and onto the floor, rubbing his head and groaning, "Oooh...was that because I said you looked like a chicken?"

A blast of golden fire flew from the Dragon's mouth and Xigbar rolled away across the floor to safety. When the fire subsided, he got up and saw Demyx hanging upside down in the Dragon's claw, "How ya doin', Dem?"

Demyx looked a little green in the skin. Being upside down and moving around a lot was not his idea of fun, "Well, I've had better days, Xigbar..had better days. HELP ME!"

Xigbar flipped his Gunarrows around and stuck them together, forming a sniper rifle. He held it up to his face and took aim at the Golden dragon's head. "Critical Snipe!" He pulled the trigger and instead of a red, diamond shaped bullet, an orb of white, blue and purple energy flew at great speeds, hitting the dragon in it's face. A small, multi-colored explosion erupted on the Dragon's face. It screamed and stumbled on it's feet with a purple wave rippling through the space around it. Xigbar fired again at it's head and the same effect happened, this time, making it fall up against a far wall, dropping Demyx on his head and it looked a little stunned. Xigbar separated his sniper rifle into his two guns and called out to Demyx, "You alright?"

Demyx turned over, got on all fours and slowly raised himself up. He held onto his head, which had a trail of blood flowing from his head. The cut on his head was slowly healing and he held onto his stomach as he wobbled drunkenly towards the sound of Xigbar's voice. "I..I..I don't feel so good, man..."

"Just walk it off. You'll be fine."

"No. I really do-" Demyx keeled over, clutching his stomach and a flow of green and red vomit fell from his mouth. "Oh, God!" Demyx held, standing up and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. Xigbar started laughing and pointing at Demyx as he came wobbling towards Xigbar.

"Hahahaha! Damn, Demyx, when'd you eat corn?"

"'s not funny!" Demyx bawled. Demyx came up next to Xigbar and stood lazily, "I think I need a doctor."

"You'll be fine." Xigbar looked at the Dragon, "Now we just gotta-" The Winged Dragon's body lifted itself up and into the air, flapping it's golden wings. From it's clawed hands, infernal flames sprouted up and consumed it's body and changing it's entire shape. It no longer had an arch over it's head, nor hands at all. It's entire body burned into a flaming Phoenix that raised the temperature of the room and everytime it flapped it's wings to stay in the air, it sent waves of heat in every direction.

"Damn it all!" Demyx yelled. Demyx still clutched his stomach and looked around the corner that He and Xigbar were in. He saw another rock, big enough for one person to hide behind. He started walking towards it.

"What-what the hell? Where are you going?" Xigbar yelled, turning slightly towards Demyx.

"It's all you, Xigbar!" Demyx called out from behind his rock as he sat down, "I'm too injured to do anything. You can do it, I _believe _in you!"

"I don't like the way you said 'believe'."

"Yeah, well,...too bad, so sad."

"You suck!"

Demyx seemed strangely calm about Xigbar fighting a giant fire bird. He slipped on his hood, crossed his arms and spread his legs against the floor, "And?"

"What if need backup? Help, maybe?"

"You've never needed help before. You said you like to work alone, right?"

"Well, yeah, but.." he turned around towards the Phoenix and saw it flapping it's wings pleasantly and sending blasts of heat out in every direction. It waited for Xigbar to make the first move. Xigbar turned back to Demyx's position, "...but Damn, Demyx, you know?"

"If you need back, just do your Redux."

"Why don't you do your Redux and help me?"

"Mine wouldn't fit down here..." Demyx's words drifted off and was followed by snoring. Xigbar knew he would get anything else from Demyx. So he turned away from him and eyed The Phoenix again. Xigbar thought of something that he hadn't thought of for a long time. Something that he rarely ever needed to consider. In Xigbar's entire time in the Organization, he has only done his Redux once and since then has forgotten what it was called. "Oh, crap." He chuckled to himself.

* * *

_**Roxas**_

The Space Port world, which had no real name, was actually a world settled in far in space. Centuries ago, the hundreds of worlds that were located around Space Port, discovered intergalactic flight and discovered other worlds nearby. There was more than one Space Port, but this one was the most famous, because, although it wasn't a real world, it resembled one. IT had an artificial sky, land, water and it's inhabitants, using advanced technology, were able to make business there, live there and it was basically a well-developed city in Space. But Space flight was the original destiny of the multiple worlds and space ports of this region of space(Which is really, really far away from the Worlds around The World That Never was), so it all has one Heart. So if that Heart was Taken, all of the stars, worlds and space ports in that region would blink out of existence and there would be nothing but an empty region of space.

The Space Ports primary purpose was to let weary space travelers rest, fix their ships, get supplies, and if necessary make a little money on the side. That was The Organization's main interest in this place. This world was great for warriors and mercenaries who were looking for money, either by picking up Assassination jobs, Bounty hunter jobs or Bodyguard jobs (pretty much any job you can think of, and I mean ANY JOB). A few members from The Organization would occasionally come here and get a bounty hunter job or Hitman job. But Roxas wasn't here for that. It wasn't often that a Heartless, worthy of the Organization's time, would make itself known in this floating rock in space. The Intel that Roxas got from Saix said that the Heartless only appeared at 5:35 PM. It was now 1:15 PM and he had nothing to do till then.

He sat on a park bench and the park around him was hidden with numerous trees. There was no real "Sunlight" in this place because it was in space, but there were Trees, healthy green trees around him and his bench. Through the trees he could see other people walking along the trail, but they paid no mind to the strange boy in a long black coat, sitting alone on a bench, watching them. The people passed and Roxas sighed, leaned back on the bench and looked up towards the sky. There was no sky, he was in space, on a stationary asteroid world and, if anyone looked to the sky, all they would see is the emptiness of space, dotted with numerous stars and swirling masses of gas. Space was so boring.

He knew that, by himself, he had no idea what to do on his free time. That's why he enjoys his time with Axel and Xinck. They always had something to do or say that, well...keeps him entertained. He bet that Axel and Xinck were having a better time than he was. They always seemed to be doing something that had greater importance to the Organization than Roxas. But he had the keyblade and everyone in the Organization openly said that He was going to help the Organization achieve their goals."But" Roxas thought, "They both went to Castle Oblivion and I feel asleep for a few weeks after they left. That couldn't have anything to do with it...could it?" Roxas thought that Axel and Xinck might know something about him that they're not telling, but that would be impossible. They know how much he wants to know he is and where he came from, so if they knew anything they would tell him without hesitation. Roxas knew them and he trusted them, so he tried to put those thoughts about them out of his mind.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellphone. To make up for not getting Roxas a present, Xinck got him a Word-A-Day Calender and to outdo him, Axel brought Roxas a cellphone. He flipped it opened and it read, "1:30". Roxas's eye twitched. He got to his feet and yelled at the sky. "AAAAAHHH! Why is it taking so Long?"

"Hey, kid, are you alright?" Roxas stopped screaming and looked straight ahead and saw a women, jogger. She was jogging in place and looking at Roxas with a raised eyebrow. "Uh, yes. I'm fine, thank you?" Roxas lied,lowering his hands.

"Where are your parents?" She asked.

Damn. Roxas hated when people asked him that. It's a good thing Nobodies were good at lying. "Oh." he said, "They went to go and get me Ice Cream. Mm " He licked his lips and rubbed his stomach, "Can't wait." The Jogging Lady still jogged in place for a few seconds, stilling looking at Roxas, then she finally continued on. Then Roxas sighed and sat back down. "Wow," He thought, "if Axel or Xinck were here, they would have a comment. Like, Xinck would probably say, 'She can jog as much as she wants, but she'll never get rid of those Thunder Thighs.'" Roxas laughed to himself. Then it hit him. Duh! He got his cellphone, flipped it open, and started typing up a text message. 'What are you doing?'. He sent the message to both Axel and Xinck. A few minutes later he got a reply from Axel, 'Nothing. U?' Roxas started typing again, 'Just Sitting here. Man, I'm so bored."

He sent the message and, thinking it was Axel, opened it, but it was from Xinck, 'Playing with this heartless I just beat. U?'

Roxas replied, 'Nothing. Man, I'm so bored."

Axel replied back, 'What world are u in?'

Xinck replied, 'Aw, so sad 3(. Want me to bring you back a hotdog? Im in NYC and Im sure I can find I can find a hotdog stand that wasn't smashed...'

Roxas replied back to Axel first, 'I'm at the space port. Why?' Then he replied back to Xinck, 'Nah, I'll meet you later for ice cream.'

"Because I've been looking around this place for 30 minutes looking for you." Roxas heard a familiar voice. He turned around on his bench and saw the spiky, red hair of his friend. "Axel!" Roxas exclaimed.

"Yo!" Axel greeted Roxas the same way he greeted everyone. Roxas jumped over the bench and over to Axel, who closed his cellphone and slipped it into his pocket. Roxas asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I was bored with my thing." He scratched his head, "And besides, I've been walking around for hours in the friggin' desert, so I thought I'd come see you."

"Really?"

"Well it was either that or a strip club." Axel laughed and Roxas chuckled.

"So you haven't had any luck finding your Heartless?"

"Nope. But, finding new Heartless takes time, at the most 2 days, so I've got time. I went to go see Xinck earlier, but he wasn't doing anything, just watching New York get destroyed."

"Was He doing the destroying?"

"Surprisingly, no."

Roxas looked at Axel and Axel scratched his head again. Roxas had a question on his mind, about himself, Axel and Xinck. He's been thinking that, for a while now, that He and Xinck might be keeping some—No. He had to stop thinking like that, he told himself. Axel tried to break the awkward silence. He cleared his throat loudly, loud enough for Roxas to hear it.

"SO!" Axel exclaimed and put his hands behind his head, "What's goin' on with you?"

"Huh? Oh..uh, I've just been sitting here, waiting on this Heartless." Roxas looked at his cellphone clock, it read '2:00', "And I guess I'll have to wait for another 3 hours." He sighed.

"3 hours? Wow. So I guess you've got time to kill right?"

"No. Saix said I can't leave my post and the Heartless is supposed to show up over there." He pointed behind himself to a large plaza circle in the distance and at its center was a large water fountain adorned with cherubs.

"Wow." Axel started, "Nice fountain."

"Yeah."

"The naked boys around the sides really make it pop." Axel laughed again. He walked over to the bench and took a seat and Roxas followed, "So, what do you wanna do 'til-"

"Hey, Kid, who is that?" Roxas and Axel both looked at the source of the voice. It was that Jogger woman, making her second round around the park. She stopped on the trail and faced the two, she wasn't jogging in place now.

Roxas was quick to the lie, "Yeah., this is my daddy."

"I'm your daddy?" Axel said in surprise.

"Yes, Daddy!" Roxas moved closer to Axel, still keeping an eye on the jogger women. Axel got the message and put a hand around Roxas's shoulder and patted it, "There, there son." He said.

"Where's your mom?" The jogger asked.

Axel beat Roxas to the lie, and he said, with an air of Shakespearean talent, "Oh, my dear sweet Catherine, is no longer with us. She has gone to the Great Beyond to suck at the teat of creation." The jogger tilted her head, then Axel clarified, "She's at a male strip club, getting' it on like Ricardo Montalban in _The Wrath Of Kahn_." The Jogger still looked at Axel, her eyebrows still raised, then she quickly moved when Axel said, in a deep voice, "Move along, Sir." Then he sat back down and Roxas looked at him.

"And what was that?" Roxas yelled.

Axel smirked and laughed, "Improve, my friend, Improve."

_**

* * *

**_

Xemnas and Ansem

Water. Room temperature water was being sprayed across Xemnas's and Ansem's respective bodies. Xemnas was the first to regain consciousness and see the man who was at the counter before he passed out spraying him with a hose. Xemnas tried to move his arms and legs, but they were bound behind the chair he was sitting in, his legs were bound to the legs of the chair. And the most disgusting part of it all was that he had a red and black ball gag in his mouth, the black band wrapped around his head. He looked to his left and saw Ansem, twitching and slowly opening his eyes, his legs and arms bound in the same fashion as Xemnas and the same colored ball gag in his mouth. Then Ansem woke up and looked just as surprised as Xemnas was looking(which, surprisingly wasn't a lot). But, unlike Xemnas, Ansem was thinking "_Oh, no. Not again."_

They both seemed to ignore each other for the time being and looked around at their surroundings. They were in a basement. It was small and square, with a light in the upper left hand corner illuminating the room. Useless junk was strung about randomly on the walls, ceilings and the floors, but there were two things that caught their respective eyes; the first was the door that was behind the man, who was still spraying them with a stream of water. It wasn't a door, it was actually a doorway that was on top of a few wooden stair steps. The doorway shined pale light from the outside only a few inches into the basement. The second thing they noticed was to the left of Ansem in another corner, a trunk. It, too, seemed to not fit with the other scenery in the room. It was wide, long and black with a nice, golden look. The trunk looked big enough to hold a child, or a very malnourished teenager.

The man stopped spraying Ansem and Xemnas, leaving them partially went on their upper torsos and faces. The man set aside his hose in another corner and looked at both Xemnas and Ansem, who stared back with hate-filled eyes and silent mouths. Then the man spoke, "Don't nobody kill anyone in my shop, 'cept me and Zed." A doorbell could be heard from upstairs. The man pointed upwards and he looked at the both, "That's Zed." he turned from them, walked up the stairs and out of sight and the door could be heard opening and footsteps. Xemnas and Ansem stayed silent in their chairs, unmoving.

"_If only I had brought my cellular telephone with me, I could call Saix, Xaldin, or Xigbar. Hell, I'd even take Demy-...On second thought, just Saix." _Xemnas thought.

More footsteps could be heard and two figures appeared above the steps and they descended. The man behind the man that they had already seen, who they assumed was named Zed, was dressed in black slacks and a blue tucked-in shirt. He had a black belt on and from what Xemnas and Ansem could see it was holding a gun, mace and a walkie-talkie. There was a silver star badge on his left chest. He was a cop. He asked, "Why they all beat up?"

"I don't know" said the other man, "They came in like that, fightin'"

"Huh." said Zed, eying both of them with his hands lazily on his hips. He looked behind him and found a folding chair, brown in color, turned it around and sat in it with it's back facing both Xemnas and Ansem. He said, eyed them both for a time, obviously not intimidated by their hateful stares or strange clothes. He turned to his right and the man next to him, with his hands in his pockets, and slapped him on his chest and said, "Bring out the Gimp."

"But the Gimps's sleeping." said the other man.

"Well, then I guess you'll just have to go wake him up then, huh?"

The man said nothing, but nodded slightly and walked to the big black chest in the corner. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a single key for the lock on the chest. He jiggled the key into the lock for a second then it popped open and fell to the floor. The man raised the lid of the trunk and, from Xemna's point of view, he could see nothing but Darkness. "Get up!" Then the man grabbed the black mass in the trunk and pulled upwards and the black mass moved. Raising from the trunk was a human figure, a very thin human figure, clad in black, skin-tight leather. The man helped the Gimp out of the trunk and Ansem got a good look at him: It was human, thin and was wearing an entire leather outfit, complete with a black mask and zippers. It's hands and feet were bound in black leather and his hands were tied, so that it couldn't get away. The man grabbed the Gimp by his leash and led him over to Zed in his chair. The Gimp followed obediently.

Zed grabbed the Gimp's leash, "Down." He commanded and the Gimp fell to his knees next to Zed and lowered his head. Zed pet The Gimp on it's head and then drummed his fingers across the leather, still eying Xemnas and Ansem.

Xemnas sighed to himself and thought, _"Well, this is really messed up right here..."_

Ansem thought, _"Well, this is really fucked up right here..."_

Zed stopped drumming on the Gimp's head and looked over at the other man, who had taken a seat on the steps behind him. The man asked, "So which one of 'em you wanna do first?"

Zed drummed again, "Mmm, I'm not sure yet." Then he raised his hand and started doing Eeny-Meeny Miney Mo, pointing off Xemnas and Ansem with every word. "...Eeny, Meeny, Miney, Mo!" He finished.

He landed on Xemnas.

"You. Guess that means you, big boy."

Xemnas mumbled incoherently, but the ball gag prevented his words from leaving his mouth, all that happened was drool falling from his bottom lip. Xemnas looked over at Ansem, who was also looking at Xemnas. Ansem was smiling around his ball gag and Xemnas mumbled something incoherently in His direction, which translated as "Fuck you, too!"

Zed looked back at the other man, "You wanna do it in here?"

"Nah," he replied, "Let's do it in Russell's old room."

"Sounds good to me." He breathed deeply, stood up and walked behind Xemnas's chair, grabbed it's back rest and started tugging at at, pulling it onto it's back legs and bringing a protesting Xemnas along with him. There was a door directly behind Xemnas and Ansem, that they could not see . Zed pushed it open and hauled Xemnas and his chair into another back room. The other man had gotten up, grabbed the Gimp's leash, hauled him upwards and wrapped his leach around a low-hanging ceiling banister. He wasn't going anywhere as he started absently and perversely at Ansem. The man finished tying the Gimp up and started walking towards the back room to Zed, but he turned back at the last minute, looked at the Gimp and said, "Keep an eye on this one." He pointed at Ansem. Ansem turned his head and looked at the man walking into the backroom. Ansem could just see Zed fiddling around with Xemnas, but he couldn't see exactly what. Then, the other man slowly closed the door, leaving Ansem alone with the tied-up Gimp.

Silence. Only for a few seconds, except for Xemnas's muted mumbling.

Then, hooting, yelling and shouting was heard in the back. "Whoo! Oh! Yeah! Take it! Take that! Fucker!"

"_Oh, Damn!" _Thought Ansem, _"I am NOT getting Raped!"_Ansem started struggling against his bindings, pulling out against the ropes on his arms and legs. The Gimp saw this and started laughing threw his mask. He held up his hands, made a circle with the fingers on his left hand and held out his pointer finger on his right hand. He started puling and pushing his finger in and out of the hole and laughing as Ansem struggled even faster. He started feeling the ropes stretching beyond their limit and even the chair was starting to give. Why didn't I do this earlier, were his thoughts. The rope snapped at the same moment the back of the chair broke and crumbled to the floor, freeing Ansem. The Gimp stopped laughing and started yelling at the top of his lungs for help because the prisoner had escaped. But no one outside of the room could hear him through his mask.

Ansem threw the rope off his wrists and kicked the rope from his knees and spat out the ball gag. The Gimp yelled and Ansem walked over to him, grabbed his neck and twisted, snapping it and the Gimp's body fell limp(The Gimp went Limp. Ha!) as it hung in the air, swinging back and forth, lifelessly. Ansem rubbed his head a little, he was still partially healing and he ran up the stairs and into the shop above, the muffled sounds of his captor's hollering and Xemna's screaming grew fainter.

_**

* * *

**_

Xigbar And Demyx

"Agh! Oh, shit!" Xigbar cursed, jumping and teleporting out of the way of huge blasts of fire. He settled, upside down, on the ceiling next to a stone pillar. The Phoenix's back was facing Xigbar from it's last attack. Xigbar fired rapidly from his guns, but the bullets passed straight through the Phoenix's fire body. He was screwed and he couldn't remember the name of his Redux, which would definetly help. "Oh my God, Demyx, Help me!" Xigbar jumped from the ceiling dodging more fire blasts from the Phoenix.

Demyx, from behind his rock, was slowly dozing off, mumbled, "Maybe you ...should..." He trailed off and Xigbar couldn't hear him.

"Dammit! Wake up!"

The Phoenix rose into the air, it's tail and wings glowing blood red with fire. It opened it's mouth wide and a blood-curdling screech echoed throughout the Temple. It flapped and brought it's wings down in a mighty swoop, waves and waves of Flaming tendrils flew from it's body and spread out in all directions. Xigbar teleported, twisted and dodged around the flaming ropes coming at him. 3 came in his direction, he flipped, dodged one, twisted and dodged the other in a spin. The third he didn't come around fast enough to dodge the last one and took it in his back, burning part of his coat, hood and pony tail. He groaned and headed for the floor and hitting it head on. He felt parts of his back snap from the impact and it hurt too much to do any serious movement. He couldn't turn around and see the Phoenix flying over to him, ready to dive at him head on. Xigbar, still flat on his back, yelled out and teleported away just in time to move away from the kamikaze-bound Phoenix.

He reappeared, still on his back, next to a snoozing Demyx. He groaned a little as parts of his back started healing. "Demyx! You...SON OF A BITCH! Don't you dare sit there and nap!"

Demyx twitched and snorted, saying nothing. Xigbar leaned his head over his chest to see the Phoenix. It raised up it's head and saw that it's target had once again disappeared. Xigbar felt his back twitch, signaling him that he could move again. He got up, ran to Demyx and hauled him to his feet. He grabbed his coat collar and his head lolled to the side in a sleepy daze. "Demyx! Listen very carefully to ME!" He whispered forcefully in Demyx's face, "I. NEED. YOUR. HELP. OR. WE, especially me. WILL. DIE!"

And Demyx, being Demyx, said only one sentence after he snorted, "Confucius says, 'When In Doubt, Check Your Shoe.'" Then his head rolled over and he resumed his snoring. Xigbar dropped Demyx's body as it fell limp.

"You useless piece of crap! I hate you!" Xigbar was about to teleport away, when it hit him:What The Hell Diid He Have To Lose? Except hislife, he really couldn't think of anything, so what the hell? Maybe Demyx's idiocy would finally pay off. Xigbar picked up his left boot and slid it off his foot. He grabbed it by the heel and shook it, so if there was something in there it would fall out. Nothing came out. He put his boot back on and did the same with his other boot. Nothing. "Damn it, Demyx!" Xigbar kicked Demyx's leg and his rubber boots made a scraping sound. Xigbar thought, _"Confucius says, 'When In Doubt, Check Your Shoe.'...My Shoe, Your Shoe..Demyx's shoe..Oh!" _Xigbar grabbed Demyx's legs, but looked up to see the Phoenix right over him, and opening it's mouth. Xigbar teleported Himself and Demyx away from the blast of Fire and reappeared far behind from the Phoenix. Xigbar grabbed Demyx's boots, hauled them off his feet and started shaking both of them furiously. A small slip of paper fell to the floor from Demyx's left boot.

Dropping the boots to the floor and picking up the paper, Xigbar read the small slip of notebook, then looked at Demyx's sleeping Body. "Why do you have the name of my Redux in your shoe?" Demyx merely rolled over and curled up into a fetal position, farted and snored.

"Eh." Xigbar paid it no mind, because now he had the advantage. He read the slip of paper again, "Oh, yeah it _is _in German."

_**

* * *

**_

Roxas

Since Axel had come, Roxas was having a much better time on his job. He wasn't allowed to leave his post, so he and Axel just stayed where they were and talked. Eventually they got on the subject of Xinck and Axel. Roxas said that it seemed like He and Xinck were hiding stuff, since they never really talked about Castle Oblivion or what really happened to the other members.

But Axel, although he didn't want to, had to lie and told Roxas that what basically happened was that experiments went wrong and the others died because of it and that it was nothing that Roxas really had to know. He explained that Xinck, being the kind of person he is and his relationship with Larxene and Marluxia, didn't really have anything to say about Castle Oblivion or his dead former mentors. Luckily for Axel that was a good enough answer for Roxas. Roxas is innocent, not stupid and both Axel and Xinck know that. And as much as they didn't like it, they had ti use Roxas's nature to try to see the best in people against him. They had to.

Eventually Axel had to leave back to continue his mission, leaving Roxas alone, once again. Roxas looked at his cellphone clock, it was only 3:30. He had no idea why everything was going so slow. When Axel was here, he really didn't bother looking at the time and everything seemed to go by fast, but now, everything caught up with him and slowed down. Instead of sitting on that uncomfortable bench, hidden by some trees, Roxas got out into the open a little. Now he sat underneath a large tree, facing the fountain with the naked children statues around it. He put his head up against the tree, put his arms at his sides and just waited for his Heartless to show up...IN TWO HOURS!

His eyes drifted off towards the sky and found thee idea strange because there was no sky, just the blackness and emptiness of Space blanketed this world all hours. He wondered how these trees could have grown without sunlight or how were they able to make oxygen. They definitely felt real as he rubbed the back of his head against the rough bark. He thought that maybe it was too complicated to think of now. He blinked hard and looked away from the sky, his eyes started getting heavy. Doing Nothing can make you tired. His head lolled over to the right a little and he had to make an enough for it not to cramp up or snap. He looked at the right and at the parks entrance, he say 4 young people, three guys and 1 girl, walking and laughing towards the fountain. It was so obvious they were friends because of the slow way they walked and waited and listened to each other. Roxas rubbed his eyes a little. He was getting tired. The group of people walked around the fountain and out the other side of the park and out of site. It was weird watching them, Roxas thought, it almost seemed like that could have been him at one point in his past life. But he didn't know.

These thoughts were coming slower and slower and he yawned out loud and closed his eyes, _"I'll just take a nap for a little bit." _He fell asleep quicker than he thought.

* * *

It was weird. How can you describe an impossible dream? Do you try to compare to everyday situations or do you just keep silent and tell no one because they wouldn't understand? No. the best thing to do is to tell it to everyone, anyway, because even if they don't understand it, you will. And that's what counts.

Roxas felt intangible, no one could touch him, see him or sense him. He just floated around, well he didn't really float around, he just floated and watched his own dream play on right in front of him. He had had dreams before, but, strangely, this one felt different. It started out in a downtown city. It was late afternoon and the Sun was blocked out by Heavy clouds. The City looked ruined, buildings were marked with graffiti, the streets had potholes and every window had bars on the windows. It was a very sad place.

Then, Roxas's point of view shifted and he flew into the air, higher than the building, bridges and birds. As he ascended, a large, obelisk-like tower came into view, it soared even higher than the giant wall of clouds surrounding it. Roxas flew higher and higher against the building until he came to a large window on it's curved side. Because he was intangible, and it was a dream, he passed right inside into a dark room. It was, in fact, dark and red and all over the floors were people, women and men, just laying there, some kissing, some in an embrace and others just lying there in the dark and red room. Roxas floated across the sea of hedonistic bodies and as he did, he saw Xigbar lying there, asleep with his shirt off and two women on his arms.

"What's he doing here?" Roxas thought. Xigbar had never been in his dreams before. Roxas looked around, taking a closer look and saw other members lying around, asleep,too,. All of them except Xemnas, Axel and Xinck. "What is this?" He had asked this question in his dreams so many times, but this time he really wanted an answer. He looked up to the front of the room and he gasped (Something he had never done in a dream) what he saw, sitting in a lone chair, arms outstretched on the arms of the chair and in front of a huge dark screen was himself. Roxas.

Roxas saw himself, wearing all black clothes, shoes, pants and a long-sleeve white undershirt underneath his black short-sleeve shirt.

Then, laughter could could be heard from nowhere, but the voice that laughed sounded so familiar. Roxas in the chair raised his head slowly, as if looking at the intangible Roxas and said, "Feel Good." To his left, he saw another figure getting up from the mass of people. He had on a black vest over his bare chest and black pants. A guitar hang from a strap over his neck, just below his red hair.

"Axel? What's going on?" Axel couldn't hear him. He had no expression on his face and he stood lazily and appeared half-drunk. Then, to the right of Roxas sitting in the chair, on a high, black platform, was Xinck. He wore all black, shoes, pants and shirt, with a hat covering his face. His head was down and he sat at a large Drum Set. His head was down and Roxas couldn't see his face. "Xinck!" Xinck couldn't hear him.

As if on cue, they started playing. Axel strummed and played his guitar with precision and skill and Xinck struck his Drums with years'-gained expertise. They played a rhythm that almost sounded despairing, and tragic. Roxas wanted to scream out and tell them to stop, they were ignoring him and their playing was eerie. But before he could speak, Chair Roxas raised his hand and brought up a bullhorn, as if speaking to everyone in the room of sin and pleasure.

"City's breaking down on a camel's back. They just have to go, 'cuz they don't know whack." He got up from his chair, still holding the bullhorn to his mouth and stepping over and around the bodies all over the floor, "So while you fell the streets it's appealing to see, you won't get out the county 'cuz you're bad and free. You've got a new horizon, it's ephemeral style. A melancholy town where we never smile." He came up to the intangible Roxas and passed straight through him, and walked to the window. Roxas started feeling himself because he just walked through himself. This was weird. This wasn't like any dream he had ever had.

Roxas with the bullhorn walked up to the window and dropped his bullhorn to the floor, it clattered. "And all I wanna hear is the message beep. My Dreams, they gotta kiss me 'cuz I don't get sleep, no..." He held p his head and beheld a troubled face. His hands reached up and touched the window. The intangible Roxas floated over to him, to see what he saw through the window. Axel's guitar stopped, Xinck's drums stopped and outside the building, something poked through the clouds, reassuring Roxas that this was a dream. An island, a real island came bursting from the clouds. A large, spinning windmill on it's back kept it afloat above the clouds and how it was piloted was unknown.

Tragic Roxas stared out the window and looked longingly at the floating structure and yearned to join it's sole passenger,"Windmill, windmill for the land, turn forever, hand in hand." In the back, Xinck could be heard drumming again, " Take it all there on your stride. It is ticking, falling down. Love forever, love is free, Let's turn forever, you and me! Windmill, windmill for the land, is everybody in?"

Roxas, the invisible one, still shocked at what was going on, turned away from the window to the sound of Axel's aggressive guitar and Xinck's drumming. Axel had jumped up onto Xinck's platform and they played loudly to each other. Xinck's face could now be seen: the black circles under his eyes were even darker and on the left side of his face, going from his bottom eyelid to his jaw line, was a thin black line, like a permanent tear streak. Axel and Xinck both smiled madly to each other as Axel spoke nonsense.

"Laughing gas these hazmats, fast cats, Line them up like ass cracks, Lay these ponies at the track!"

"It's my chocolate attack!" Xinck yelled back.

"I'm stepping in the heart of this here!"

"Care bear bumping in the heart of this here! And Watch me as I gravitate!

"HA HA HA HA HA HA!" Axel started laughing uncontrollably, grabbing at his own face. Xinck joined in with the laughter. Roxas looked at them and he just didn't get it. What kind of a dream is this...this is just..crazy!

From Roxas's point of view, everything except the window went black. There was no more music. He couldn't see Axel, Xinck or the horde of people spread out on the floor. He turned back to the window. Tragic and Sad Roxas still stared out the window and that floating island was flying closer to the window. The narrow strip of land that was the island drew nearer, but it did not stop, it only slowed. The strumming of a small strung instrument was heard. It was a simple, sweet sound and both Roxas and Tragic Roxas stared at it's source. The island was moving past the window and a girl was sitting the edge of the island, dressed in the same black clothes as Tragic Roxas. She played her instrument with her head down and payed no mind to her observers, playfully and rhythmically kicking her legs over the edge. She had black hair.

"_Who is that?" _Roxas thought to no one in particular. Everyone in this dream were people he saw everyday, but he had never in his life seen this girl. He quickly looked down and saw Tragic Roxas singing again, but he payed him no mind. And as he looked back at the floating island, he saw the black-haired girl staring at him-not Tragic Roxas-but him. He saw her mouth one word, one word with two syllables, that he couldn't make out. All he could tell was that it started with an "S".

* * *

It was like he was hit with a jolt of lightning as he sprang up from sleep. Roxas started breathing heavily, he was sweating. He felt around him, making sure he was solid and wasn't floating around a building with a bunch of weirdos. He put a hand to his head, he didn't have a temperature. Other than being a little sweaty he was fine.

"Oh, man..." He stood up and brushed himself off. He looked up at the sky, expecting to see blue, but all he saw was black and starry. Space. "Oh!" Roxas gasped. The black sky reminded him of nighttime and time, in general. He took out his cellphone, while saying, "Oh, crap, oh, crap" over and over again. His cellphone read "6:12". Roxas yelled out, "AAAGGH! What is wrong with you freaky space people!" He caught the attention of several passersby, "Don't any of you bother to wake up a sleeping kid in a black coat! I had things to do! Aggh!"

With the opportunity to eliminate a his target gone, Roxas had no choice but to RTC and hope Saix doesn't get mad. But, honestly, Saix was far from his mind. What was that dream about? Who was that girl and what did she say?

_**

* * *

**_

Ansem (And Xemnas)

Ansem was right at the door, his hand had already pushed it open. He was right between freedom and conflict. He owed nothing to Xemnas, he thought as the sounds of grunting and cheering in the basement could be heard by his left ear and birds chirping and cars driving in his right ear.

"I've no obligation to assist that Nobody." Ansem said, "Then again, how deep is the emptiness of a Nobody? Is his so deep and empty that, even if I did help him, would he leave me alone? No! But...then again, I've got no power and no means to defend myself if he or his flunkies come after me. All I have is Riku...but he did kill Aleaus and Ienzo and beat the crap out of Even."

Ansem pondered the possibilities and they all ended the same;Xemnas finding some way to kill him. But Ansem only had 20 minutes before he'd be forced to go back into Riku's heart. Ansem sighed deeply, "Eh, what the hell? I'm a Gambler." He closed the shop door and made his way behind the counter. He looked around for something, sharp, hard or blunt, anything that could kill a man, really. He opened a drawer and found a hammer and gripped it in his hand. Didn't feel right, so he sat it on the counter. He looked around on the back wall, which had the valuable and expensive stuff on rows. On the high third shelf, he found an electric hand saw, gray in color. He grabbed it and played with it, trusting and slashing it. It felt alright, but it was electric and he didn't have time to find a cord for it. He sat it down on the counter.

Ansem realized how much time he was taking to save a man from anal rape, which was already taking place. Ansem looked higher on the shelf and only say expensive, recently pawned stereos and Cd players. But a sword, a samurai sword, caught his eye, hanging up against the shelves in a blind spot. Ansem eyed it and nodded, "That'll do, pig. That'll do..."

Ansem held the unsheathed sword upright in the air, like a professional warrior. He walked down the cellar stairs slowly, the sound of grunting, moaning and screaming grew louder with ever step. He had no heart, it wasn't pounding. He had lungs, but his breathing was normal. He didn't sweat, his deodorant was expensive and it worked fabulously. He stepped into the small cellar room where he and Xemnas were tied up. The Gimp's freshly lifeless body hung from the ceiling. The Grunting, groaning and cheering on grew louder because it was just beyond one more door.

Ansem inched up to the door and gently placed his dominant hand against the wood and it soundlessly opened, revealing a sight that Ansem would have never been able to imagine. Xemnas's body was bent over a table, his legs spread and arms tied around his back. His pants were around his ankles and the ball gag was in his mouth, muffling his screams. Zed was right behind him, hands on Xemnas's hips and pelvis going back and forth against his victim's backside, he grunted with every push. The other man stood closest to the door, watching and cheering him on, hands on his hips.

Ansem, at first, wanted to laugh, but stopped before his first and closest target drew closer. Ansem's sword was at the ready. The Man, as if sensing something, turned at the wrong second and was slashed across the chest. He yelped, hands falling limp as he stumbled back past Ansem, who walked closer to Zed. Zed jumped off of Xemnas, who fell lazily out of view. Zed put his hands to the air and looked as if he was caught with his pants down(literally and figuratively). The other man was still stumbling behind Ansem and he took his sword, turned the point toward the man and stabbed it back into the man's stomach. He stumbled to the floor in a bloody heap.

Ansem's sword was pointed at Zed. Next to Zed, on another table, was his handgun. Ansem saw Zed's eyes looking back at him and the gun. "You want that gun, Zed?" Ansem asked antagonistically. Zed said nothing but eyed Ansem, "You want the gun, Zed? Then go ahead. Pick it up." Ansem's sword was to close to Zed for Zed to get the gun. Ansem was baiting him.

"Step aside, Xehanort." Ansem turned his head ever so slightly towards Xemnas. He was standing up straight and he looked bloodied and beaten, the many minor cuts and bruises along his usually flawless face were were slowly healing. Xemnas's face showed only hatred and his hands were completely consumed in the Energy OF Nothingness.

Ansem stepped aside, giving Xemnas a clear shot of Zed's exposed penis. He aimed and fired a bolt of energy from his hand and Zed's fleshy member flew off into a the air in a bloody, misshapen form. Zed flew back against the wall behind him and slid to the floor, clutching his pubic region. He inhaled deeply and let out a scream that could only come from a man who just got his dick blown off. Ansem backed away some more and Xemnas walked up closer to the screaming cop and merely stared at him. "Are..uh..you alright?"

Xemnas's words were stern and unforgiving, "No. I'm very far from 'Alright'." He didn't even bother to look at Ansem, Zed screamed again in agony during the silence between the two.

"So..what now?" Ansem asked their 'relationship'.

"What now?" Xemnas's words contained no emotion but hatred, a rare occurrence, "I'll tell 'what now'. I'm going to call the most callous, most sadistic, unforgiving fucker I know to work on this trash with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch." Xemnas raised his voice at Zed, "DO YOU HEAR ME, YOU REDNECK, BACKWATER PIECE OF SHIT! I'M NOT THROUGH WITH YOU! I'M GONNA GET MEDIEVAL ON YOUR ASS!"

Xemnas loud words rang out throughout the room and could even be heard on the store floor. But His answer didn't satisfy Ansem, "I mean, what about me and you."

Xemnas hesitated,a s if deeply thinking about his answer, then, "Oh. That. I will tell you." He hesitated again, then, "There _is _no 'me and you'. I have long since...lost interest in you. You can go. And when you are gone, I suggest you stay gone," He didn't look at Ansem. Ansem thought that was a good enough answer. He knew that, unfortunately, his current position wouldn't allow him to have any influence in this decision. And besides, his time was almost up. He'd have to go back to Riku. Ansem, without a word, turned away from Xemnas and started walking away. As he did, he looked at his hand: it was fading. He let the sword drop and clatter to the floor when he was gone. If he had turned back before disappearing, he would have seen Xemnas hold up his hand as if to wave,

Xemnas scoffed to himself, "As if I needed you for my plans in the first place." He looked at Zed, who was still moaning in pain. Xemnas raised his foot and stepped on Zed's newly formed hole in his pelvis. Zed screamed and beat at Xemnas's foot, it didn't budge. Xemnas chuckled, "You going to live the rest of your short life in agonizing pain." Xemnas reached into his pocket, pulled out his cellphone and found Xinck's number.

_**

* * *

**_

Xigbar (And I guess Demyx, too.)

"Hey, ya big, dumb bird!" Xigbar called out on the floor. He had strategically decided to get out into the open and expose himself to the Phoenix. He waved his hands in the air until the Bird screeched and turned around in the air to face him. Xigbar flipped it off and it screeched again, flapping it's wings and flying at his direction.

Xigabr smiled broadly as the bird of flame flew at him. He, obviously not caring about the imminent danger, held up the piece of paper again and read it, making sure the name stayed in his head. Then, he put the paper away and placed a hand on his chest. He cleared his throat and in a sophisticated, English accent, said, "To Be, Or Not To Be..." He looked at the bird, still flying at him. He smiled even wider and jumped into the air and in his regular voice, yelled, "...Annihilated? Pass Your Judgment, _Tyr Gungnir!"_

An explosive purple light exploded from Xigbar, bathing the entire room in it's glow. A light so bright, even Demyx woke from his self-induced Coma. The Phoenix stopped it's charge, and flapped it's wings furiously to back away from this unnatural light. For a second, Demyx and the Phoenix could only stare into a purple nothingness. The light started to shrink and everything started coming back into view, Demyx, The Phoenix and the destroyed temple. The was shrinking into a point in the air, the spot where Xigbar had summoned his Redux and his voice could be heard.

"Dude...Demyx, you awake?"

Demyx groaned and rubbed his sore eyes and rubbed his head, "Yeah..."

"Dude, Demyx, My Redux kicks so much ass!"

The light faded away and Xigbar stepped into view. He stood perfectly in the air. The band around his ponytail was gone and his long, black and gray hair flowed to his shoulders, like a perfect veil. On his forehead were slick, black, thin goggles with a jagged, red X over the right lense. His Coat had changed as well, it was no longer zipped up and his bare chest and stomach was seen and the bottom trim of the black coat was jagged and torn, making him look rough. On both his arms, from shoulder to elbow, were a pair of spikes that curved upwards and looked like they were made from the same material as The Castle That Never Was. Black and purple straps hung from his arms, connecting them to his back. From his Elbow downward were large, gray and purple Braces that broadened past his wrists and slightly obscured his hands. The large braces were space-age and ornamental in appearance with shining silver Sigils of the Organization decorating the sides. From the top of the two braces, silver and royal purple, Gun-shaped appendages looked as if they had been seared into the metal. The Guns slightly curved so that their handles could be gripped in Xigbar's hands. Floating directly behind his body were large, red-colored, rhombus shaped bullets, four in number. They orbited in a circle, like a four-petaled red flower.

-_**Tyr Gungnir**_-( Old Norse-"War God Of Justice, The Swaying One")- Although it shares the same names as the noble god of war and justice, Tyr, and Odin's mighty spear, it is not to be confused entirely. _**Tyr Gungnir**_was the alias of a demonic Gunslinger who never missed his targets. His ability to never miss and dodge all incoming threats was what he was most known for. His powers earned him the title of 'The God Of War' and his targets were those who had done evil deeds in the world, who he would fight and bring to Justice, thus earning his association with that Cardinal Virtue.

Xigbar looked at the Phoenix, who stared at him in return. It obviously wasn't intimidated, but it didn't move. Xigbar chuckled and held up his hand. He held up one finger. "One. Just one move and it's your end, Mutant Chicken God." The Phoenix roared a piercing screech and puffs of fire bellowed from it's nostrils. Xigbar rolled his eyes, "Fine. Hot 'N Spicy Mutant Chicken God. Happy? Now, make your move!"

Phoenix roared, raising it's head and unfurling it's mighty wings of flame. They flapped and tendrils of fire erupted from all over it's body, like flares from the sun. The blazed through the air, colliding with walls or ceiling and disintegrating whatever matter they touched. Xigbar shrugged, "Easy." He held up his right hand, pointing his gun to the sky. He fired, thousands of silver blasts erupting into the air all at once, colliding with the flames and extinguishing them on contact.

The flames had been stopped and Xigbar moved. In less than a second, he had shot over to behind the Phoenix's head and he hung in the air, arm outstretched and preparing to fire. "You wasted your move." From his left Gun, aimed at the base of the birds neck, a large, silver laser stream stabbed through the Phoenix's neck and to the floor. The flames of the bird became extinguished when it's headless body hit the ground and it reverted to it's original golden dragon form(minus a head).

Demyx yelled out in shock when Xigbar appeared next to him. "Aaaggh! Don't do that!"

"Don't so what?" Xigbar asked playfully, "Don't be hardcore, badass, awe-inspiring? All of the above?"

Demyx just stared at Xigbar's guns, strapped to his arms. "Checkin' out my guns, eh?" Xigbar asked. Then he randomly changed the subject, "Why did you have my Redux in your shoe?"

Demyx snorted, rubbed his head then sighed, "I'll be honest Xigbar. It seemed like a good idea at the time." He smiled. Xigbar's eye twitched, "What kind of an answer is that?"

_**

* * *

**_

Axel &Saix (a few days ago)

Knock knock knock. Knock knock knock.

The pounding on the metallic door was enough to drive Saix crazy and kill most people around him, but those thoughts were becoming fainter and fainter with dose of morphine he took(after an incident where everyone momentarily switched bodies, Saix and Xinck switched places. And Saix learned of Xinck's morphine addiction, claiming he "needs it to go on".) Saix pushed himself up from his desk, he was sure he was the only one in the Castle besides Xemnas sho has a desk, and strolled over to his door. He gripped the handle and opened it furiously, but keeping his cool when he asked, "What?" The metal door was only 3 inches thick, but as soon as Saix moved the door out of the way, Axel quickly moved past those 3 inches and directly into Saix's face, close enough that they could feel each others' breath on their faces.

"You know, this is the closest we've been in a _loooong _time." Axel said, smiling.

"What do you want, Axel?" Saix asked, backing away, hoping that if someone was watching, listening or reading this didn't think that that was a sexual reference. "And if you keep saying things like that you'll give people ideas."

"What, I can't come and visit every once and a while?"

"Not if you want to get caught."

Axel looked at Saix, the smile faded from his face, but the air of his humor was still present. "Are you gonna invite me in?"

"I'm busy."

"I can't be busy with you?"

"You must be very bored."

"...a little." Axel blinked.

"Why don't you, oh, I don't know, go spend time with your kids?"

Axel flashed Saix a look, "They're not my kids!"

Saix scoffed, "Have you bought them Kids' Meals from McDonalds?"

"They didn't have any money!"

"Do you tuck them in at night?"

"What the-!"

Saix gave him a look and Axel sighed loudly, crossing his arms, "Roxas had a broken arm and I took him to his room. And Xinck can't see in the dark, so I helped him out. What's wrong with that?"

Saix scoffed, "Fine, whatever. Come in. But don't keep me distracted, I'm writing out missions." Saix moved from the doorway, and Axel stepped into his room. Saix's room was the same as everyone else, except his room had it's own bathroom, bookshelf and a computer on his desk. The Computer was connected to The Organization's Mainframe, so Saix had access to all of the Organization's files and information.

Axel plopped down right on Saix's bed, putting his hands behind his head and leaning up against the headboard. His boots were right on the comforter. "Get up." Saix ordered.

"Hey, man, share and share alike. You invited me in here, so be a good host and let me sit on your bed." Axel smiled again.

Saix rubbed his forehead, "Fine. Be that way." He sighed, "I masturbate uncontrollably on that bed and I never clean up the mess."

"OH!" Axel shot from the bed and put his feet on the floor, wiping over his coat with his hands and sleeves any part of his body that had come into contact with the bed. "That's sick, man!" Saix chuckled to himself, then sat back down at his desk and started writing on a clipboard and typing at his computer. Axel found a chair in the corner closest too Saix and sat down. "So," Axel asked, " How's our..Ocean Bacon."

Saix's eyes widened and he pit down his pen and turned around to Axel, "'Ocean bacon'?"

"Yeah, I thought that was what we were calling it."

"Calling what?"

"Our.."plan"."

"Oh." Siax turned back around to his desk and continued, "We are not calling it Operation Ocean Bacon."

"I didn't say it was called Operation Ocean Bacon. I said it was just called Ocean Bacon."

"That's a terrible nickname! We are not calling it that!"

"Mmm." Axel put a hand up to his chin and thought. "How about we call it, 'Operation The Misadventures Of Flapjack'?"

Saix turned back around to Axel, "Why would we call it that?"

"Because Roxas says he doesn't like that show."

"Why should I care what He likes or doesn't like-Axel you're distracting me! I'm trying to get my work done."

"Alright, alright, alright." Axel said, sitting back into his chair. A few minutes past before They spoke again and Axel asked his question again.

Saix replied, "It's slow in progress, but as long as we keep doing what we are doing, Xemnas keeps dishing out edicts, then we will be able to take control."

"Then, what about the others?"

"They will eventually join as well, as long as Xemnas remains distant and silent about his true intentions. They will grow impatient and demand answers."

"But Xemnas could easily quell any uprising with raw force. And if he used his Redux..."

"That would be an unfortunate event. That is why I take so much time in dividing up missions. Each mission is difficult to some degree, difficult enough that they'll all receive necessary experience in battle. I'm hoping that they'll all use their Reduxes and grow stronger, so that eventually they'll be able to withstand his presence like I can."

"You're not effected by his presence?"

"Not as much as everyone else can be. But I think he might be catching wind off my tolerance and has been avoiding me."

Axel said nothing. He already knew the plan and he knew that he had to step lightly, so that he and Saix wouldn't get caught. They couldn't get caught. Their plan was perfect: just lay and wait for the opportunity to present itself. Saix sat down his pen, "Finished." He turned around in his seat to face Axel.

"Cool. Can I see?" Saix grabbed the clipboard from his desk and handed it to Axel. He read down the list, then looked at Saix, "And these are the missions for the rest of the week, right?" Saix nodded. " Then why is Xinck fighting Three, level 10 Heartless in 3 days?"

Saix shrugged, "Luck of the draw, I guess."

Axel turned the clipboard toward Saix and pointed at the section marked 'Saturday', "Everyone has the day off and Xinck is fighting a Dustflier. What's up with that?"

Saix grabbed the board, looked at It, than sat it down, "I'll be honest. I think Xinck knows too much."

Axel lifted an eyebrow, "Oh?"

"His actions in Castle Oblivion, while helpful to us, were a little...uncertain."

"What do you mean. 'uncertain'? He helped me eliminate the traitors, per your orders."

"I know, but you were the only one who was expected to return alive."

"Well, to be honest, Xinck isn't 100%-technically alive. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've seen his head caved in"

"That's not the point." Saix took on a more serious tone, " Xinck helped you to eliminate the traitors, but something...something seems to tell me that he knows something about our plans, or he at least suspects something."

"He doesn't. I know he doesn't."

"What makes you think he isn't lying? Do you believe every word you hear?"

"No. I know Xinck, and I told you that he would have killed Larxene by himself if he had the chance. But I had already asked him over to my side. Going into Castle Oblivion, Xinck was the only one who had no real reason to be eliminated. Vexen, Lexaeus, Zexion-They were in your way. Larxene, Marluxia- Traitors to the Organization. Xinck-All by himself at the end of the line."

Saix was quiet and he looked away. He stood up, but before he could speak, Axel spoke, "We don't need to kill him off."

Saix looked at Axel, "I have a reason for giving Xinck these missions, Axel." He started walking around the room. "The first reason is that Xinck's previous history with Marluxia and Larxene leaves me uneasy. His loyalties could have switched if Marluxia had asked him first, like you said. But you got to him first, so that means that Xinck _could_ switch but he'd only come to us if he sees something in our plan that benefits his agenda. Then-"

Axel started laughing hard, even grabbing his stomach and leaning over. "What's so funny?" Saix asked. He stopped walking around and faced Axel.

"Xinck? Agenda? Are you serious? Does Xinck look like the kind of guy who has an agenda! He just goes with it!"

Saix groaned. "Can I finish?"

Axel quieted down a little, "Continue."

"Anyway, the second reason why is that if Xinck does suspect something, then he could be killed by a Heartless, thus taking care of him. But if he lives, grows stronger from his missions and he doesn't suspect anything, then we can bring him into our coup."

"So you're saying, if he dies, problem solved and if he lives, new recruit."

"Yes."

"But, what if he doesn't know anything and a Heartless kills him. We'll be out of another member." Axel didn't like the thought of that, Xinck being killed for nothing.

"That would be an unfortunately acceptable loss." Saix said. Axel walked over to him and placed a hand to his shoulder. "What?"

"At least tone it down, Saix. Don't make it look like you're trying to kill him. He'll catch wind of it and he might tell Xemnas, bringing you unwanted attention from the Superior. And besides, if he dies and we somehow bring Roxas over to us, He'll find out and that won't be good."

Saix was quiet as he and Axel walked over to the door. When Axel opened it to leave, Saix said, "Alright, I'll redo the schedule and put him on the day off with everyone else. You're right, we can't afford to lose members, but the move to make them stronger will continue."

"Cool." As Axel and Saix walked out of the door, Axel felt a wave of relief wash over him. He didn't want Xinck to die. He and Saix left the room and stood out in the hallway in front of the door. "So," Axel started, "Maybe we should-"

Saix looked down the hall and gasped slightly. He turned back to Axel, "Damn, it's Xemnas. Pretend we hate each other!" Saix fake-pushed Axel in his stomach, "Who do you think you are, Axe-hole?"

" Fuck you, that's who, X-rated Face." Axel punched Saix in the shoulder, then glanced down the hallway at Xemnas who stood there watching. He turned back to Saix, "Your mother's a lesbian."

"Your mother was a crack-whore!" Saix yelled back, stepping on Axel's shoe.

Axel grunted and started hoping on one leg and holding his foot, "Dude, not cool." He whispered to Saix.

"Sorry." Saix whispered back. Axel reached up and pulled Saix's hair downward. "Ahh!" Saix grunted. Axel let go and slapped Axel in the face. "Don't pull my hair, you son of a bitch!"

"Ahh!" Axel put his foot down, "Don't slap me, you dick!" The fight became real when Axel punched Saix in the stomach, he leaned over in pain and rammed his head into Axel's midsection. Saix tackled Axel and they both fell to the floor, punching, kneeing and grunting with every hit.

"I will leave you with NOTHING!" Saix yelled, grabbing and pulling Axel's hair.

"You can't do a thing!" Axel started punching the back of Saix's legs. If they had looked up, they would have seen that Xemnas had left after Saix called Axel's mother a crack-whore.

A few days later, when Xinck would be on his mission to destroy the Crab Claw, Axel would visit him. Axel would say that Saix is trying to kill him, but give a petty reason why. Xinck replied that he has heard worse reasons for people trying to kill him. He said that Larxene had threatened to kill him one time when he refereed to her tampons as "Plug-'ems." But Axel said that then again, just buy Saix something sweet to eat and he was sure to leave him alone. Although Axel did have a comedic attitude about this, he was really telling Xinck to be careful.

_**

* * *

**_

Xemnas

Upon Xemnas's call, Xinck exited out of his Corridor Of Darkness, Xercivio piggybacking on his back, into, what looked like, a basement. There was a dead body on the floor, a man with a sword slash across his chest and a stab wound in his gut. There was also a half-dead or dying man screaming up against the wall, clutching , what looked like, a hole where his penis and testicles should be. And in the corner, arms crossed and Hood up, was Xemnas. His Black coat was covered in blood.

"_Mein Vorgesetzter" _Xinck said in perfect German and bowed dramatically.

"Xinck." Xemnas Nodded to him. He got off the wall and walked over to him. Xinck was tall, but Xemnas was taller and much more muscular and Xinck only came up to to the top of Xemna's broad chest. "Do you see that man over there?" Xinck turned and looked at the screaming man in the corner.

"Wow, what happened?"

"I blew his dick off." Xemnas declared.

"Uh..Phrasing." Xinck refereed to the 'blowing' part.

"I _blasted _his dick off. Better?"

"Much. Can I ask, why?"

"You may not." Xemnas said sternly. He walked from Xinck and to the man in the corner, kicking him roughly in his ribs. "I need you to do what you do best."

"I do several things very well. You...are going to have to be much more specific." Xinck cut his eyes into slits and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Xercivio stayed quiet on his back.

"Torture." Xemnas declared.

"Oh, goody." Xinck walked over to his victim and stared at this heap of a man, who was starting to pass out from the pain. "Oh, yeah, I can work with this. I just watched _Hostel _last night."

"I'll leave the rest to you then." Xemnas said, walking back to his corner and watching intently through his hood.

"Xercivio." Xinck said to the Nobody on his back, "Blowtorch." Xercivio hopped down from Xinck's back and, out of nowhere, produced a blue blowtorch. Xinck reached down and grabbed the cop by his arm and hauled him up onto the nearby table effortlessly. Xercivio handed him the blowtorch and the lighter. Xinck turned the nozzle on the canister and the gas hissed out of the spigot.

"P-p-please, Don't do this!" yelled the man on the table. Tears streaming from his eyes.

Xinck looked the man straight in the eye. Larxene had told him that looking them in the eye was like stabbing them in the throat. Xinck spoke and his voice reminded Xemnas, Xercivio and the man of an 8 year old, "This is going to hurt. I mean, seriously.." He lit The blowtorch with the lighter and a small blue flame settled at the tip of the spigot, "...It's going to hurt, A LOT." Xinck lowered the blowtorch into the man's left eye.

Nothing but screams filled the room for a full 5 minutes. Then, for another 5 minutes, per Xemnas's instructions, he used a pair of pliers to further mutilate the man. Eventually, the entire left side of the man's face was nothing but a red and pink fleshy mass and his eye had been pulled out of his socket. Using the blowtorch, Xinck had permanently seared the man's eye socket shut and the large optic nerve that connected the man's eye to his brain had also been burned. Eventually, he had passed out, or slipped into a Comas from the pain.

"Well, "Xinck said, setting down the blowtorch and wiping his bloody gloves against the man's shirt. He turned to Xemnas, "That's about it. He's way to passed out to feel anything anymore."

"Will he wake up?"

"I don't know."

"Well, that's good enough. You may go."

"Alright, then." He bowed, Xercivio hopped on his back and he summoned a corridor around him and disappeared. Xemnas walked back up to the man and placed a hand on his forehead.

"what a wasted life." He spared no more words and blasted through the mans head. The blast shot through the wooden table and hit the floor. The brain's and blood from the man's skull fell through the floor.

_**

* * *

**_

Epilogue

They all returned to The Castle That Never Was eventually. Luxord was the first to come back. He found that Emerald Serenades are, without a doubt, the worst Heartless ever. It does nothing but move around, it doesn't attack or anything. It must be the retarded cousin of those types of Heartless, he said. Xaldin returned, saying his mission was a smooth success and that The Beast was soon to give up his Heart any day now. He also said to Luxord that he caught a few glimpses of Belle taking a shower. Xigbar and Demyx came in next. For some reason, Demyx tried to take all of the credit, saying that He had taken down a Phoenix single handed. He and Xigbar got into a fight, and Xigbar got Demyx in a chock-hold.

"Ack! Gah!" Demyx choked, Xigbar's forearm wrapped tightly around his neck.

"Say it! Say it, dammit!" Xigbar yelled in response. "Say I did all the work! Everyone knows you're lying!"

"Air! I need! Air!"

"Oh, bitch, bitch, bitch! Your needs!" Xigbar complained.

Xinck came in, with the front of his shirt covered in blood. He remembered what Axel had told him and he walked over to Saix and offered him a half-eaten, melted chocolate bar from his back pocket. Saix, for some reason, took it and said he would eat it later, but Xinck said he wouldn't leave until he tried it. So Saix took a bite and Xinck left, then Saix spat out the chocolate into a corner.

Roxas came in and reported that he had failed his mission. "What?" Saix said when Roxas told him, " For failing missions, you are to be punished, you know that."

"But, wait! I just-"

"You are to go to The Plane Of Elemental Fire, naked and drenched in gasoline for 3 hours."

"Wow, Saix, don't you think that's a little harsh?" Axel had came through his portal, grinning and walking up to Saix and Roxas.

"Axel." Saix said, acknowledging him, "Is your mission complete?"

"No. I'm still looking around Agrabah. I just came back to get some some supplies, Elixirs, munny. I already have it, so I'm about to get back there." He looked at Roxas, "Hey. Rox, what's wrong?" Axel noticed the look on Roxas's face.

"Saix is trying to send me to The Plane Of Elemental Fire with gasoline." He said.

"Don't forget, you'll be naked." Saix said.

"Saix," Axel said, "Give him a break. Besides, it's my fault. I came into his mission and he got distracted."

"Why did you invade on his mission?"

"I was bored." Axel's answer was blunt and he usually didn't talk to Saix like this when others were around and Saix caught that.

"Mmm." Saix turned back to Roxas, "Very well. Since Axel interfered with your assignment, your punishment will be level one, instead." Saix held up his hand and snapped his fingers. Beside him, 3 Dusks appeared and seemed to sway back and forth, waiting for an order. "Bring me.." Saix thought about it, "The Cone Of Shame." The Dusks, having their orders, disappeared into another portal and a few seconds later, reappeared with a big, white cone, the kind you see dogs wearing.

Saix grabbed the cone and walked up to Roxas, "Hold still." He said. He unhooked the bottom of the cone, and before he could wrap it around Roxas's head, he back away.

"Axel?" Roxas pleaded.

Axel shrugged, "Sorry, man. But, it could be worse. You could be on fire."

"And naked, now hold still." Saix re-hooked the cone around around Roxas's next, hiding his face from view. "There we go. Now.." Saix said, talking to the cone where Roxas's head should be, "You are to wear that cone for 3 hours and no more." Saix turned to Axel and just looked at him, then walked away and out of the room.

"Well," Axel said, putting his hands behind his head and sighing heavily, "I better get ready to go."

"How long are you gonna be?" Cone-head Roxas asked.

Axel tried to hold back laughing, "I..I don't know. No more than 2 days, guaranteed." He sighed again, "How'd you fail your mission?"

"I..fell asleep."

"Really? Wow."

"Yeah, and I had this really weird dream, too."

"Was it that dream when you're walking around and all the people around you look just like you, the woman, the children, the grannies and grandpas?"

"N-no." Roxas's cone leaned forward, he had lowered his head and Axel could see the top of your head. He thought it was kinda funny, but knew Roxas was a little upset about it.

"Okay, when I get back, you can tell me all about I, okay?"

"Alright."

"Good. Now, I gotta go. See ya later." A Dark portal swirled on the floor under Axel, shot up around him and he disappeared into the darkness.

On the other side of the Gray Area, another Corridor of Darkness and The hooded figure of the Superior walked out. His coat was torn in several places and there were blood spots splattered along the front of his coat.

"Whoa." Xigbar said in astonishment,"What happened to yo-"

"Shut up. Nothing. I don't want to talk about it." Xemnas replied. He started limping carefully towards the exit of the room. When he got to the door, he turned around, hood still up and spoke to the remaining members in the room, "As of now, I am issuing another rule. If ANY of you bother to buy Donuts again, who should make it your business to save me AT LEAST ONE!" He raised his voice, close to yelling, "Or you will suffer my greatest wrath." He turned and stared his limp out of the room, uttering a small "Ow" with every step.

* * *

Review and I Do not Own Pulp Fiction. I can't stress that enough! I'll be Damned If I'm sued by Quentin Tarantino!

Can't wait till next chapter. Don't forget to Review.


	28. The World Ends With You

And here..we..GO Finally, I can do this. it's been on my mind for a few months now and I wanted to do something while the year when Sora is asleep is still around and I didn't just want them to do mission after mission after mission and this came to mind.

I have to say, I'm actually excited to see what happens. The entire concept around these next few chapters seems interesting.

(Have you ever wondered who the hell I'm talking to?) Yeah, I can take complete creative control with this and let all of the extra stuff in my head and write it down for this.

But I have a question. What do you think is the point of your entire Fanfiction? Not just these next few chapters but everything in general.

Honestly, a little rememberance would be nice. I mean, _wayyyyy _after I have finished this, I would like people to remember what I have written. Only because..I have no idea what the hell "Saix Puppy" is. I have heard it in several places, but have no idea what it is. So it obviously has to be good if a lot of people mention it.

That seems like an...interesting reason.

Yes...yes indeed.

I own Nothing.

* * *

It was a seldom seen event happening in The World That Never Was. An event that was so rare that Xemnas himself has only seen 5 times since he started The Organization years ago. The Sun was rising. It was an unpredictable event, but the original inhabitants of this world had leaned to live without constant sunlight. The dark nature of this world had become tolerable to The Organization, so when The Sun did come up, they tried their best to ignore it and continue about their business. But the Sun, because of this world's nature, only shone halfway above the horizon, casting only Dawn on the world. The strange morning light, along with the constant cloudy skies in the worlds, made the world much more eerie than it really was.

But really, it was beautiful when you took in the whole picture. The Kingdom Hearts Moon, cradled carefully in the clouds, was shielded from the sun and the clouds would still occasionally rain on the ground below. The light of The Sun creeped into The Castle That Never Was and slowly filled the rooms of every Nobody. The unpredictable light woke everyone up and everyone, Numbers I-XIV, uttered a loud "Damn." as the light woke them up. Everyone except Roxas. He had been troubled for the past few days because Axel had gone on a Two-day mission to search for a new Heartless. He had been gone for 5 days in a row without any word.

In the meantime, Roxas has been spending time with Xinck. It's not that Roxas has a problem with that, it's just that he worried about Axel. Plus, Xinck had a lot of Adult-oriented jokes and Axel would always explain them for him. Roxas told Xinck about Axel missing but Xinck assured him that Axel had to be fine because he always was. But as the days went on, Roxas started doubting.

The Gray Area's entire Glass window, which is usually dark and gloomy, was now filled with morning clouds. In the far left lower corner, you could see the top of the sun's glow, which was almost blocked away by another tower of the Castle. In the top of the window, the Kingdom Hearts Moon was surrounded by Dark clouds, blocking it from most of the Sun's rays. The furniture, tables, chairs and couches, were casting shadows across the room and Saix stood unmoving against the window, waiting to give out Missions for the day. He, too, cast a shadow that only added to the eerie mood of the once-familiar Castle.

Roxas was the first to walk in, hoping that today was the day when Axel would come back. Instead, all he found was Saix. He lowered his head, disheartened and walk up to Saix. "Axel isn't here?"

"Mm?" Saix made a sound and Roxas couldn't tell if it was a grunt or a question, "Usually, when people meet each other in the morning, they greet each other appropriately."

Roxas made no audible protest, but quietly uttered, "Good Morning."

"Good Morning to you, too, Roxas." Saix replied.

"Have you heard anything about Axel?"

"No." Saix said flatly.

Roxas raised his head and stared at Saix directly in his yellow eyes, his cold yellow eyes. "How can you be so calm about this?" He asked sternly.

Saix, unmoved, answered back, "Axel is one of our strongest members. There is no challenge that his skills cannot handle."

"So..you believe in him?"

"Believe?" Saix returned Roxas's stare, "Believing is for children and upper-lower middle class families. There is no need for that childish notion when his skills, power and past evaluations _prove _that he is fine."

Roxas sighed, and looked away. He hated that answer because it didn't tell him anything. Before he could respond, Saix spoke again, There is a meeting today in the round room." Roxas didn't hear anything Saix said, except 'Round Room' because he remembered Axel had called it that once. Saix opened his hand and to his left a corridor of Darkness opened. "Get going." He said and Roxas stepped through.

Not long after Roxas appeared in his throne, did the others start filling in theirs. Demyx was seen in his chair. He looked jittery with excitement. "Hey, Roxas, did you look outside?"

"Yeah." Roxas replied flatly. He placed a hand on his face and leaned on his throne arm.

"Oh, come on!" Demyx yelled, "How can you be so blasé about it? It is way too dreary around here and-!" An egg, thrown across the room, smashed into Demyx's forehead. "Ah!" He gasped, picking at the sticky yellow and white goo on his face. On the other side of the room, Xaldin held a hand out to Xigbar. "Reload." He said, smiling evilly at Demyx.

Xinck appeared from a cloud of black smoke in the 14th Throne next to Roxas. And as always, he leaned back in his chair and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Hey, Xinck."

"Good Morning." He replied. To Roxas, he sounded a little annoyed, but instead he asked him if he had heard anything about Axel. Before Xinck could reply, everyone turned their attention to the I Throne as a corridor of Darkness settled and Xemnas emerged, sitting in his seat.

He greeted The Organization the same way he did anytime there was a meeting, "Good Morning, friends. I-"

"Good Morning, Superior!" Demyx called out, hoping to be backed up by the rest of the room, but wasn't.

"Be quiet." Xemnas continued, "As I'm sure all of you have noticed, the Sun of this World, in a rare occasion, has risen and bathed it in light."

"Yeah!" Demyx cheered.

"What did I say?" He flashed Demyx a look.

"I'm sorry."

"Anyway," Xemnas shifted in his seat and continued, "I do not want this to affect tour mission performance. Any slip-ups will not be tolerated." He scanned the room with his eyes, everyone avoided his gaze except Roxas, who merely stared off into space. "Roxas." Xemnas called out to Roxas. He wasn't paying attention and continued looking down at the floor. "Number XIII." He called again, this time, everyone looked at Roxas. Xemnas scoffed and called on Xaldin.

"Right." said Xaldin, tossing an egg at Roxas.

"Wha-?" Roxas looked around confused when the egg splattered against his face. He wiped at the goo and let it drip from his gloves as the egg shell rolled down his face. "What was that for?" He looked from person to person. Xinck laughed in his seat, ducking his head as if to hide. "That's not funny!" Roxas tossed the remaining goo and egg shell at Xinck, hitting him on the top of the head.

"Ah! You suck!" Xinck wiped the goo and shell from his head to the floor. "I'm telling!" Xinck whined, "Superior, Roxas threw egg at me!"

"Roxas, stop throwing eggs at Xinck." Xemnas said flatly.

"But Xaldin threw it at me first!" Roxas whined back.

"Xaldin, stop throwing egg at Roxas."

"You're the one who told me to throw it in the first place." Xaldin pleaded.

"I was-"

Demyx interrupted, "Superior, stop telling Xaldin to throw egg Roxas, to throw egg at Xinck." He smiled and Xemnas gave him a stern look.

"I will smack you in the face with my ring finger, Demyx."

"Sorry."

"Now, "said Xemnas, "Enough with the childish antics." He looked at both Roxas and Xinck, "You two may be youths, but we have no time nor patience to deal with immature children. Now, Roxas." Roxas held his head up to Xemnas, "Is there something you would like to share? You were distracted and you looked deep in thought."

Roxas didn't say anything for a second, "Well, N-no..."Then he looked straight at Xemnas,something that no one in the Organization did, "Yes."

"Oh?"

"Axel's been gone on a mission longer than a mission like that should take."

"And?" Xemnas asked.

"_And _we should do something, or send out a few Nobodies to look for him."

"And?"

"Uh..And..uh." Roxas looked over at Xinck, who just shrugged. "I don't know. But we should do something. He might need help."

"Superior." Saix said, "I had already told Roxas that Axel is fine. He has the skills and experience to overcome any obstacle in his path." Saix spoke flatly, giving no hint that he actually cared about the situation or not.

"And?" Xemnas asked.

Saix looked around as if asked the dumbest question in the world then looked at Xemnas, "Uh..what?"

"Anything else? That's what 'and' usually means."

"Well, no that's it." He replied.

"So." Xigbar cut in, "Flamesilocks's gone missing." He laughed a little, "Can't say I blame him.."

"He didn't say he was missing." Xaldin piped in, "He said that he didn't know where he is. That's the definition of lost, Xigbar."

Xigbar scoffed, "Lost, missing. It's basically the same thing. You can say, 'Oh, I've lost my condoms.' or ' Oh, my condoms are missing.' the same, general idea is that you don't know where your condoms are"

Luxord stated, "Well, for all you know, your condoms were stolen, old boy."

Xigbar scoffed and laughed again, "Well, I wouldn't know because _I _don't use condoms."

"..."

"...awkward." squeaked Demyx.

"...That's just not good for your Health." said Luxord. "Don't you know about the myriad of diseases you can get without a prophylactic?"

Xaldin started counting off on his fingers, "Syphilis, Gonorrhea, Crabs, Children! Xigbar, Children! I definitely know that you don't want a litter of little bastards running around here."

"Dude, I'm not gonna get kids." Xigbar said, "I always pull-"

"WE'RE NOT TALKING ABOUT CONDOMS!" Roxas's voice echoed outward from his Throne, "We're talking about Axel and we don't know where he is! He could be lying passed out in a gutter in Berlin or Monte Carlo for all we know."

"Ah, yes, Monte Carlo." Luxord sighed, leaning back in his chair, "They had to declare bankruptcy when I left. Ha!"

"That's not funny!" Roxas snapped at Luxord, who looked offended.

"Well, my apologies, old sport. But it is a possibility that he is taking a break, a vacation, if you will."

"Why would he need a vacation?" asked Xinck.

"Who knows." Luxord replied, shrugging, "But I have noticed that he's been on several difficult missions back-to-back before his mission in-

"That is enough Luxord. " Xemnas said and Luxord fell silent. "Roxas." Xemnas spoke and everyone fell silent, "I highly doubt that Axel would have taken an unauthorized vacation."

"Then wha-"

"There are only three logical explanation for his disappearance. 1-He is still on the mission and possibly became tied up in that World's affairs. Or 2-He actually is missing. 3-He's dead."

Roxas's eyes looked as if they had caved in on himself. "Wha-dead?" He looked over at Xinck, who looked as if he wasn't paying attention. _Why won't he say anything,_ Roxas thought. He looked back at Xemnas, who noticed his distressed appearance.

"But." Xemnas said, "Axel's skill make him a formidable opponent so, I'm not even 100% sure he's dead, but the first two possibilities are about 50-50 for me." A pause, apparently, he thought it was a joke, but no one was laughing, "Regardless, I forbid any action being taken in the matter. If Axel is missing, he can get himself out of any trouble on his own, if he's dead than, whatever."

"What?" Roxas nearly jumped out of his seat, "How can we do nothing? You said it yourself, he's formidable, that must mean he's valuable!"

"You would think so and he is, but whatever problems he's having are his own."

Roxas sank back into his chair. He looked over at Xinck. He still had that apathetic look on his face and leaned against the back of his chair, staring at the floor. _Why won't he say anything? _A new corridor of Darkness swirled around Xemnas's throne, but before he disappeared, he said "Also, I have one more order. For the next several days, several in this case meaning how ever long as I want, I will be in my office. No disturbances." And with that the meeting was over and everyone started leaving in their own portals.

Roxas stayed, head down in his seat. Why won't they do anything, he thought. "Why didn't you say anything?" Roxas turned to his left at Xinck's throne, but he was already gone.

* * *

_Several Hours Later-_

After that day's missions were over and they all returned to the Castle, they had found that Xemnas was still locked in his office, doing God knows what. Most of the members, in lieu of going to their rooms, stayed in The Gray Area and chatted. During Roxas's entire mission, he remained distracted with thoughts of Axel and Xinck, wondering where Axel could be and why Xinck seemed so uncaring on the subject, not that he had ha a chance to ask Xinck why.

When Roxas got back he found The Gray Area, stilled filled with eerie morning light and Xaldin, Luxord, Xigbar and Demyx. Saix and Xinck were nowhere to be found. "No." said Xaldin, when Roxas had asked him if Axel had come back yet, "I haven't seen him, apparently, he's still gone."

"I'll tell ya one thing." Xigbar started, "He's gonna have a helluva lot of missions to make up when he shows up again."

"Oh, okay." Roxas said, disappointed.

"Hey, cheer up, Rox." Demyx sang, sitting in the armchair and playing his sitar a little, "He'll be back, he _always _comes back. Axel's tough. Wait." He stopped playing and started tuning his sitar, vocalizing to try and get it right, "_aaaaaahhhhh-Axel's tough and he spits hot fireeeeeee-_ah! Got it!" He started playing again. Then he looked up and saw everyone staring at him, "What, what are we talking about?"

"Oh, well, have you seen Xinck?" Roxas asked. He wanted to find him and find out what's wrong with him.

"Oh, let's see here." Luxord started dealing cards across the table to Xaldin, "He came through here earlier when he finished his mission, hung out for a few minutes then said he was going to the kitchen. He looked...rather pale, if you ask me."

"Well, _paler" _said Xaldin, "I mean, for someone of his skin tone, he's pale. He looks like...Death."

"Thanks." A Corridor of Darkness wrapped around Roxas and he was gone. A few seconds later, Roxas emerged from the darkness into the kitchen. Xinck sat at the table with a giant bucket of Vanilla ice cream that was way bigger than he was and made him look like a small child. "Xinck."

"Hey, Roxas." Xinck responded flatly. Roxas walked up and sat down in the seat next to him. Xinck just sat there eating the bucket of Ice Cream. Roxas saw that the circles under Xinck's eyes had gotten even darker and his eyes were blood shot.

"What's wrong with you?" Roxas looked directly at Xinck.

With a mouth full, Xinck put a hand over his mouth and said, "Eatin'. You?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and assertively said, "I Know that! I can you eating! I mean, what's wrong with you. Why didn't you say anything?"

"Oh, that. There was nothing to say. There was nothing to say that would've changed Xemnas's decision."

"How can you not be...-"

"Want some ice cream?" Xinck tilted the bucket in Roxas's direction.

"No. Xinck, I'm serious!" Roxas got up from the table and stared down at Xinck, but He wasn't paying Roxas much attention. Roxas noticed Xinck's _paler _complexion and his lazy eyes. "Are you OK?"

A more personal question, Xinck stopped eating, pushed the bucket away and sat down his spoon, "It's too bright in my room. I can't sleep and I've been up for Hours. I tried to sleep during the meeting but it was too bright."

"Why didn't you sleep with the covers over your head like I did?"

"Because, it was _really, really _Bright!"

"Okay, okay." Roxas sat back down. He sighed loudly and Xinck sat back against the chair with his head down. "I think we need to do something."

"Mm? Like what?" Xinck asked.

"I don't know. But, Axel is-"

"Axel is fine, he's always fine. He knows how to take care of himself and we've both seen him get out of every bad situation that came to him."

"I know that, but I just..." Roxas trailed off and Xinck's eyes moved towards Roxas's direction. "What?" Xinck asked. "Nothing." Roxas replied, "It's just that I'm so sick of everyone giving me that answer."

"Its the answer that's true. And we all know it."

"I know!" Roxas laid his head flat on the table, his voice became a little muffled, "When you , Axel and the others went away for Castle Oblivion, I heard that one of you got eliminated and I...got this deep sense of Dread, thinking that it might be one of you."

"My God, how relieved you must have been when you found out that the old man had died, instead." Xinck looked at Roxas, expecting a laugh, but got nothing. He decided to try and continue, "I heard that when we left, you...fell into a coma again..."

"Yeah, for a few weeks, then I woke up and heard the news. It wasn't long before I heard that you two were still alive, and by that time, I was on missions again. But the point is that I..keep thinking the worst that He's..." Roxas stopped. He didn't like thinking about that. Hoping that Xinck would get the idea, he held up his head to look at Xinck. He wasn't there. "Xinck?" He looked around and he hadn't heard a portal opening and closing. He looked at the floor and saw Xinck laying on the floor, in the fetal position, sleeping.

"Oh." Roxas got up from the table, leaned down and tried to pull Xinck up, but he was to heavy. Instead Roxas snapped his fingers and three Samurai Nobodies jumped from portals on the floor. They stood at the ready, waiting for orders. "Take him to his room and put him to bed." The Samurais ran over to Number XIV, grabbed parts of his body and disappeared into their own portals.

* * *

He had to get his mind off of Axel's missing. Everyone else was telling him that Axel is fine, because he's always fine. That was true and Roxas knew it, he had even seen it, but this time was different. It didn't feel right and he felt like he needed to do something, or he might never see Axel again. Roxas walked through the bleak hallways of The Castle. He wasn't tired and couldn't even think of sleeping. He felt helpless, like he couldn't do anything to help his friend all because his _Superior _told him not to. Xemnas and the Organization were starting to get on his nerves. All they did was tell him to do this, do that, collect this, collect that and for what? Hearts and Kingdom Hearts.

Roxas stopped in the corner of the hallway, his head down in thought and he leaned up against a wall. His only usefulness in The Organization was to collect Hearts and he was the only one who could do it and they didn't even bother to tell him what he would get in return. They told him that when Kingdom Hearts was complete, they would merge with it and truly exist. Even though everyone told him he didn't, he still felt like he existed. Nobodies don't exist. Nobodies don't have emotions. Well, Roxas was feeling a lot of emotion right now, Anger, sadness, annoyance hate. And he didn't know what to do with it all. No one in this Castle could tell him anything, only Axel and he didn't where Axel was.

Roxas raised his head and peered down the dark hall. To the left, he saw an open door to a room. He could tell it was a room because of the pale, yellow lamp light illuminating the dark hallway. He got off the wall and walked towards the light. He didn't care if he got in trouble or scolded at, he was the one collecting Hearts, and he was the one gathering Kingdom Hearts and he was getting nothing in return, if anything THEY OWED HIM SOMETHING. Even if it was just looking into a room that he had no business looking into.

He walked with his back up against the wall of the door frame. He stepped carefully and lightly, not to make a sound and when he came up to the door, he waited patiently for a full 3 minutes to hear a noise. It was a way of spying on people that he had learned on Missions to wait a while for signs of other people. After the wait and not hearing anything, Roxas peered inside and saw a normal room, just like everyone else's room: white floor, white bed, white walls and a window. Roxas stepped inside and noticed a desk, a computer and a bookshelf. To his left was a another door, like any other door in the Castle. It was weird because he had only seen rooms with two doors, one for coming in and out and another for a closet. Roxas opened the door and beheld a bathroom. "Whose room is this?" He asked himself. He hadn't seen everyone's room, just Axel's and Xinck's and Axel's room definitely didn't have a bathroom.

Roxas left and closed the door to the bathroom. "There's Nothing here." He wanted to say he was disappointed, but at the same time wondered why should he? All he did was walk into someone's room. He walked for the door and as he turned, something that didn't blend in with the rest of the room caught his eye. A clipboard, brown in color and loaded with paper. He picked up the clipboard from the computer desk and read the heading ' MISSION SCHEDULE for WEEKS 31-32.' Then it was followed by a signature that read, 'Saix.'

"Oh, crap, oh, crap, oh, crap." Roxas dropped the clipboard back and made sure he put it back exactly as he found it and he slowly backed away. He had heard about how past members died: Two of them had died from experimentation from Vexen and 5 of them had died from touching Saix's things. Roxas started walking out of the room and just before his foot set out the doorway, he stopped for three seconds. And in that three seconds, he put it all together in his head. He could use the clipboard to find out where Axel's mission was before he went missing and he could go there and look for a clue to where Axel is!

In retrospect, Roxas thought that maybe that maybe he could have thought of earlier, but that wasn't important because now he could do something. He went back over to the clipboard and flipped it over to last week and scrolled down the mission list.

Xigbar/Demyx-Sands of Egypt

Xaldin-Beasts Castle

Luxord-Wonderland

Xinck-New York City

Axel-Agrabah

Roxas-Space Port

"Agrabah!" Roxas let out a small chuckle and sat down the clipboard and ran out of the room and into a dark portal.

* * *

He knew what he could do-No. He knew what he _had _to do. He didn't care if Xemnas had forbade it or if the other members would follow his orders because he knew this was something he had to do. He didn't want to find out later if Axel had died and he didn't even leave the Castle to help him. He had to try and he didn't care if he succeeded or not, but at least no one, no one would be able to say he didn't try. But he couldn't do it alone. Not when there was at least someone, at least one other person in The Castle that might feel or think the same way and come with him.

Roxas stood outside Xinck's door. Gripping the doorknob. "I know he'll go. He has to. I can't just do this on my own when all three of us are friends. But what if he says no?" A small lump formed in Roxas's throat, but he swallowed it back down." No. He'll go with me. I know it." Roxas turned the knob and pushed the door open and was welcomed into a large room, Xinck's room, filled with still shadows. The morning Sun that once shined on the world, and keeping Xinck awake, had set again and the world had gone dark once again and Xinck slept like a baby in his own dark realm.

Roxas walked, fist clenched at his side across the dark floor. Xinck liked it dark so kept his room covered in an unnatural shadow, although he can't see in the dark. Xinck's room, due to an error in judgment by Xemnas, was much larger in scale than everyone else's room and it even had a second loft, which held his bed and drawer. Roxas came up to the double staircase that led from the first floor to the second floor loft. After running up the stairs, Roxas came to the second floor. Xinck's bed sat exactly in the middle of the loft and on the left and right sides were long ledges that bent at a 90 degree angle and stopped just before coming to the doorway wall.

Roxas walked up to Xinck's bed and saw him sleeping peacefully under the covers. "Xinck." Roxas nudged him and got a grunt in return. "Wake up." He started shaking him. He stopped when he saw Xinck stirring with his back towards Roxas. "Okay, Xinck, I have an idea! We can go-"

"Roxas.." Xinck mumbled.

Roxas continued "-I know what Xemnas and everyone else said! But we can-"

"Roxas." Xinck started, "I'm going to turn around now and you had better be on fire. You're in flames and the only person that can put you out is me, because that is THE ONLY CONCEIVABLE REASON WHY YOU WOULD WAKE ME UP LIKE THIS!" Xinck turned his head around to Roxas, who just stood there. "What..do..you..want?" Xinck asked, seething.

"I know what we can do." Xinck groaned and turned back over in his bed, but Roxas continued, "I know where Axel went on his last mission. Xinck, if we go there, we might find him or a clue or something, right?" Xinck groaned again. "come on, I need you to do this with me!"

"_Mais, je suis fatigué !" _Xinck replied, whining in perfect French, "This is the most sleep I've gotten in a whole day! I told you, Axel is fine! Everyone has been telling you, He's fine!"

"But what if he isn't fine!" Roxas snapped back, "What if he's dead!"

"Impossible. I can tell if anyone I know is dead. And I haven't gotten anything since we left C.O."

"But, that's not-"

Xinck turned around and looked at Roxas once more. The sleepiness had gone from his eyes and was replaced with his usually look of apathy, but he spoke assertively, "Roxas. He. Is. Fine!"

"No! But-"

"Fine!" Xinck turned around again in his bed, his back facing Roxas. Roxas looked around, as if expecting an apology, but got nothing but silence.

"Alright, then." Roxas took on a more serious expression, "Xinck, as No. XIII, I order you to get out of bed and come with me!" It was a risky gamble because no one really was able to pull rank based on Number alone, but Xinck was the only one under Roxas and he was hoping that that would count for something.

"Piss off!" It didn't.

Roxas back down, that lump in his throat returned. He sat down and crossed his legs on the floor and just sat. _"It's not fair. It's not fair."_ He thought over and over again. Xinck was supposed to be his friend, Axel's friend and he won't go, but why? It isn't fair. "_Why doesn't he get it like I get it.."_ Roxas sat there, silent and staring at the floor as Xinck laid in his bed, silent, but not asleep.

Roxas sighed and calmly spoke, "Nobody knows who I really am. I never felt this empty before.."

"Oh, you can't be serious. Are you serious? Really?" Xinck asked without turning around.

"...And If I ever need someone to come along, who's gonna comfort me and keep me strong?" Roxas stopped and looked over at Xinck, his back still turned and silent. He waited for Xinck to say something and he almost thought that he wouldn't until-

"We are all rowing a boat of fate. The waves keep on coming and we can't escape but if we ever get lost on our way, the waves will guide you to another day."

Roxas laughed a small chuckle, "Nobody knows who I really am. Maybe...they just don't give a damn. But if I ever need someone to come along, I know you will follow me and keep me strong."

Xinck turned around in his bed, on his back facing the ceiling, "And every time I see your face, the ocean heaves out to my heart. You make me wanna strain at the oars and soon I can't see the shore..." Xinck sat up in his bed, his head down and spoke as if he was singing to himself, "Oh, I can't see the shore. When will I ...see the shore?" He stopped for a minute, his head down. Then he turned towards Roxas' direction, and grinned slightly"I want you to know who I really am, I never thought I'd feel this way towards you and if you ever need someone to come along. I will follow you and keep you strong."

Roxas stood back up, "So you'll go with me?"

He looked at the ceiling, as if thinking of his answer, "Yeah. I'll go." Xinck slid out from under the covers and, wearing only a black T-shirt, slipped on his black coat, "You're lucky I like that song." He said. "But if we're doing this, we are gonna need supplies and equipment."

"Like what?"

Xinck grinned and chuckled evilly, " 'Like what' he says. Follow me." Xinck walked down the stairs, Roxas followed. Xinck moved to Underneath his loft to a barren wall. "We are gonna need magic, magical items and equipment. We don't know where we are going, so we should be ready for anything!"

Xinck walked over to the wall and placed his hand directly in the middle. His hand was covered in a shining purple outline and right down the middle came a thin, black line that cut the wall in symmetrical halves. Xinck removed his hands and the walls split open, like a door, to reveal stacks and shelves of old books, clad in fine coverings. On the two side doors were items, models, statues, vials of unknown liquids and dozens of other things Roxas had never seen. Xinck grabbed a large-sized black sack that sat in the corner of the hidden closet and started grabbing random books and objects from atop the shelf and stuffing them in the bag.

"What all are you getting?" Roxas asked and walked up to the closet and started looking over the foreign objects.

"Just anything we might need." He grunted, tossing a large book into the sack, "Spells, charms, incarnations, summoning, anything really. Like a.. _Daten Goze _spell."

Roxas picked up a small vial with a red and orange liquid inside, "What's a _Daten Goze _spell?"

"Uh..." Xinck turned around to look at Roxas, "I don't know! But I don't wanna go anywhere without it! Don't touch that!" Xinck dropped the bag and snatched the vial of strange liquid out of Roxas's hand. "Are you trying to kill us?"

"Sorry. What is that stuff anyway?"

Xinck's scoffed and placed the vial back on the shelf, "I don't know. But I suck at making potions. But all I can make are cures for AIDS and this red stuff. It could probably take out the whole Castle if you had dropped it."

"Alright, alright." Roxas backed away from the possibly unstable chemicals. Then, to his right, two identical objects caught his eye. Sitting next to a dark bronze statue of a bird on a black pedestal, were two black rings sitting on a black cushion. The rings were decorated with tiny skulls, each skull had small diamonds for eyes and on the inside bands were writings in a language that Roxas had never seen before. The rings looked beautiful, but a little scary and Roxas could feel a strange aura radiating off them "What are these?"

Xinck turned around to look at the rings, "Oh, these? Those are very special. Just one is called a Ring of Azriel, together, The Azriel pair, but you only need one."

"What do they do?"

"They can bring you back from the Dead, completely reversing all effects of Death and Being dead, but only if you're wearing the ring when you die. They can even bring you back from the Realm of Darkness."

"But, you can do that, right? I've seen you bring back small animals."

"Technically, when I bring something back, it's still dead or a ghost, and eventually they have to return to being dead. And when I brought back those animals they were actually Zombies." Xinck took a quick glance at the rings again, "These rings completely undo Death and bring you back to Life, but I haven't exactly gotten it right, I need to do more tests."

"How do you test them?"

"How do you think?" Xinck laughed. He drew attention away from the rings and grabbed the black sack of books and pulled it shut. The bag glowed green and shrank down to the size of a small Cellphone and Xinck wrapped it's drawstring around his neck like a necklace. He stepped away from the closet, which closed when he was far enough, "I'm ready, but we should probably get some elixirs and potions. Any ideas?"

Roxas smiled, "Yeah, I know a guy."

* * *

They knew what they were going to do and they had most of their equipment, now all they needed were Items, such as Elixirs, and Potions. Roxas walked ahead of Xinck as they walked down another long, dark and deserted hallway. To the right was another glass window and several other towers of the Castle could be seen piercing the clouds. "Where are we going?" Xinck whispered. Roxas shushed him and pointed down the hall to where it turned left at a 90 degree angle. When Roxas gave the signal, they both backed up against the left wall and made their way to the corner where they stopped.

Xinck stayed quiet and tapped Roxas on the shoulder. Roxas mouthed the words 'One minute' and he knocked his knuckled against the cold metal wall exactly two times. Not long after, another two knocks sounded from around the corner. Then Roxas spoke in a whisper, "The Rooster is in the coop."

"While the Crow caws at midnight." Came a strange voice from the other side. It added 'Kupo' at the end of it's sentence. From the other side, a small, almost doll-like figure floated over to them. It was small and wore a miniature, black Organization XIII coat. Small Purple bat wings sprouted from it's back and it's face, while covered by a hood, produced a big red nose and a big red ball over it's head. "Hey, kid, nice to see you're not in a coma...again."

"Yeah. It's nice to see you, too."

"Um.."Xinck stammered, "Who..what is this?"

"Oh, yeah, Xinck, this is the moogle. Moogle, this is Xinck." Roxas introduced them.

"Wow." said The Moogle, "is he new here or what?"

"I've been here for months and I've never seen you here." said Xinck. "What's your name? Is it just 'The Moogle', or what?"

"I asked him that same question when I got here, too." said Roxas.

The Moogle started, "My name is of no importance."

"I shall call you Susan." stated Xinck.

"My name's not Susan! I'm male!"

"Then I'll call you Susano. The 'o' makes it masculine."

The Moogle turned to Roxas's direction, "I don't like your friend."

"You'll warm up to him eventually..." Roxas said.

"I highly doubt it."

"But, hey, listen." Roxas started, "We're about to go on a long mission and we're gonna need some Items, Potions, elixirs, y'know, stuff like that. Can you help us out?"

"Uh...yeah..I think I can help you out." As if appearing from nowhere, several bottles of Potions, Elixirs and other assortment of items appeared in the air around the Moogle. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," said Xinck, "Got an Orichalcum?"

"I have just _one _more in stock. Lucky you." The Moogle snapped it's fingers and a turquoise, golf ball size gem appeared. "Is this all?"

"Yeah. That's great! How much for all that?" Roxas asked.

"50,000 Munny." The Muggle stated calmly.

"WHAT?" They yelled in unison. "That's too much!" Roxas yelled. Xinck yelled, "Those are drug prices!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" The Moogle held up his hands as if to defend himself, "Hey, that Orichalcum is what makes it cost so much! Otherwise it's 5000 Munny." Roxas looked over at Xinck.

"Fine." Xinck groaned, "I can get a fake Orichalcum for a Million yen."

"5000 Munny, please." said the Moogle.

Roxas reached into his pocket, fumbled around a little, then pulled out a crumbled up wad of green dollar bills. After counter it, Roxas said he only had 50 Dollars American. "That's good." said the Moogle, "50 American Dollars is a lot. You know what I can buy?" Roxas and Xinck both asked Why and the Moogle replied in a melodramatic voice, "1 Gallon of Gas!" All three laughed a little and the Moogle stopped, "No, no, but seriously, the price for gas in America these days is outrageous. You kids have fun!" Roxas and Xinck thanked The Moogle and turned to leave through a Dark portal as Xinck put the supplies in his necklace-knapsack.

"Bye." Roxas said before leaving.

"See ya, Susano." said Xinck

"Stop calling me that!" The Moogle yelled angrily.

* * *

There were 4 main ways into the Castle That Never Was. The one that Roxas and Xinck were headed for lead directly to a trail down into the Dark City. The Exit was a huge, white decorated door, adorned with Nobody Symbols and the numbers I-XIV(There was also room around the door for more numerals, but they must have been removed sometime during the Organization's early days). The door was seldom opened because no one ever came to the Castle and anyone inside only teleported out.

They walked for the door, their focus was on the door and nothing was in their way. Roxas didn't care if he was going against the Organization's orders and Xinck, upon thinking about it more, thought this would be a great experience. But they both had resolved to find Axel, even Xinck and especially Roxas. "So, where are we headed?" Xinck asked.

"Agrabah. That was what the mission schedule said he was on his last mission."

"The mission schedule? _Saix's _mission schedule? Wow. How'd you steal it from him?"

"I didn't steal it. It was just there in his room."

"You went into his room, too? Wow, did you grow an extra set of testicles over night?"

"No. I was just walking down a hall, his room door was open, he wasn't there and I saw the schedule. One thing led to another and-Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh? What 'Uh-oh'? I don't like Uh-oh." Roxas pointed over to the left of the grand door and Xicnk followed. Sitting there, unaware of them, was Demyx, strumming away on his Sitar. Apparently, he was on patrol duty, a worthless duty that no one really understood the point of. He raised his head, saw them and stood up.

"Hey, guys!" Demyx called out. They didn't reply and they didn't stop walking, in fact, they started walking faster to the door. They had no intention of letting Demyx get in their way and Demyx, in a rare moment of clarity, caught this. "What are you guys doing?"

"If you're not going with us, then stay out of our way!" They both called out.

"Where ya going?"

"We're leaving!"

"Leave? But, it's night, we don't have any missions." He plucked a string of his sitar and saw that they had stopped moving. He knew what was going on, _"If I let them go. I'll catch a bunch of flak from the others. Oh! Why does this stuff only happen to me? Okay..okay..okay, just play it cool." _He said out loud, "Sorry. Can't let you guy sleeve-I mean Leave."

Much to both Xinck's and Demyx's surprise, Roxas was the first to call his weapon. A shining light in his right hand and a black vapor cloud in his left called his two Keyblades, "We're not negotiating it."

"_Aw, crap."_ Demyx preferred to not fight, especially Mr. Keyblade and Mr. Crazy, who, by the way, pulled every shadow off the wall Umbrakinetically to call his sword pair. Now, Demyx didn't have a choice. He just hoped they'd go easy on him. Demyx jumped and when he came down, he joyfully yelled, "Dance, Water, Dance!" and struck his sitar. From high above and nowhere, two huge jets of water flew past Demyx and shot at the two. Xinck ran sideways, avoiding the blast and Roxas jumped to the air, the water splashing against the wall behind them.

Xinck swung a sword at Demyx's head, he blocked with his Sitar and saw Xinck flinging his other sword. It caught Demyx by the foot and Xinck pulled, Demyx fell on his back to the floor with a yelp. Roxas came down from the air, Oblivion pointed at Demyx's face. He rolled out of the way, dodged Roxas's strike, kicked off the chain and jumped up. He and Roxas meet, slashing and blocking each others strikes, but Roxas got the upper hand, sliding behind Demyx and hitting him from the back. Demyx yelped and stumbled forward.

"Oh!" Demyx groaned. He came back towards Roxas, throwing his Sitar point into the air, "Come on, kick to the beat!" Jets of water shot up around him. He came to Roxas, and missed with his sitar, but threw Roxas in the air with a jet of water below him. "Gotcha now!" Another jet hit Roxas from below and he fell to the ground on his feet and stumbled.

A wail was heard behind Demyx. He turned and saw a 5 transparent, dark purple apparitions flying around him in a circle. He looked past them to Xinck who grinned, his swords were the same ghostly purple as the spirits flying around. Demyx yelped again and fell back after the ghosts attacked and disappeared as quickly as they had came. As Demyx fell back to the ground, Roxas had already gotten back up. He slid past Demyx on a trail of trail, as he passed, shots of light flew from the ground to the ceiling and hit Demyx on the way up.

"Aggh!" Demyx hit the ground once again and didn't move. He groaned and when they both realized that Demyx was done, they dismissed their weapons, "Ohhh, I'm telling!" He groaned again. As they left out the door, Xinck turned around and opened his mouth as if to say something, but then shut it.

"What are you doing?" Roxas asked.

"I was trying to think of something to say, but I can't think of a thing to say!"

"Let's just go. You can think of it later."

"Yeah..." They left the Castle, closing the door behind them.

* * *

"_He is nowhere in the Castle and the Dusks have searched The Dark City. Also, we are getting reports from the Reapers that No. XIV is also gone._" The Leader of the Beserkers reported to Saix.

Saix stood in front of the Glass window of The Gray Area and listened to the report. Then the Beserker finished. "Thank you, Serez. You may continue with you duties."

The Beserker bowed and then disappeared out of the room. Saix turned to face Xigbar, Xaldin and Luxord, sitting on the chairs and couches in the room. "It would seem our friends have gone astray." Saix said.

"Ha!" Xigbar laughed from his couch, "So the kiddies flew the coop, eh? Come on, seriously, who didn't see this coming?"

"No one should have seen it coming." Saix walked closer to the group, "Not when Lord Xemnas ordered no action be taken in the matter. "

"Then perhaps we should see what action he would want taken, then?" Luxord suggested.

"No." Saix turned away from them, "As Second-in-Command, it is my job to handle situations like this. We'll find them and bring them back here, by any means necessary."

"Hold on." Xaldin piped in, "What do you mean 'We'?"

"Exactly what do you think 'We' means? Us, all of us. You me, Xigbar, Luxord and Demyx will bring them back here. Until this incident is resolved, all missions will be put on hold and all resources devoted to finding them.

"Ow, ow, ow."

Heads turned toward the doorway and Demyx was seen limping inside, holding his sides. "What happened to you?" Luxord asked.

"Ow. Roxas...Xinck..we got into a little...altercation, y'know?" Demyx replied. He breathed a sigh of relief when he took the seat across from Xigbar.

"Fascinating." said Luxord.

"What's fascinating?"

"That you know a big word like 'altercation'. Has 'Hooked on Monkey Fonics' been working wonders for you?"

"Ha!" Demyx laughed sarcastically, "very funny, you limey bastard."

"Enough." Saix silenced them all, "Demyx you said you fought them, correct?"

"Yeah."

"Is it too much to hope that they said where they were going?"

"Yup. Just plowed right through me." Demyx pulled out his sitar and started strumming. It made him feel better. He sang and played at the same time, _"They plowed right..right..._Hold on." He tuned his sitar, then continued, _"They plowed right through me, ever so rudely!"_ He strummed his sitar more, forgetting that everyone was staring at him. Then he stopped and looked up, confused, "What were we talking about?"

"First." Saix said, ignoring Demyx, "What we need to do is figure out where they are. I want Dusks, Creepers, Samurais and Reapers roaming all the worlds in the area and to report back to me every hour on the hour. And if they spot them, report to me for immediate action."

"Isn't it possible to track them or something?" Xaldin piped in.

"Yes, we could try that. Also, Luxord.."

"Yes?"

"..I want you to wait in a Corridor of Darkness."

"What? What for?"

"In case they travel from world to world, which they will undoubtedly try to do. I want you waiting in there to ambush them."

"Right." Luxord nodded, doing his best not to look irritated.

"Also." Saix voice stayed flat and emotionless, but they could all tell he wanted them to understand his words, "We will find them, we will bring them back and they will be punished for disobeying His orders. Now, go." With that, Luxord, Xaldin, Demyx and Xigbar portaled away, following Saix's orders.

Saix turned back to the glass window and stared down at the Castle, as if searching for something that only he could see. "Lea. Look at what you have done..."

* * *

"Roxas! I'm Hot!" Xinck complained, trudging on top of a sand dune in the middle of the desert. The sun was in High in the blue sky and there wasn't a cloud in sight. Just a lot of yellow Sun, orange sand and blue sky. Xinck hated the Heat and Agrabah.

"Just keep going. We're almost there. Look." Roxas, also hot and sweating, pointed far off to the distance. A walled city with sand colored, square buildings and a huge white palace in the background. Huge, golden ovals were atop ivory cylinders of varying heights.

"That place looks crap!" Xinck yelled. He almost trip over some sand but kicked it into the air instead, "I can smell it from here and it smells like poverty and fear!"

"Look, I told you, there has to be something there! I just know it!"

"Did you know I have sand in my crack right now? I hate this place!"

"You hate every place!"

"This place especially!"

After about 10 minutes of walking and arguing, Xinck fell quiet when he and Roxas hit the flatter area of sand around Agrabah. The door to Agrabah was a few yards away, why they didn't just teleport into the City was never really established.

Then, for no reason, Xinck spoke with a thick Arabic accent, "Oh, I come from a land, from a faraway place, where the caravan camels roam. Where its flat and immense and the heat is intense, it's barbaric, but hey it's home."

"What-what are you saying?"

"when the winds from the east and the Sun's from the west and the sand in the glass is right, come on down, stop on by! Hop a carpet and fly to another Arabian night!"

"Stop that. You're freaking me out."

"Alright, alright."

Not long after, they came to the door to the City. It was huge and wooden, so they both had to push it open. The door pushed inward to the city and the sand colored building came into view. People, mostly impoverished people, walked through the streets. Wooden shops, selling food, fruit, drink and animals dotted the side of every street. The streets were crowded, so it must have been a market day. Some men were shirtless and some women were veils over their heads. There were a few children, both girls and boys that had no shoes and ran around barefoot.

"You smell that?" Xicnk sniffed the air.

"Smell what? That cow, or the manure salesmen?"

"No, well, yeah-" Xinck sniffed the air again and almost gagged. "Oh, god! There should be laws against these people!"

"Let's just ignore. We gotta look around for any sign of Axel. So check for, burn marks, burnt walls or burn victims."

"These people live in the damn desert. Their entire culture revolves around being burned." Xinck rolled his eyes.

Roxas looked around at the area and saw two streets to his left and right and those streets diverged out into several other streets, also crowded with people. "I'm not sure which way to go. Can you get directions?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know any middle eastern languages?"

"I might know Farsi." Xinck replied.

"You might know, or you know?"

"Well, I won't know until I try." Xinck walked over to a stand. A fruit stand were a large man with a stringy beard, a red turban and white robes. Then, to Roxas, Xinck did the dumbest thing he has ever seen him do.

Xinck walked over and greeted the man, "Daka Derka." The man replied and greeted Xinck with the same words. Xinck continued, "Derka Derk, dak dak dakaka Dak. Derk...Derka?" The man responded with a laugh and Xinck chuckled as well, then continued, "Jihad Da Derka Baka Laka!" The man laughed again, then spoke. When he was finished, Xinck said thank you and walked back over to Roxas. They man waved and said, "Thank you, come again!"

Roxas was stunned and his mouth was wide open. Xinck came over, placed a hand on his jaw and pushed it back up to his mouth. "That was.." Roxas said, "The most stereotypical, most idiotic thing I have ever seen you do!"

"Eh." Xinck shrugged it off and put his hands in his pockets, "I saw that on _Team America: World Police."_

Roxas sighed, "Did you get any information?"

"No. I was just winging it, I had no idea what he said."

"You said you could speak Farsi!"

"I said, and I quote, 'I might know Farsi.' There is definitely a difference."

"Fine." Roxas looked around once more, "Then we'll have to split up...

"And search for clues, Scooby-Doo?"

"Why do you do that?"

"Sorry. I'm in a very bitchy mood right now."

"Tell me about it." Roxas rolled his eyes and turned to face the right street., "You go left and I'll right, if you see anything, let me know."

" Aye." Xinck turned and started running down the left street while Roxas ran down the right, careful not to bump into people. They would search around Agrabah for about an hour, checking alleyways, rooftops and even stables. They found nothing, no burn marks from Axel's flames, no scratch marks from his chakrams and no trace of him whatsoever. Xinck jumped to the tallest building he could find, and perched himself on it's ledge. He peered into the streets that he had already looked through. It wasn't a huge city, so it was almost impossible to get lost in it. "Axel's not here." Xinck had long come to the conclusion that Axel wasn't in this world, but he didn't tell Roxas because he seemed so determined to find him, so he stayed quiet.

"Xinck!"

Xinck peered straight down and saw Roxas waving his hands towards him, a happy look on his face. "I found something!"

"Really?" Xinck yelled down.

"Yeah, come down!"

He looked around for something soft to land on. He saw a cart, loaded with hay, sitting idly in a corner across from Roxas. Xinck jumped into the air and to the cart, with the precision and skill of a professional diver. His shadow became small and small against the ground, then he was gone from sight into the hay cart. Roxas ran to cart just as Xinck's head popped out from the mess of hay.

"What'd you find?" He started picking hay off his head and face, while pulling himself out.

"This." Roxas held out his open hand to Xinck and in his palm was a little purple match book with a picture of a brown weasel on the front.

"Congratulations, Roxas, you've started on the road to a long and smokey habit."

"No! Don't you get it? This is Axel's!" Roxas was smiling and laughing.

"It's a matchbook. It could be anyone's." Xinck got out of the cart and landed on the ground.

"Think about it! A matchbook has no place in a World like this! Besides, I know it's Axel's because he goes to this place all the time and he collects Matchbook covers.

"Why?"

"I don't know. He said it reminded him of someone he used to know or something like that."

Xinck groaned and sighed, placing his hands in his pockets, "Okay. So you found his matchbook. Now what?"

Roxas placed the matchbook into his pocket, "Well, I remember Axel saying that this was his favorite matchbook. And that if he had lost it, it might be safe to assume that he'd go back there to get another matchbook, right."

"I have no idea." Xinck shrugged, "So where'd he get the matchbook?"

Roxas gulped and hesitated, "The..Filthy Weasel Karaoke and Strip Club."

"Axel...goes to strip clubs?"

"He says he goes when he needs "Me Time".

"Wow." Xinck said, astonished.

"Yeah..." Roxas scratched his head.

"And just when you think you know a guy..."

After a few seconds of awkward coughs, Roxas said, "We should go. He might be there, right?"

"You just want to go to the strip club, don't you?"

"To Find Axel, yeah!"

Xicnk paced a hand on Roxas' shoulder, "Sure, Roxas, whatever you say.." Roxas groaned and opened his hand, A Corridor of Darkness appeared before them, "Where is this place anyway?"

"The World That Never Was."

"Crap."

They walked into the Corridor and it closed behind them.

* * *

"Hello, Darkness, my old friend." Xinck sang, " I've come to talk to you again. P-"

"Are you gonna sing everywhere we go?" Roxas asked. They were now walking through a solid black darkness, the corridor of darkness to get to the World That Never Was. There were randomly placed, swirling black and purple portals on the ground, that lead to other places, but there was only one that they were looking for.

"Mmm..I can't really give you a good answer right now, so I'll get back to you later. Do you really think Axel is gonna be at a Strip Club?"

"No...but, we could at least check, since it's one of his favorite places to go when we're not around."

"But, really, why would-"

"Hold it right there!" Standing in there way and directly in front of the Portal to The World That Never Was, was Luxord. His cards, Fair Game, were sticking out between his gloved fingers. "So, how's your little pilgrimage, Roxas?"

"Luxord, get out of the way!" Roxas yelled.

"I'm afraid I can't do that!" Luxord ran for them and threw his cards like shurikens. Roxas blocked and jumped away. "Are you just going to stand there, Xinck, or will you fight."

Xinck lazily scratched at his chest, "I don't need to fight, Luxord." Xinck snapped his fingers. Luxord yelped and was hauled into the air by invisible threads. His cards fell to the black floor as he struggled to get free.

"What..What is this?" He yelled in protest.

"Luxord, come on, think about it. If I were fighting you in..oh, I don't know, the Time Stream, then I'd know better. You're are trying to fight me, _ME _in Darkness. Hello? Ring any bells?"

"Let me down from here! Now!"

"No, maybe later, if I remember and you be a good boy, Mr. Senor British Man."

"I cannot begin to tell you how many things were wrong with that sentence!"

"Come on. Let's go." Roxas walked passed Xinck into the portal to The World That Never Was and Xinck followed.

* * *

"Yeah, I'm not seeing a tracking spell in here." Demyx was reading from an old spell book, something he never did because he thought reading was boring.

"Look harder." Saix ordered.

"If we cannot find a tracking spell, then we'll just have to depend on Dusks and Creepers, right?" Xaldin asked. He, too, was reading from a spell book, but unlike Demyx, he was surrounded on all sides by stacks of books.

"Unfortunately, yes." Saix replied. He, too, was reading from a book, but just skimming because he had two other people working on the same assignment, "Where is Xigbar?"

"He's off somewhere. Who knows.."

"I heard he was trying to get a Darkside Heartless to patrol around The World, in case they try to come back." Demyx explained.

Saix grunted, "As long as he's doing something productive."

"Saix, I'm bored." Demyx whined.

"I don't care. Keep working."

"Can we at least bring in a Tv. I'll be quiet if it's on." Demyx pleaded, attempting to smile sheepishly at Saix.

"No."

"Come on, we can at least put it on the Cooking Channel." Demyx pleaded.

"Ohh, The cooking Channel." Xaldin chuckled happily, then stopped when Demyx and Saix both looked at him, "Uh...I mean, Grr, The _Cooking Channel!"_

"Alight, then fine." Saix gave in, "Bring in a television, we'll put it on _Entertainment Tonight _and that's it. I want to see if Whoopi Goldberg will ever make a comeback."

* * *

The Filthy Weasel Karaoke and Strip Club was just like every other building in The World That never Was on the outside. There was only a purple and green neon sign above it's read door that showed it was still in business. Roxas and Xinck didn't know it, but pretty much every member in the Organization has been in there at least once. Xigbar and Axel were actually regulars there.

Upon walking up to the door of the club, Roxas and Xinck thought that the bouncer would move out of the way and let them through. He didn't. He was a wide and tall man, wearing all black. His eyes were crossed and he was bald. He had a nametag over his chest that read 'Rip.'

"You two look way too young to be in here. It's not a place for kids." His voice was gruff and he folded his arms, telling them that he wasn't moving.

"Listen here, my good..man..giant..rock." Xinck started, "We look young, but we're really a lot older than we look. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Samuel L. Jackson Jimmy Hendrix and this is my compatriot," He pointed to Roxas, "Hall & Oats."

"Hey." Roxas/Hall & Oats waved.

And besides." Xinck/Samuel L. Jackson Jimmy Hendrix continued, "We're here for the Karaoke, not the sleazy, V.D.-ridden exotic dancers. Now, if you'll excuse us-" Xinck inched for the door, but was pushed back.

"You're not getting' in, Mr. Jackson Hendrix or whatever."

Xinck growled, "It's Samuel L. Jackson Jimmy-"

"What my friend is trying to say is." Roxas interrupted and stepped up, "That we have a friend that we're looking for and we think he might be here..."

"Tell him, Hall &Oats." Xinck jeered.

"...So if you could just let us peek inside and call for him.." Roxas attempted to touch the door handle, but Rip pushed him back.

"Sorry, but no kids allowed."

"You asshole!" Xinck jumped at the man and started punching him in the stomach, but made no progress because the man was ripped. Roxas, while Rip was distracted, started crawling on all fours through the man's legs. Roxas pushed open the door and beheld a party of naked female strippers dancing on a stage,, switching between dancing and singing. The quick whiff of air Roxas caught was filled with smoke and the smell of alcohol. He was hypnotized by what he saw and nearly forgot why he had even come here. He remembered and started frantically yelling, "Axel! Axel!" He looked around quickly and so no hit of unnatural red hair.

Rip grabbed Xinck and tossed him effortlessly away from him and he hit the ground on his back with a thud. Rip looked down and saw Roxas, "Hey! Get out of there!" He grabbed Roxas by the ankle and tossed him like a doll on top of Xinck. "And stay out, you little Bastards!" Rip went inside the door and slammed it shut, leaving them on the ground.

"Uh, Roxas, please get off me. Your butt is in my face."

"Oh. Sorry." Roxas rolled off of Xinck and helped him up to his feet. "I looked inside and I didn't see him." Roxas lowered his head and that lump in his throat formed again. "We're never gonna find him."

Xinck scratched his head and sighed a little. "Hey, hey, don't..uh..don't despair, or do something else. I mean, we'll find him. Think about, where all could he have gone?" Xinck was terrible at cheering people up and he knew it, but, surprisingly, he, too, really wanted to find Axel just as much or more than Roxas did. "We'll find him because he would do the same thing for you and me...probably, well, if he didn't have anything else to do, I mean."

"Yeah..I guess you're right." He raised his head up and saw Xinck trying to make a sympathetic face. It wasn't a good face. "What are you doing/"

"I'm trying to look concerned. How do I look?"

"Like you just ate something sour off the floor." Roxas stated.

"Oohh," Xinck's face returned to normal. "So, where do we go from here?"

"Not sure." Roxas sighed and looked around, "But we should definitely leav-" A sudden stop and They both turned around. A few fee away from them, growing from the ground was the all-too familiar Darkside. Small feet and legs compared to it's massive upper body, all black with the carving of a Heart deep in it's abdomen. It stood high above them, arms aloft and staring down at them with blank yellow eyes.

"A Dakside." Roxas stated.

"I've never seen one here."

"The Organization must have caught wind of what we're doing." With no effort, several rays of light shined in Roxas' left hand and left his Oathkeeper keyblade, at the same time a black cloud formed in his right and left Oblivion. "I can believe that they would do something like this, but not a Darkside."

"Oh, that is _so _like them, raining on our parade." From the same Darkness that formed the Darkside from the ground, shadows swarmed around Xinck's hands and take shape, forming his sword pair, Thanatos. "They should know that a Darkside couldn't handle one of us, but both of us? They obviously are trying to slow us down."

The Darkside started to rise it's mighty hand into a fist. Roxas watched and without any effort, turned all of his depression and worry for Axel into anger and directed it at the Heartless. Both his keyblades shined, raising them into the air, "I'm not in the mood for this crap!" He swung both his blades and a crescent of holy light radiated into the Darkside, knocking it off balance and stopping it's attack. Roxas charged.

The Darkside's arms were closest to the ground as it staggered upward. The ground around the Darkside's left arm opened up and several skeletal arms and hands sprouted forth and grabbed Darkside's wrists and forearm, holding him in place. From the crack in the ground, ghostly wailing was heard. The Darkside's open chest was exposed and Xinck pounced right on it, stabbing his right sword into his chest, letting Xinck hang on while he repeatedly stabbed away with his left sword.

Roxas shot on a stream of light behind Darkside. He jumped and spun vertically in the air, slashing Darkside against his back with enough force to send him forward. The arms of the dead still kept the Darkside in place and, at Xinck's command, they tugged and ripped the left arm from the Darkside's body, sending him staggering to the right. The ground closed up as the Dead pulled the arm in after them. Xinck hopped off the dying Darkside just as Roxas shot up on top to the Darkside's arm and stabbed straight through it,fading before it hit the ground.

"We should leave. Now!" Xinck joined Roxas just as he landed on the ground and the Darkside started fading away into darkness.

"You're right. They might try to send more." Roxas raised his hand, Oathkeep and Oblivion had been dismissed and he called open a Corridor of Darkness. "Luxord caught us in the Corridor and just to be safe, I don't think we should use them anymore after this. They might be able to track us."

The Deviant nodded and they walked to the portal. He knew what Roxas was thinking as the walked closer to the Darkness. "Don't worry." he said, without looking at Roxas, "We'll find him." Roxas almost gasped, but stopped in his tracks and watched Xinck step into the Darkness. Then he stuck his head back out and looked at Roxas with a raised eyebrow, "You coming?"

Roxas blinked and looked at Xinck. He nodded, "Yeah." And he ran, following Xinck into the Darkness as The Corridor closed around them.

Two youths who should not exist,

One Light, One Dark, but both belonging to the Naught,

Leave Nothing behind in hopes of finding something lost.

Their Resolve, the only thing sharper than their swords.

They swear to cut down anyone, anything in their way and...

If at some point on their journey they encounter God...

**God Will Be Cut.**

* * *

**REVIEW**


	29. The Angel, The Deviant and The Devil

So here we are again...doing this..whatever. I can't think of anything to say right now. It's a in the morning and I am tired. But I have finished this chapter and here it is. Enjoy it and I'll update as soon as I can.

Belive me, I have so many ideas for this, but I can't remember any of them right now because I'm so fucking tired. Yes I should think it obvious that I use a lot of bad words.

So...yeah. If i think of anything to say, I'll come back and edit this, but right now, I'm gonna go pass ou somewhere.

Enjoy and Review. And I don't own anything that's owned by someone that has the power to sue me for Millions.

* * *

Surely enough, after running into the Corridor of Darkness, they encountered Luxord once more. But now, he wasn't as careless as he was the last time. Amid the mass confusion of the fight in the corridor, Roxas and Xinck injured Luxord and jumped into a random portal, so now, no one knew where they were and neither did they. And to make matters worse, they agreed that it was better to not use the Corridors again or risk being tracked by the Organization.

"I already told you." Luxord explained to Saix after he returned from the corridor, "Roxas got me from behind and Xinck came at me from above. The cards were obviously working in the favor."

Per His Instructions, Xemnas has not been disturbed and remains ignorant of the situation at hand. He has been locked up in his office/room, doing only he knows what. Saix's Group, composed of Xigbar, Xaldin, Demyx and Luxord, are doing work to locate and bring back Roxas and Xinck. They had only been gone for a day and to locate them, Nobodies and Heartless have been sent out to find them. Unfortunately, Nobodies and Heartless aren't always reliable, so, as of now, they have no idea where the two fugitives are at the moment.

* * *

They had only been gone from the World That Never Was for less than 30 hours. After their last clue lead to a dead-end, Roxas and Xinck had no idea where to go and since they had jumped randomly into a portal to escape Luxord, they were basically stranded in this world.

"I told you. I told YOU!" Xinck squealed at Roxas as he came closer to him, "What did I tell you?"

Roxas sighed and lowered his head, "Yeah. You told me. I'm sorry."

"But, what did I tell you?!"

"You said.."

"Don't mess with Voodoo! That's what I said!"

"Okay, okay, I get it." Roxas licked his paw and rubbed his ear as Xinck bent his hind legs and took a seat, "How was I supposed to know we'd get turned into cats?"

" I specifically said, 'Roxas we need to leave, she might turn us into animals!' I mean, come on!"

It should be noted that both Xinck and Roxas had been turned into cats after their portal opened up in a Voodoo lady's house, where she promptly turned them into animals. Roxas, a light orange cat with horizontal black stripes all down his back, and Xinck, who was all black, with long droopy ears and a white patch of fur on his forehead in the shape of a 'V'(If anything, he looked more like a mutant cat-bunny). They had since escaped from the voodoo lady and made it to a Park. It was night time and the moon shone high above the dark teal sky. There were no stars because the city lights were illuminating the sky. They both sat on a colorful jungle gym and the wind blew, pushing their fur and tails to the left. Roxas looked high up at the moon as Xinck complained to him.

"I don't get it." Roxas said, "Why don't you just change us back?" He glanced at the necklace that was still around Xinck's neck that contained all of his magic books, spells and other objects.

Xinck sighed, "To break a Voodoo spell, I'd need a Voodoo spell book and I don't do Voodoo. It's a disgusting art. Luckily, voodoo spells can be powerful but they never last long unless she put on a lock spell, which extends the length of certain spells, but I didn't hear her cast one."

"So, we'll be back to normal soon, right?"

"In a few hours, yes. Until then, we just have to wait for the magic to wear off."

"Mmm." Roxas wasn't really paying attention to the conversation, "Why do you hate voodoo so much?" He didn't really care for an answer, but he wanted to keep Xinck's attention on something, keep him focused. So at least one of them would be.

Xinck cursed, "Ugh! I hate voodoo, it's done nothing but fuck me over! Dr. Facilier, Tia Dalma, Mrz. Ruby-I hate 'em all!"

"Oh." Roxas got up on all fours and jumped down from the jungle gym and on to the rubbery ground. "We need a plan. If we can't use the Corridors, then we need to find another way around. I already know Axel's not in this world."

Xinck got up and jumped down off the jungle gym and landed next to Roxas. Xinck's large left ear fell forward and partially hid his left eye. "What makes you say that?"

"I don't know. I can...just tell." Roxas lowered his head once more. Then, something furry and black started rubbing up against his nose. He sneezed loudly and Xinck lowered his butt and took his tail out of Roxas's face, "What? What was that for?"

"You seemed sad. I thought you needed cheering up." Xinck had obviously forgotten his hatred toward the art of voodoo.

"Can't you find a spell to get us from one place to another?"

"No, currently, I don't have opposable thumbs. But as soon as we change back I can look through a few books."

Roxas sighed and groaned. He didn't like being a cat, but, for him, being a cat was the least of his worries. He still had no idea where Axel could be and Xinck's occasional comforting words started sounding more like empty promises. "Alright. But, what do we do in the meantime?"

Xinck replied with a shrug, "Let's get some food, pussy."

"Hey!"

"What? We're cats. It's okay."

The silence of the calm night was broken by howling. Dog howling. By becoming a cat, your senses become sharper and Their heads jerked quickly to the right, at the far end of the playground. From between the trees and behind the bushes, long noses and bared fangs popped out. 5 dogs of varying sizes started running ferociously towards the two.

Xinck shivered, "Plans?"

"Uh.." Roxas slowly said, "How do you feel about running and screaming?"

"...Quite good, actually."

The Dogs barked and ran from the bushes and easily closed the gap between them and the cats. They, much to both Roxas' and Xincks' surprise, made the typical cat meow and ran in the opposite direction. One dog, a small chihuahua, that yipped more than barked, ran up behind Roxas and nipped at his tail. "AHH!" Roxas meowed and ran ahead of Xinck up the nearest tree. "Up the tree!" Roxas started clawing his way up the tree with Xinck right next to him. Up higher than the dogs could reach, they rested on a branch to the left.

Until then, neither of them had ever seen a cat huffing like they did after being chased by hungry dogs. Xinck stretched out on the branch, yawned and laid down on his stomach, he figured that that they would end up being here all night because the pack of dogs were sitting at the base of the tree and barking at them.

"We're gonna be here all night." Roxas said, stretching out and laying down and facing Xinck.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious. What are we gonna do about food?"

Roxas shrugged, "We can try getting something in the morning."

* * *

Xinck leaned his head down over the branch and saw the dogs, their barks and the wind were the only things piercing the calm night, "Maybe we can go to Chinatown and get some Dog nuggets for breakfast." He eyed a very small dog, fervently barking between a Doberman and a Pit bull. It was brown and it's haunches looked very meaty. Xinck licked his lips, "Yeah, he'll fry up _real _nice."

"Well, I've had about enough." Xaldin stood up from one of the couches in The Gray Area. He sat down the old, leather brown spell book, raised his arms above his head, stretched and yawned out loud.

"What are you talking about?" Saix was also reading from a spell book. He, along with Xaldin, Xigbar, Demyx and Luxord were searching for any kind of tracking spell, but so far had had no luck. So they had all pretty much stopped looking through books. Demyx had gotten out a laptop and told Saix that he would look for a tracking spell online, but really he was just watching Youtube videos with Luxord and Xigbar standing and watching behind him.

"I'm through with this."But Xaldin, thinking that all of them looking for one spell was a waste of time. "Besides, my regular mission is just as, if not more important than this. Beast's Castle awaits and I must be there to talk about his wardrobe, bad breath and ghastly appearance and make him think it's his servants saying all of those terrible things about him."

"Mm." Saix, in a way, agreed. Spending all this time in The Castle, looking for a spell that they probably won't find, was a waste of time. They should be out there, searching for them with the other Nobodies. "Very well." Saix got up from his seat to face Xaldin, "But if you're going, remain vigilant and if you see them, let us know before engaging them."

"Fine. Whatever." Xaldin grumbled in his regular voice. All around him, moving shadows began to swirl and envelope him, "What the hell makes you think they're in old Paris anyway?" And with that he was gone.

Saix turned to the other three in the room. "All of you." Demyx was laughing at whatever they were watching on the computer, Luxord and Xigbar chuckled behind him, but they stopped and looked at Saix as he spoke, "Stop watching that _'Shoes' _video and go out and look for Roxas and Xinck."

"Shoes." Demyx said flatly.

"Shoes." Xigbar repeated.

"Shoes." Luxord said.

"I think you have too many shoes." said Xigbar.

"Shut up!" Demyx yelled, "Oh and by the way, bitch, Fuck You!"

"GO!" Saix yelled, startling the three.

"Can't take a joke, Saix?" Xigbar asked laughing and dragging Demyx into an open Corridor, with Luxord laughing behind them.

Saix was left in The Gray Area by himself. He thought that maybe, just maybe Xemnas would want to know what the majority of the Organization's resources were being used for. Within a few seconds, Saix summoned a Corridor around himself and reappeared in front of a giant white door. The Door to Xemnas's office. It was a regular door when compared to the other room doors in the Castle, except it was 3 times bigger and bore the number 'I' at the top.

Saix knocked on the door cautiously. No answer. After waiting a second or two, he knocked again in the same manner. No answer still. Saix raised his hand to knock again, but before his fist could make contact he heard Xemnas's regularly deep voice.

"What, dammit?" Xemnas's voice was always the same, but the profanity caught Saix by surprise.

Saix cleared his throat, "Superior, I thought it crucial to inform you of-"

"I don't care. Not in the slightest. I am in the middle of spoiling myself and I specifically said no disturbances."

"But, sir, there are-"

"I left you in charge for a reason. Are you trying to tell me that the rank of Second-in-command was not earned?"

Saix made a dissatisfied face behind the door, growled slightly then said, "Right, sir. I will handle all problems."

"Good boy. Now go away.""_Did he just call me 'Good boy'?"_ Saix thought, before leaving through a dark portal. Fine, Saix thought. I'll handle this on my own and it will only being me closer to taking this Organization.

* * *

After the sun had come up and the dogs had fallen asleep underneath the tree, Roxas and Xinck had turned back into human(or they looked human, they weren't technically human). When they had stirred, they both fell out of the tree and on top of the pack of dogs. They were just as surprised as the dogs they landed on and they all scattered, except a small brown one, Xinck crushed him under his butt.

Roxas and Xinck, both hungry and a little confused, wandered into the nearby City. There were many worlds that were on file in The Organization's computer, and many of them, because they lacked a significant Heartless population, lacked official names. So they walked the crowded morning streets of this nameless, modern city. A large clock tower in the distance read 11:42. It was just about lunchtime.

"Wow. I can't believe we slept till noon." Roxas said surveying his surroundings. It looked like they walked into a downtown neighborhood, with apartment housing to the street on the left and various breakfast, lunch and dinner restaurants on the street in front of them. It looked to be an ordinary city neighborhood, with huge skyscrapers and buildings all around them. People walked in the streets, drove in their cars and rode their bikes. It was only noon, and the streets were crowded with people.

"Don't these people have jobs they need to be at?" Xinck asked, placing his hands in his pockets

"Maybe it's the weekend here."

They crossed a street and onto another block and a hobo, dressed in dirtied rags and a scruffy face, was sitting up against a building. He saw the two passing by and he meekly held up his rusty, metal can that was marked 'Change'. Xinck saw him first and much to Roxas's surprise, he reached into his own pocket and then reached into the hobos can and coins could be heard jingling.

"Thank you, sir, and God Bless." The Hobo said in a gruff voice. Xinck nodded and continued walking with his hands in his pockets.

"Wow, Xinck." Roxas said, shocked, "That was...really nice of you." That was odd, Roxas thought, I've heard Xinck say all the time how much he hated charity.

Xinck took his hands out his pockets. "Hey, I think there's a 5 in here!" He was counting an assortment of change in his hands and a crumpled up 5 Dollar bill.

"What? Did you steal that money from that guy?!"

"Yes, yes I did." He said innocently.

"Oh, my god!"

"What?" Xinck stuffed the money back into his pocket, "It's survival of the fittest, a dog eat dog world! I'm just trying to survive, one day at a time."

"By stealing from Homeless people!?" Roxas yelled, stopping on the sidewalk to give Xinck a look. Xinck stopped, too and was facing Roxas, who had his back to the street. "Have you ever even heard of Karma?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know about Karma. I've seen _My Name Is Earl_." Xinck brushed off the entire situation, but Roxas started talking again, not about the homeless man, but about their food situation. Xinck was loosely paying attention, because something else across the street, walking into a coffee shop, had caught his eye.

Time for another amazing lie by Xinck. "Okay, Roxas, I'll be honest. I only took the money so that we can get some food." He took the money out of his pocket and handed it to Roxas, "There are 7 Dollars and 45 cents, you go all the way to the gas station on the corner over there." He pointed all the way down the street to the right, "And buy as many chips as you can get."

"Why don't we just go into that pancake restaurant over there?" Roxas pointed down to the left to an IHOP.

"You can't buy any good pancakes at IHOP for Seven dollars."

"Oh, but what are you gonna do?"

"Uh..." Xinck looked over Roxas's shoulder for a second to make sure that the person he saw walking into the coffee shop was still there, "I'm gonna...go..apologize to that Homeless man, 'kay?"

"Uh..alright."

"Okay. I'll see you in a bit." Xinck grabbed Roxas's shoulders and gently nudged him in the direction of the gas station. Roxas started walking to the Gas station, leaving Xinck alone. When Xinck was sure Roxas wouldn't turn around, He quickly ran across the street, dodging Cars, buses and taxis. He ran past a bus and a Taxi stopped just an inch in front of him.

The Taxi driver, opened his door and stuck his head out to yell at Xinck. He was an Indian man, "You foolish man, you! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" He spoke with a heavy accent.

"Kiss my fat ass!" Xinck yelled back, landing on the other sidewalk and walked into the Coffee Shop. Upon entering, he was meet with the smell of Roasted coffee beans. He was In a _Starbucks_. He didn't know that for sure, but was positive it was because they are everywhere. To his left and right were booths, where people could sit and drink their coffee. Closer to the paying counter, were small tables with no more than two chairs on the brown, hardwood floor.

Xinck scanned the coffee shop and, at a first glance, only saw half a dozen people. Where is he, Xinck thought, there's no way you can miss someone with hair like that. Xinck walked a little farther into the shop and to the left, he saw who he was looking for. He was sitting in a booth next to a window by himself and Xinck stood facing him as he sipped his coffee. Xinck folded his arms and watched the man, who didn't move, even though he was being watched. Xinck spoke, "How do you walk around without walking into things?"

Riku sat down his coffee, raised his head to Xinck and adjusted his blindfold to look at Xinck for one second before putting it back on and putting his head down, "What do you want?" He asked.

"That's not a very nice way to greet an old friend." Xinck sat down in the seat across from Riku.

"Funny. I don't remember us being friends and I don't remember inviting you to seat."

"Too bad. I just spent the night in a tree and this booth is really comfortable."

"What do you want?"

"Me? Oh, nothing, maybe just some coffee. Oh, waitress!" Xinck called and a woman immediately came over with a small cup of coffee and placed it down before Xinck. She smiled and walked away. "Wow." Xinck said, "These guys are really efficient." He started grabbing the crème and sugar and pouring it into the coffee.

"What I meant was, what do you want with me?"

"Huh? Oh, nothing, nothing, I just saw you walking in here and I thought I'd drop by and say hello." He stopped pouring in his sugar and took a sip of coffee, then sat down his cup, "Hi."

Riku grunted. "So...still going around and killing people you think don't deserve to have Dark power?"

"What?"

He took a sip of his coffee, swallowed then continued, "In Castle Oblivion, you said that you, on your free time, go around and kill anyone you think don't deserve Darkness, or something like that."

"Really?" Xinck put a finger to his chin, "That almost sounds like something I would say. But then again, I might have just been lying for the sake of lying, you know?"

Riku shrugged and grunted, taking another sip.

"Now, I have a question." said Xinck, "Where did you get that coat?" Riku was wearing the same Organization XIII coat as Xinck was wearing, gloves and all. "There's not a clothes store where you can just buy them. But there is a special website, but I don't _you'd _have the money to buy it."

"That's none of your business." Riku stated. He was finished with his coffee and he rested his head on his hands on the table. Because he was wearing a blindfold, and his face was staring at Xinck's direction, it was a little creepy.

"That's not very nice." Xinck said, "I answered your question, so answer mine."

"No."

"Alright, fine, fine." Xinck finished his coffee. "Then answer me this. You wouldn't happen to know where Namine is, would you?"

Riku stiffened a little and sat back in his seat, "Why would I know that?"

"Because I lost track of her after Castle Oblivion and I haven't been able to sense her since she spoke with you."

Riku's tone became serious, "How did you know about that?"

"I know things." Xinck shrugged, "Just like I know that you still have Ansem in you."

"That's no secret."

"True. But you declined my offer to get rid of him for you, but I can tell that your Darkness has definitely grown up and out, like a girl going into womanhood and growing large, fine, perfectly spherical brea-"

"Is this going anywhere? How's Roxas?" Riku asked.

Xinck stopped and he gripped his coffee cup so hard that it shattered in his hand. The woman who sat down in the booth behind him had suddenly Died, but Xinck kept his calm, "How do you know about him?"

"I know things." Riku smiled a little. "I also know that he's Sora's Nobody and that he can use the Keyblade."

"Mmm." Xinck scratched at his head, "Well then, you wouldn't happen to know about the random comas or..." Xinck eyed Riku, "The dreams he's been having recently?" Roxas had told Xinck about the strange dream he had about Him, Axel and the Organization and how he saw a raven-haired girl mouthing a word with an 'S'. Xinck had told Roxas that it sounded like the Gorillaz "Feel Good Inc.' music video and that he had no idea what the 'S' word might have been, but that was a lie. But, honestly, he had no idea about the raven haired girl, but he did have an idea about where the entire dream came from.

Riku scoffed, "I wouldn't know anything about that."

Xinck leaned his head on the table and cupped his hand around his head, "You know, Riku, Nobodies are very good liars, and one thing about being a liar is that you can always tell when you're being lied to. Something is telling me that it was Namine who might have put a certain..musical dream in his head."

Riku tried to look as uninterested as possible by twirling a lock of his silver hair, which had grown longer since Castle Oblivion, "Wouldn't know anything about it."

"Liar!" Xinck exclaimed, "I know it was Namine because when we had a tea party, we used to listen to _Feel Good Inc. _all the time! Ha!"

"....." Riku's eye twitched underneath his blindfold, "....You...had a tea party with Namine?"

"That's not that what this is about! Pay attention! Shut up! I lost a bet! There was cake!"Xinck calmed himself and cleared his throat, sitting back into his seat. "I've got a feeling that you're up to something. And-"

"Nobodies don't have feelings."

"Let me finish, ass." Xinck crossed his arms, "And, more than likely, it involves Sora, but I will tell you this. I don't care what you do, honestly, but whatever you do, leave Roxas out of your twisted little plan."

"Twisted little plan?" Riku scoffed, "What makes you think I'm up to anything."

" 'Cuz, if I were you, I'd be up to something." Xinck lowered his head, then the waitress came over and brought him another cup, giving them both another fake smile. Apparently, no one noticed the dead lady behind Xinck. With his head down, Xinck twirled his spoon around in his coffee for a few minutes of silence between Him and Riku, until Xinck had another question.

"I've got another question."

"I've already answered your question. It's my turn."

"You didn't answer anything. I just inferred." Xinck raised his head to look at Riku, then lowered it again, "And judging from your reactions to my unanswered questions, I might have inferred correctly."

"Then ask your question and I'll decide if I want to answer it or not." Riku said.

"Oh no, ask your question first. I hate one-sided conversations, but I adore Q&As." Xinck flashed a look at Riku, but due to his blindfold, Xinck could barely read his face, but he heard a small, irritated growl from Riku. Xinck knew he was getting on his nerves, but now would be a terrible time for a fight, mostly because Xinck was hungry and too weak to put up a decent front.

"Fine. My question is why are you in the Organization in the first place?"

"Mm? Why do you want to know that?"

Riku shrugged, "Curiosity."

Xinck looked left, then he looked right. He hesitated, then said, "If I tell you, then you have to answer my next question. Sound fair?"

"Fair enough." Riku nodded.

Xinck rubbed his head and sighed, "Well, why wouldn't I be in the Organization? I've nothing better to do. It's either this or Nothingness."

"So..you're in The Organization because..you have nothing better to do?"

"Basically." Xinck shrugged, and that evil, sadistic grin crept across his face, exposing his sharp teeth and his eyes turned narrow and the shades underneath his eyes grew bigger. "Freaky, eh?"

"What's freaky?"

"Oh, right, you can't see." Xinck's face returned to normal and his neutral expression dominated his face.

"Wait, wait, I wanna see." Riku lifted up the right side of his blindfold to look at Xinck, "Show me."

"No, I'm not doing it again." Xinck crossed his arms.

Riku scoffed and let down his blindfold, "Ass."

"Now, my question." Xinck leaned forward on the table, "Wearing the same coat as you and I, have you seen a man with unnaturally crimson hair, as crimson as a whore's lipstick?"

"No." Xinck leaned back in his seat at Riku's answer, "Is he in the Organization, too?"

"I said he wears the same goddamn coat that we're wearing!"

"Is his name Reno?"

"What-no!"

"Oh. Well, then no, I haven't seen him. Friend of yours?"

"More or less."

"Sorry, but no."

They stayed still and quiet for a minute or two, then Xinck started moving out from the table. "I guess I'll go. You've got nothing I need."Riku didn't bother looking up as Xinck spoke. "I know that you've got Namine somewhere and I'm more than positive that it's her whose screwing with his dreams. So pass on a message to her from me: Stop fucking with his head." _He's got enough crap to worry about. _He thought.

Riku didn't say anything, until Xinck was completely up from the table. "Aren't you gonna pay for your coffee." Riku pointed to the cup that had gone cold.

"One more thing." Xinck turned to Riku and this time Riku looked up. "Pay for my drink! Bye!" Xinck ran out of Riku's sight and out of the coffee store.

"Hey! You son of a bitch!" Riku yelled from his seat, catching the attention of everyone else in the coffee store, but he ignored them. He slumped back into his seat and sighed, reaching into his pocket to make sure he had enough money to pay.

He quietly chuckled to himself, "Just keep him alive, Xinck. He's no good to me or Sora dead."

Xinck walked out of the Coffee shop and back onto the sidewalk, cars still rushed madly in the street and on the other side of the street, was Roxas with a plastic bag, possibly filled with food. Xinck raised a hand and started walking over to Roxas, "Hey, Rox-!" Upon stepping into the street, Xinck was promptly hit by a car, catching Roxas's attention. "Oh, god!" Roxas dropped his sack and ran to the middle of the street to Xinck's body that was flung like a rag doll several feet away from the point of impact. Getting hit by the car, Xinck hit the ground, head first, and his skull dragged along the hard concrete for about a foot, leaving a thick, red trail of blood on the road.

"Uh...What happened?!" Xinck yelled, bringing himself onto his arms. Roxas came over and bent down, placing a hand on his back.

"Are you okay?!"

"Uh.." Xinck was a little dazed and he placed a hand on his scarred face. There was a huge, bloody gash running down his head, from his forehead to his chin. Blood continued to drip, even as it started healing. "Am I still pretty?"

"Uh..well..I..you...uh..." Roxas stammered.

"Tell me what I want to hear." Xinck said and his wound was starting to close up.

Roxas chuckled and smiled, "You're sexy."

"Damn straight."

"Oh, my Goodness!" Came a voice behind them. Getting out of the car that hit Xinck, was an elderly woman. She was old, but not old and decrepit. She had silver hair, but it wasn't styled in a granny fashion and she wore jeans, white shoes and a red shirt with a golden necklace dangling from her neck. She had green eyes and she looked as if she couldn't be older than 62. She got to the front of her car and placed her hands on her face in a worried fashion, "Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry! I had dropped my lipstick on the floor and I looked away fro one second, just one second! Are you alright, young man?"

"Well..." Xinck stood up and wiped off the front of his coat, "I've seen better days, lady."

"Goodness, I'm sorry." She looked around on the ground around Xinck and noticed the trail of blood, then looked at Xinck's face and saw no wound. "Are you sure you're alright dear? That's an awful lot of blood there." She pointed to the ground.

"Oh, it's okay. It was..uh..just my arm." He twirled his arm around and almost hit Roxas in the face. "But, really, it's fine."

The old woman looked at Roxas, then at Xinck, "Please, let me make this up to you. You boys look hungry, if you come to my house, I can feed you."

"No, no, it's alright." Xinck protested, "We've got food." He looked back on the sidewalk, where Roxas had dropped the bag of food. The Homeless man from earlier had grabbed the bag and was now walking away from the scene, "Hey!" Xinck yelled and pointed at the man, who responded by flipping Xinck the finger. "Now, that's just plain rude!"

"Remember that thing I told you about Karma?" Roxas said, "I told you so."

"You know, Roxas, I Told You So has a brother. His name is Shut The Fuck Up!"

Xinck and Roxas started getting into an argument, which the old lady eventually quelled and after Roxas and Xinck agreed that they were both still hungry, decided to accept the woman's offer to feed them. They got into her car, violating the very important rule to never get into a car with a stranger...unless they have candy. But she was offering to feed them...so it's all good.

* * *

"I'm telling you, they're in there!" Xigbar whispered loudly in an apartment hallway. He was up against a wall, next to a door, which, if their intel was correct, Roxas and Xinck were behind. His guns were drawn and he held them across his chest at the ready. On the other side of the door, was Demyx, holding his Sitar in a threatening manner, also ready to bust into the apartment.

"You two are bloody morons." Luxord jeered from the other wall. He was the only one of the three who _knew _that Roxas and Xinck weren't behind the door, but Luxord was forced to accompany these two on their mission to find the fugitives and since Xigbar held highest rank, he had no choice. But because Luxord refused to take part in the mayhem that Xigbar and Demyx had created(They had also terrorized a neighborhood, yelling 'Where's Roxas!? Where's Xinck?!' with Xigbar shooting people, whether they answered or not.)

"Oh, shut up Nancy." Demyx said. It was the name that Xigbar and Demyx had given Luxord for his poor attitude-Negative Nancy.

"Ya ready?" Xigbar asked.

"Ready." Demyx nodded.

Xigbar moved from the wall and in front of the the door that was marked 1314. he got a running start, raised his foot and kicked down the door, yelling "Ki-yah, Bitch!" He ran inside with Demyx at his back, covering him. People started screaming.

"Where's Roxas!?" Xigbar yelled, kicking over a TV and shooting someone in the stomach, "Where's Xinck!?" He fired off more rounds. Earlier, he had also given Demyx a .45, but in lieu of shooting someone, just yelled, "Where's Roxas!?" and fired into the air.

Outside, Luxord grabbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head, "I'm surrounded by morons."

* * *

What's stranger: Getting in the car with a strange old lady, or picking up two strange boys wearing strange clothes? Either way, someone's going to end up on the 6'o' clock news. The old lady, which Roxas and Xinck had been told to just call Granny, drove them to here house in an attempt to make amends for running Xinck over.

When they came to her house, a regular, blue two-story house, they went inside and found that even though, she didn't dress like your typical old lady, she certainly lived like one. Her house had a mild odor of 'Elderly', her floors were hardwood, she had a living room filled with a mix of black and white old timey pictures and new ones. She explained that she wasn't married and she never had kids and that most of the pictures she had just came with the beautiful picture frames. She lived alone. She had a TV, a couch, a love seat and various old lady knick knacks.

To the right of the front door, when they entered, were the stairs that led to the second story of the house and to the left was the kitchen, which she directed directed the two in. the kitchen was large, large enough to fit a table, an island and a breakfast nook. It was a very clean kitchen, there was nothing out of place. It was so immaculate that, even though Granny said that she hosts a little 'Get Together' every month, it looked as if she herself had never set foot in there.

"Wow, it's like Mr. Clean had an orgasm in here." Xinck said, as he and Roxas each took a seat at the table and Granny went over to the refrigerator.

Roxas nudged Xinck in the shoulder, "Be nice."

"I _am _nice."

"Oh, it's quite alright, dears." Granny said, coming from the refrigerator with a large tub of ground beef, "I actually enjoy a little off color humor now and then." She walked over to the counter next to the stove and started preparing. "Do hamburgers sound okay?"

"Oh,"Roxas started, trying to sound as respectful as possible, "Sounds grea-"

"They sound Great! I'm hungry!" Xinck said, Roxas nudged him again, "What? I haven't eaten anything in hours and my stomach is starting to eat itself."

"You only think about food!"

"Only when I'm hungry!"

"Roxas, stop bothering Xinck." Granny had turned around and looked at Roxas. Roxas looked at her, then at the tabletop. Granny turned back around and started cooking. Roxas looked at Xinck and saw him with his tongue sticking out at Roxas.

Now, it was about 3 'o' clock and Granny had long ago finished cooking the hamburgers. After she had seen how hungry both Roxas and Xinck were(They easily shattered the world record for eating 4 hamburgers in under seven minutes), she decided to cook them a smorgasbord of various food that young people love, Pizza, steak, tacos, nachos, various other foods that can cause diabetes and dessert. After she was done cooking and the kitchen was a mess, she served them and just watched them eat for the next couple of minutes.

After about 30 minutes of eating, both Roxas and Granny noticed that Xinck was eating the most, even going as far as taking food off of Roxas's plate. And When Roxas tried to protest, Granny, much to Xinck and Roxas's surprise, smacked him in the head with a wooden spoon.

"Ow! What was that for?!" Roxas yelled, grabbing his head and checking if he was bleeding.

Granny had stood up and retracted her spoon and stared down at Roxas, "Don't you take food away from him!"

"I thought you made this for both of us?"

"Well, next time I'll hit you with a car and hit him with a spoon!" She walked over to Xinck's side of the table and sat closer to him. Xinck looked up from stuffing a large piece of meat and looked at Granny, "Vhat?" He said. "Oh, nothing." She replied. She smiled, "I just enjoy watching you eat."

"Vhatever floats your boat." Xinck shrugged her off and continued eating while Roxas watched in dismay. He thought that it was really strange that someone was being s nice to Xinck, even though Xinck seemed as if he could care less if she was around or not. HE thought that it was even stranger that an old person was acting so casual around him, because Xinck had told Roxas that sometimes when old people come around him, they think he's Death. Weird.

After eating, Granny lead both Xinck and Roxas into the living room while she cleaned up the kitchen. Xinck and Roxas both noticed that Granny was being strangely nice to Xinck and a little hostile to Roxas. Of course Xinck's first response, when Roxas brought it up, was, "Maybe she thinks I'm hot and she wants me as a trophy husband."

"Can you focus for just one second?"

"What's to be focused about? So an old lady has a few problems in child management, big fucking whoop!" Xinck moved over towards the couch, a large, brown, leather sofa. He plopped down on it, with his head on the armrest. Roxas moved over to the love seat and before he could sit, Granny popped her head out of the Kitchen.

"Get your ass of my seat, punk!" She yelled, angrily, raising a dirty steak knife in the air towards Roxas in a threatening manner. Roxas gasped, and nervously looked around, trying not to touch the seat, until he accidentally plopped down on the floor next to Xinck. "That's fine, but don't you dare scuff up my floor, dammit!" She went back into the kitchen and the sound of dish cleaning continued.

Roxas groaned, sighed and crossed his legs as Xinck flipped on the TV, "At least we won't have to be here much longer. I'm ready to go, what time is it?"

"Almost seven, why?"

"Because we can't stay here. We have to remember, we're still looking for Axel."

"But Axel's not in this world."

"Then, we'll have to find a different way off this world. What do you think are the chances that we'll find a Gummi Ship? "

"Not likely. Some worlds don't have any Gummi blocks in the earth and others' haven't had their World Barrier's broken."

"Think you can find a spell in one of your books?"

"I could look, but...Don't you know any magic?"

"Yeah, I know Fira, Thundara, Blizza-"

"No, no no, all that stuff is basic. I mean like...uh, you know, a _Daten Goze _spell."

"Did you ever figure out what that spell does?"

"Not yet, I'll get around to it."

Roxas shook his head, "Lazy. But to answer your question, yeah, I know different kind of magic."

"Like?

"Uh.." Roxas started scratching the back of his head, "Yeah..I can make a lot of swords fall down from the sky!"

"Liar!" Xinck yelled.

"I'm not a liar! I can!"

"No, you can't!"

"Yes, I can!"

"Dammit, Roxas!" Granny yelled from the kitchen, "If Xinck says you can't do something, than you can't! Now shut the hell up!"

At this, Xinck, too, thought that Granny was a little strange, mostly because He and Roxas were just kidding each other. Roxas even turned to Xinck and said, "I told you so." And for a second Xinck believed him, but he seemed to have forgotten about their disapproving opinion of Granny when she later joined them in the living room to watch TV. Both She and Xinck laughed at the same things, exactly at the same things, when someone got hurt, got shot, fell down, fell down the stairs, got robbed, stabbed, bombed, lacerated, humiliated, degraded or killed. And this was just the News. Of course, out of habit, Xinck just laughed really evilly and made witty comments.

After about 8'o' clock, Roxas stood up off the floor. He couldn't believe he sat there on the floor under Granny's leering eye, "Okay, well, this has been nice and all, but we gotta go. Come on, Xinck." Xinck started to move off the couch, when Granny got off her seat.

"Wait, wait." She spoke in that sweet voice that she used only with Xinck, "What if you boys stay the night, mm? It gets so lonely here at night and, well, I..need a little company now and again. I have a Guest room all set up." She smiled and appeared so meekish with her hands against her chest. She looked at Xinck.

"Nah, sorry. We really need to go, but thanks for the offer." Anytime Xinck said 'thank you' to someone he just meet, he never really meant it. But he was a Nobody, so it was okay. He and Roxas started moving towards the door.

"W-wait! I..uh..I can cook you a nice Breakfast in the morning!" Her voice became urgent.

"Nope. That's okay. Thanks anyway." Roxas said back. He really didn't mean thanks because Granny had been kind of an ass to him.

"With Strudel!" She yelled and Xinck turned around.

"Strudel, you say?" Xinck looked at the elderly lady and licked his lips. He licked Strudel.

Granny nodded her head, "With a special filling."

Xinck turned his head towards Roxas and twitched his bottom lip out and made his eyes go wide, wide enough to not look so dark, "_Preeeeaaaase?" _He whined and pleaded.

Roxas twitched his eye and walked closer to Xinck to whisper in his ear, "No! Are you crazy?! We gotta go and I am sick of that Lady! And we need to find a way out of this world!"

Xinck whispered back, "Come on, think about it! What could possibly happen!? So what if she doesn't like you? She's gonna feed us, and, as a plus, we get to sleep in a nice comfy bed! I don't wanna sleep in that damn tree again!"

"We don't need to sleep in a tree!"

"Besides, we don't even know how we're gonna get off this world, so it wouldn't hurt if we just slept on it for one night! Just one!" Xinck held up one finger, "After the strudel, we can leave, I promise!"

"We can buy Strudel at the store."

"You can't beat homemade strudel."

Roxas groaned slightly, quietly enough so that Granny couldn't hear him, "One night. And We'll take the strudel to go. Alright?"

Xinck sighed relief, "Thank you. My Stomach thanks you."

"Whatever." Roxas stepped back, crossing his arms and looking sullen. Xinck turned around to Granny and told her that They'd be glad to stay the night...and for strudel.

It was around 11:00 when Roxas convinced Xinck to finally go to bed. Granny had put them in the back guest room. It was a regular-sized room, wooden floors a dresser taking up the wall next to the Door and two windows and a bed. There was no TV, so there was nothing to do but sleep. Since they had no clothes to sleep in, they just wore their coats. And since, Xinck was the one to convince Roxas to stay the night, he let Roxas have the bed and he slept on the floor.

But since the floor was wooden, Xinck took all the pillows.

Granny had already gone to bed in her room on the second floor.

Xinck positioned his two pillows so that his head would be elevated, then he laid his body flat on the floor. "You wanna talk a little or are you just going to sleep?"

Roxas had crawled into the bed, but didn't bother getting under the sheets. He laid his head flat on the bed. "I'd rather go to sleep and get this over with. Besides, what's to talk about? I hate it here and I don't like Granny."

"How can you say that? She kinda reminds me of me."

"How so?"

"Well." Xinck sighed and started listing, "...She knows how to make I joke that's both offensive and funny, like me....she hates Charities, like me..."

"She's an asshole."

"Like Me!" Xinck laughed. Roxas groaned and turned over on his side, "Hey, it's just a joke. Calm down."

"I'm not mad, I just don't want to be here."

"What's wrong?" Xinck sat up on the floor and yawned.

Roxas waited, then sat up on the bed to see Xinck on the floor looking at him, "I just....get..kind of a bad feeling around her, you know?"

"No? Dude, she's an old lady, she can't do anything. Besides, even if she did do something, do you really think that she can take you\ or me?" Xinck laid back down on the floor and shut his eyes, "Just go to sleep, we'll wake up, get some Strudel and get goin', okay?"

He nodded, "Alright" he said and he laid

flat on the bed, glaring up at the ceiling fan for a second. He leaned over to the right and turned out the lamplight on the nightstand, "Good night."

"_Buona Notte."_

* * *

For Nobodies, sleep is very important and, despite not having emotions, they dream. Xinck is probably the only Nobody in the Castle that dreams more than anyone. Roxas, on the other hand, does dream, but it's usually things that make no sense to him. But Tonight, Roxas couldn't sleep, let alone dream. It was 3 A.M. and Roxas was wide awake. He didn't know why, but he couldn't sleep and he wasn't tired. It was silent in the room, Xinck was as quiet as the dead and the only sound Roxas could here was the sound of his own breathing. He rolled over onto his side and stared at the closed window. He couldn't see anything outside because the blinds were closed.

He sighed and rolled over again onto his back, stared at the ceiling fan again. After a while, he started moving his head along with the fan, round and round he went. Boring. Boring. Boring. He stopped moving his head around and just tried to close his eyes for a while, hoping to fall into sleep. He didn't. After keeping his eyes closed for 5 minutes straight(what seemed like 5 minutes) He opened them again and sat up in bed. He pulled his legs over the side of the bed, and placed his feet on the floor. He didn't know why, but if he couldn't sleep, he figured what was the point of laying down? Just as he placed his feet on the floor, he heard and felt a huge thump on the floor above him, in Granny's room. He looked up and felt himself jump a little out of shock. _"What was that?" _He thought. He thought it might have been a bird or something hitting the roof, but it sounded more like something in the house instead of outside. Roxas looked over at the edge of the bed at Xinck on the floor. He was still asleep, the thump hadn't woken him up. Then, Roxas thought it was Granny. She was old and she might have accidentally rolled out of bed onto the floor and cracked her head wide open on the floor. And any minute now, her brains and blood would start seeping through the floor. Roxas cringed and shivered. He had been hanging around Xinck for way too long.

Maybe it would be a good idea to check on her, he thought. He didn't like her, but having the police show up in the morning wanting to investigate the death of this fragile, cantankerous, old woman would be really bad for him and Xinck. He walked over to where Xinck lay and was about to nudge him awake, but then stopped and withdrew his hand. _"I'll just check on her myself."_

Roxas walked out of the room and down the long, dark hallway of the old house. Pictures lined the hallway, pictures of smiling adults and children. None of them were related to Granny, Roxas remembered Granny telling them that she collected pretty picture frames. Roxas thought it strange that she didn't bother taking out the pictures, or put the frames behind a cabinet or something. The blank faces of the people smiling at him scared him a little. Even if he didn't have a Heart. It really was weird, how the shadows of the darkness around him played around on those blank, happy faces.

He passed the closed bathroom door. He didn't know why, but he made sure to step lightly on the hardwood floor. Not because he didn't want to scuff up the floor with his shoes, but because it was natural for everyone to step lightly in the Dark. But unlike everyone, Roxas could see in the dark, not as well as a cat or any other nocturnal animal, but just a little better than a human. Roxas rounded a corner, passing by the laundry room door and into the living room. There was no light, except the reflected light from the street lamp outside. Wind was blowing slightly outside and any tree in the path of the wind, caused the shadows in the room to play around.

He walked past the TV, the couch and the love seat. To his right, he was the doorway into the kitchen. The kitchen was just as immaculate as the first time He and Xinck first saw it, white and void of filth. It was amazing how, after all she cooked and he and Xinck ate, that she was able to make it look like new. Even in the dark, the kitchen looked spotless.

Just then, another thump from Granny's room and Roxas jumped from surprise. This time, he heard Granny's voice. "Shit!" she yelled through the ceiling. Well, Roxas thought, at least I know she's still alive. To his left were the stairs that lead to the upstairs and Granny. Roxas cautiously placed a hand on the rail and picked up his foot to the first step. He was quiet and slowly put the full weight of his foot on the stair. It creaked, but just a bit. Then, he slowly started making his way up.

There was only one room on the upstairs part of the house, Granny's room. It stood, door slightly ajar at the top of the stairs. There was a red glow coming from the cracks in the door and as Roxas got closer and closer, he could only hear two sounds.

The first sound was the sound of his own breathing.

And the second sound, which to Roxas sounded a little muffled. It only sounded muffled because it wasn't English.

He drew closer to the door and he could make out the sounds much more clearly.

It was Granny's voice. _"Sanguis....."_

Roxas knew it was Latin. He didn't actually know Latin, but he could pick it out because his Redux was in Latin. He drew closer to the door, the red light grew a little brighter and Granny's words were heard again.

"_.....Sanguis....Bibimus....Corpus...Edimus.."_

He was right at the door. It was cracked open enough just for him to peer inside. His eye was immediately drawn to the red light. It was a regular lamp light in the corner with a red light bulb. But what else drew his eye was Granny. She was kneeling, parallel to her bed on a stool. She wore a black and red robe and her head was bowed in the direction of something that Roxas could not see.

His breath was still at Granny's words. _"Corpus Edimus! Tolle Corpus Satani! Ave!"_

His eyes went wide. For Roxas, It didn't take a genius to know that 'Satani' obviously meant Satan. _"She's a Satanist!" _He thought. Then, he saw Granny stagger a little and fall off the stool, her knee hit the floor with a loud thump and she cursed out loud, "Shit!"

That was when Roxas left the doorway, half shocked, went down the stairs, through the living room and back into the bedroom with Xinck, still on the floor, sound asleep. Roxas knelt down and started shaking him rapidly, "Xinck, get up, now! Get up!"

Xinck slowly raised his head, rubbed his face and barely lifted his eyelids to look at Roxas. "What?" He asked with a raspy, and creepy voice.

"She's a Satanist!"

"Mm?"

"Granny. She's a Satanist! We gotta go!"

Surprisingly, all Xinck said was, "So?"

"So?! What do you mean so? I saw her, on her knees, praying to something!"

"Roxas, I am surprised at you. You should be more tolerant of other peoples' religious beliefs."

"No, no, no! Don't do that!"

"Do what?" Xinck rubbed his eyes.

"Don't twist this around! I saw her, chanting, kneeling and wearing a black robe."

" _We _wear black robes. Besides.." Xinck stood up on his feet and looked at Roxas, "There are two kinds of Satanists. The first are the evil kind that kidnap people and sacrifice them. The other kind actually worship..uh...worship, like, the spirit or representation of power or earthly delights, or something like that. The article on Wikipedia was a little sketchy."

Roxas leaned a little and crossed his arms, "What does _Sanguis Bibimus _mean in English?"

The Fallen Deviant scratched his head, "...The Blood We Drink, I guess."

"Oh, yeah. She's evil." Roxas declared.

"Oh, you don't know that. You make it seem like she's gonna lock us up in her basement and sacrifice us to The Devil."

"She just might! She will lock us up in the basement! She's evil, why else do you think she was nice to you?"

"So, someone has to be a Devil Worshiper just to be nice to me?"

"Well, no...I..what I meant was that..uh. Here, I'll show you!" He grabbed Xinck by the hand and started leading him out of the room, down the hall, through the living room and quietly up the stairs. They stopped directly in front of the door, still glowing with red light. "Here." Roxas whispered, "Look inside." Xinck rolled his eyes and peeked inside. "Well?" Roxas asked.

"I see an empty, red room with a huge, stone Tablet used in Occult rituals. That's it." He whispered, looking back to Roxas.

"What?" He, too, peered inside and saw the red room empty. The stool was still there and now he could see what Granny was kneeling at. A huge, round, stone tablet with various markings and etchings in an unknown language. He pulled his head from the door to look at Xinck, "She's was here just a minute ago."

"Sure she was." He replied sarcastically.

"What's that stone in there?"

"Looks like a regular Magic Tablet." Xinck put his hands in his pockets and explained, "Most Occults, mostly Wiccans, use 'em. They don't have any real power and you can buy them at your local _Earth Bound Trading, Co._"

He sighed loudly and rolled his eyes to the ceiling, "I still say she's evil."

"Oh, think about it. Everyone's a little Evil."

"Gotta take the good with the bad, I guess." Roxas shrugged his shoulders. They prepared to leave and return downstairs, when they heard a creak on the first stair step behind them. Before they could turn around, they each felt a blunt pain on the back of their heads, then they blacked out.

"Naughty Boys." Granny said, holding her big wooden spoon.

* * *

Xigbar found it a lot funner to terrorize innocent people than to actually work, especially on a Search-and-retrieve mission like this. After raiding that entire Apartment Complex and finding nothing, Xigbar, Demyx and a reluctant Luxord, stole a car and went for a drive.

"Has it even crossed your mind that maybe, just maybe, we should actually be doing our jobs?" Luxord asked from the backseat.

"Stop rainin' on our parade, Nancy." Xigbar jeered from behind the wheel. "I mean, come on, we're never gonna find those kids. We don't even know where to look, Saix just threw us out into the world to fend for ourselves."

"The Jerk-ass." Demyx said from the passenger's seat. He had his feet kicked up over the dashboard and a large, cherry slushy in his hands, the straw was in his mouth.

"Right." Xigbar agreed, "What we need is a vacation, just like Axel."

"Wait. I thought he was dead?"

"No." Luxord sighed, "The consensus was that he's M.I.A."

"Really?" Xigbar made a right turn around a corner, "Oh, well, either way, I still think we need a break."

"Maybe, if we actually did our work, Saix might be more inclined to throw a few days off our way." Luxord sounded more annoyed by the second. He really didn't want to be here and Xigbar and Demyx were making it extremely hard to finish up, even though they had no real leads as to where Axel, Roxas or Xinck were.

"Huh. And just how do you suppose we go about finishing up our work? We don't know where they are!"

"Then talk to people!" Luxord yelled, "Ask around if anyone has seen to youths wearing long, black coats! Things like that are a little hard to miss because people tend to notice those types of things!"

"Huh. Talk to people...alright." Xigbar shrugged and immediately stopped the car on the side of a street. The car lurched forward and Luxord smacked his head against the back of Demyx's seat and Demyx's feet smacked into the windshield. Xigbar rolled down the window and yelled at an innocent man on the opposite side of the street.

"Hey! Hey, you!" Xigbar pointed to a man wearing a blue shirt and blue jeans with brown hair. The man cautiously stopped, looked at Xigbar and pointed at himself as if to say, 'Me?'. "Yeah, you, guy. Hey, have you seen two kids wearing long black coats, one with blonde hair and blue eyes and the other with black hair, black eyes and a very poor disposition?"

"What?" The man raised an eyebrow.

Xigbar sighed and rolled his eyes. He hated repeating himself and he yelled louder, " Have you seen two kids, black coats, one with blonde hair, one with black hair?"

He raised his eyebrow again, "What?"

Irritated and near growling,, Xigbar yelled, "What Country are you from?!"

"What?"

"What country are you from?"

"What?"

"'What' ain't no country I've ever heard of, do they speak English in 'What?!'"

"What?" The man was very confused.

"ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER, DO YOU SPEAK IT?!"

The man understood the words, 'English', 'motherfucker', and 'speak', so he answered, "Yeah!"

"So you understand the words that I'm saying to you?!"

"Yeah!"

"So, tell me, have you seen two kids, black coats, blonde hair, black hair, poor disposition?!"

The man shrugged and once again raised his eyebrow, "What?"

In no time, Xigbar took aim with his Gun Arrow, and shot at the man one bullet. It blasted through the man's leg in a bloody storm and his left shin went right as his body went left and hit the ground in a growing pool of blood. The man started screaming and holding his leg.

"Say 'what' again! Say 'what' again! I dare ya, I double you, motherfucker! Say 'what' one more time! And I swear I'll put a bullet right between your eyes!"

The Nocturne moved over to Xigbar's window and stuck his head out and yelled out to the man, "It's okay. He's actually a really nice person once you get to know him!"

Luxord shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Dumbasses. Bloody Dumbasses."

* * *

The worst thing about being bound in chains, in a dimly light room filled with scary, Satanic objects, is, believe it or not, that you can't scratch, being bound in chains and all. Roxas was the first to awaken. His arms were up above his head, his wrists were shackled and chains were hooked into the cuffs and the other end of the chains disappeared into the wooden wall against his back. The rest of his body hung 6 inches from the ground.

His head hurt. He looked to the right and saw Xinck, still unconscious and in the same position as Roxas. Instead of calling out his name, or asking if he was okay, Roxas kicked him with his right foot in the shin and Xinck woke up and yelled.

But Roxas yelled louder, "You son of a bitch! I told you! I TOLD you!" Xinck looked over at Roxas, a melancholy expression, but Roxas continued, "What did I tell you?!"

"Yeah, you told me. I'm sorry." Xinck said.

"But what did I tell you?!"

"You told me-"

"I told YOU that SHE was a Satanist and that SHE is Evil! But _noooo_, you just had to have your damn strudel! That's what I said!"

"Okay, okay, I get it. I'm sorry." Xinck looked up, but couldn't see his shackled hands, but moved them around and heard the rattling. Then he looked around at the surroundings. It was obvious that they were in a basement because there were stairs to the far right of Xinck, but a good portion of the room, was impossible to see. It was a very dim room, only illuminated by dozens of candles. On the ceiling was a red Devil's Circle, with several archaic markings surrounding the circumference of the circle and a very distinguishable marking in the center. The circle was covering most of the space of the room and some of it was hidden under several objects, but the bulk of it was visible. On the floor below them was the same Circle, but the center was under a large, stone table, covered in more archaic markings. The top of the stone table had four, leather restraints and seemed to be covered in partially dry blood.

"Oh, yeah. She's a Devil Worshiper." Xinck said. "That's a sacrificial table. She obviously wants to sacrifice you to the Devil."

"What?! Me?! Why me?!"

"Hello, mister Keyblade, master of the Light." He replied, sarcastically.

"We need to get out here." Roxas opened his bound hand, expecting his Keyblade to appear. It didn't. He was about to complain, but then Xinck said, "Don't bother. That's a Devil's Circle." He gestured to the circles on the floor and ceiling, "Nothing comes in. Nothing comes out. See?" He gestured to just outside the perimeter of the circle and Roxas saw a mass of shadows collected in thin air, swirling, but not advancing any further than the line of the circle. "Circle's keeping out my swords."

"What are we gonna do, just wait here and let her kill me?!"

"If I can get the dagger in my sleeve, I might be able to cut us out." He said calmly, trying to reach his sleeve, but to no avail.

"When did you start carrying a dagger and how can you be so calm about this?"

"He really shouldn't be!" Granny said, descending the basement stairs to the right of Xinck. She was wearing a long, black robe with a red trim and a crimson red inside. Apparently, she had dropped the 'Nice Grandma' routine and when she hit the basement floor, she drew a serpentine, silver dagger with a black handle. "You little fuckers." Was her greeting.

"You old Bitch." That was Xinck's greeting.

"Is that your dagger?" Roxas whispered to Xinck, eying Her dagger.

"Nah, mine's cooler."

Granny held her hand up against the outer, invisible wall of the Circle. Because she was the caster of the spell, she could, if she wanted to, move into it, but she would have to completely cancel the spell to get out. She walked up to Xinck with, what seemed like, a mix of an undeserved sense of accomplishment and the look of a bitter old woman, "You know." She said, next to Xinck and staring him straight in the eye without fear of death, "Usually, when I've hung people up like this, they try yelling and spitting on me."

"Usually, when old people get close to me, they die." He said Cynically, "What do you want with Roxas?"

"Him?" She shot an eye at Roxas then back at Xinck, "I want to kill him and keep you."

"Really? Me? Well, it's so nice to be wanted, but why not him? He's got the whole..Light..thing going on, you know?"

Instead of replying, Granny held up her dagger to Xinck's right cheek. Xinck flinched and grunted as she slowly moved the dagger down his face, cutting open a perfect, bloody wound. The flesh underneath his skin was showing and blood dripped from his face, her dagger to the floor. Roxas watched and protested, "Stop!" and "Leave him alone!" But she didn't. And Xinck continually called her every foul name he could think of. She didn't stop until she reached his jawline and pulled back the blade.

"You never did answer my question, you incontinent..uh..penis fucker!" Xinck yelled.

"Yeah!" Roxas agreed.

"Yeah!" Xinck said and as he did, the cut on his face was slowly starting to heal. Granny's eyes seemed to light up as she watched.

"Oh, yes. I knew you would make an excellent sacrifice when I hit you with my car. That's right, I saw you healing and I just wanted to make sure."

"So, you lured us here with the promise of a meal." Roxas declared.

"Yes, I did. Thank Satan for your fat friend here." She smiled and patted Xinck on the stomach.

"You ugly, old son of a bitch! I'm not fat, I'm big boned!" Xinck yelled and kicked his feet against the wall.

"Irregardless."She left Xinck's side and strolled out in front of both of them. "You are the perfect blood sacrifice, and-"

"And here comes the monologue!" Xinck yelled and sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Like we've never heard _that _before." Roxas did the same thing.

"Shut your mouth, because this concerns you, Choir boy." Granny said and Roxas flashed her a defiant eye. She started undoing the top of her robe and several liver spots appeared.

"Oh, God, no!" Roxas yelled, closing his eyes, "I don't want the last thing I see to be..._that!_"

"Saggy, filthy, dirty pillows!" Xinck yelled, closing his eyes and cringing, "Dirty! Dirty! Never to be clean again!"

"Oh, shut up. Damn teenagers." Granny only undid the top of her robe and reached in to pull out a long, silver stake, engraved with markings on the handle. She eyed the 2 and a half foot sliver piece and grinned, "I've never killed anyone with this before, but I look forward to trying it out on you." She pointed it at Roxas.

"You are not gonna kill him with that!" Xinck yelled.

"What is it?" Roxas asked, innocently.

"Oh, yes, I will!" Granny said.

"What is it?"

"I swear I will kill you horribly if you even try!"

"What is it?" Roxas asked again.

"You should be more worried with your own fate than with his!"

"WHAT IS IT!?" Roxas yelled, stopping them both.

"Oh," Xinck said, "You really should pick up a book or read an article on the internet."He gestured to the large, shining, silver stake, "That is a Vatican Stake. It was forged in the Holy forge by the Vatican Knights. Made from an extinct, Holy metal, in Holy fire, then dipped in Holy Water, sprinkled with Holy Dirt, some more holy stuff and then, I think, someone mixed in a Wholly sock, or two. The article on Wikipedia was a little sketchy."

"There were only three made." Granny said, brandishing the stake, "Their original purpose was to slay fallen angels. They have the ability to Kill anything!"

"Anything?" Roxas said.

"Well, not anything." Xinck said, "If any magical object is taken out of the world in which it was made, it's powers are reduced. It can kill anything if it wasn't made in this world."

"Oh. Good to know."

"True," said Granny, "But if I jam it into your fucking skull you'll be dead."

"True." They replied in unison. Xinck said, "Would you mind finishing up your monologue? I kinda wanna leave."

"Or at least sum it up." Roxas said.

"Fine." Granny sighed, "I'm gonna kill you, since I have no use for you." She pointed to Xinck, "And you, since you can heal, I'm going to keep you down here and continually drain your blood so that it will continue to increase my satanic powers. And then, and only then, I'll be more powerful than that damn Judy Nealson and her goddamn lemon squares!"

Roxas and Xinck stared at her blankly, until Roxas said, "So you're gonna kill us....for Lemon squares?"

"That's fucking stupid." Xinck said.

"You don't understand!" Granny said, "Judy Nealson attends my Monthly Satanic meeting and every month it's, 'Meh, meh, meh! I'm Judy Nealson! Meh! Satanic powers! Meh! I've got the best Lemon squares! Meh! But, now, I've got you, and when I drain your blood forever, we'll see whose Lemon squares are the best!"

"What about your satanic powers?" Roxas asked.

"My wha-? Oh, yeah, I'll increase those, too." Granny grabbed her knife and stuffed it into her pocket. She raised the Vatican Stake and moved for Roxas, who started raising his feet, preparing to kick Granny in the face, "We'll start with you, spike head."

"Oh, you wish, Granny Stupid-face." Xinck said. Granny stopped. "You made one little slip-up."

"Huh?"

"This Devil's Circle. It doesn't let anyone in or or out."

"Well, Duh. Damn you're dumb, I know that. I'll undo the Circle when I'm finished up here."

"You didn't let me finish. The Circle can't be broken by anyone inside, except by the person who cast it."

Granny shrugged, "So?"

"Well..uh..actually I have no idea where I was going with this. But I do have something to break it from the outside!"

"It's about time." Roxas said.

Xinck cleared his throat and raised his head to the ceiling, " Knargack the Black-Wing-ed! I summon thee to appear and use thine hideous powers to helpeth me-eth out of this obstacle....eth!"

Nothing happened. Everyone was silent and the only sound that could be heard was the sound of a rat or a bug scurrying around on the basement floor. Xinck still looked at the ceiling. Roxas looked at Granny and Granny looked at Roxas. They shrugged, then looked at Xinck, then the ceiling. Nothing happened.

"Dammit!" Xinck yelled, "Get your ass down here and help me, goddammit!"

The sound of crashing wood, metal and glass was heard from the floors above. Then the Ceiling burst open, wood, dust and metal flew everywhere. A terribly caw was heard as the three occupants of the room coughed from the dusty debris. The Devil's Circle had been broken and a giant black, hairy wings flapped away the remaining dust and settled. A giant black avian creature, with only long, bulky flesh colored leg with long razor sharp talons. It's face was thin, with a long, pointed beak, stronger than steel and three dark green eyes. Several black feathers stuck out at the top of his head like a crown. It opened it's mouth and a horrible screech echoed around the room, the damaged house and the giant Hole it opened up to the outside.

"Whoa." Roxas stared, jaw dropped at the sight of the bird.

Granny had started screaming and putting up her hands as if to shield herself from the bird. She had fallen on the floor. She may have been evil, but she was still a weak old lady.

The Bird, hopped on it's single leg to Xinck and bowed his head. "Free me." He commanded and the Bird raised it's beak to Xinck's chains and pecked twice, snapping both chains and Xinck's feet landed on the floor. He rubbed his wrists because the cuffs had partially cut into his skin, "Now, him!" He pointed at Roxas. The Bird pecked at Roxas's chains and he, too, fell to the floor, rubbing his wrists.

"Uh..Thank you." Roxas said, looking at the bird. It opened it's beak and screeched loudly at Roxas.

"I..uh, I wouldn't do that." Xinck said. "He might try to peck out your soul."

The Bird screeched again, this time at Xinck, "Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can go. Get outta here." Xinck waved it away. It lifted it's mighty wings and flapped once, sending rushing wind in all directions and lifting itself into the air. It flapped again and ascended through the ruined house and into the night sky.

"Well, that was..interesting." Roxas said as Xinck joined him at his side.

"Indeed."Xinck replied in a deep and creepy voice.

"Don't do that. It's creepy."

"Alright." Something metal rolled at Xinck's shoe. He looked down, "Oh? What's all this, then?" He said in a British Accent. The Stake that Granny was going to use had rolled near him. He picked it up and examined it. "We'll keep this. We might be able to get a lot of money for it." He opened the magic bag-necklace around his neck and slipped The Stake into the bag. It shrank as Xinck closed the bag shut. "What are we gonna do with her?" They both looked at Granny who had picked herself up and was leaning over the sacrificial table, staring at them with angry eyes.

"Just leave her. Let's go." Roxas and Xinck turned and started walking towards the stairs. When they reached were walking up the stairs and about to open the door, Granny started running at them, screaming like a cat in water, dagger held up to strike.

Roxas turned around and landed a kick in the woman's stomach. She fell back, tumbling down the stairs and landing back into the basement on her back. Roxas was shocked because it was just a reflex, "Oh, gosh, I just kicked an old lady!"

"And they say I'm going to Hell. Let's go" Xinck said, opening the door and he and Roxas came through a hidden door underneath the staircase on the first floor.

"Look." Roxas pointed up towards the ceiling and saw the destroyed roof where Xinck's summoned bird and flown in. And a few feet away, another hole was on the floor, leading to the basement. They looked down and saw Granny, laying face up on the table, cutting midsection in the shape of an inverted cross.

"I will have my revenge!" She finished cutting herself and took the blade to her left wrist and cut, "And I shall have it..IN BLOOD." She cut her right wrist and she feebly used what little movement she had left to raise the dagger and impale herself in the stomach. Instead of it being red, Black blood flowed from her mouth and stomach and the house started rumbling.

"Leaving!" Roxas grabbed Xinck's hand and pulled him around the hole in the floor to the door. All the while, they passed the kitchen and surprisingly, it remained untouched by the damage of the bird. It was still the cleanest kitchen they had ever seen.

They opened the door and ran outside to the front lawn. From there, they turned and saw the hole in the roof and even though they were out of the house, they could still feel it shaking. It was still night outside and the moon was still high in the sky. The night air was usually calming and cool, but right now, it felt hostile and angry. "Okay." Xinck started, "Now what?"

"Wha-? What do you mean, now what?"

"I mean, Now what as in, I'm following you."

"Okay..uh..uh." Roxas started looking around. He looked from one edge of the neighborhood to the other. The streets were deserted, "Uh...Run."

"Run?"

"Run!"

"You'll run NOWHERE!" a voice, barely human roared from the house. And the rumbling increased and what was left of the house was quickly reduced to more rubble, a small trail of fire erupted around the house, separating Xinck and Roxas from the rubble of the house. From the fire, the long, black neck of a dragon arose. It had a red underbelly and white mane going from it's head and disappearing down it's neck. It had deathly green eyes and small jets of fire erupted from it's mouth. It eyed Roxas and Xinck.

Xinck scoffed, "A dragon? Really? Not very original." He crossed his arms.

"Yeah. You know what I'd like to fight?"

"What?"

"A chimera. I've never fought one before."

"Yeah, that sounds fun. You can kill the lion and the goat parts, but then you have to worry about the snake biting you in the ass."

Roxas shrugged his shoulders, "Well, yeah, but it's all about the challenge, you know? I mean, anyone can say they fought a dragon, but all they do is blow fireballs at you and bite."

Granny Dragon roared, interrupting the conversation and driving her head directly into the ground. Her mouth and nose were under the ground, but they could both see bursts of flames erupting from the cracks around her.

"What's she do-Move!" Xinck pushed Roxas away from his spot off the ground just as a huge plume of golden fire erupted from the ground to the sky. They both hit the ground with a grunt just as another jet burst from the ground and they rolled out of the way. "Okay." Xinck coughed from the smoke and picked himself and Roxas up, "That's new."

"Yeah." Roxas coughed too and saw Granny raising her head from her hole. She reared back her head, then snarled and shot forward, mouth open and teeth bared for Roxas. He nonchalantly tossed up his hand just in time to summon Oathkeeper as Granny's mouth bite down directly on the tip. She tried twisting her neck around, but neither Roxas nor his sword would waver. She whipped her long, thin tongue around in her mouth and tried to smack Roxas with it in his face, but he was too quick.

Xinck's hand smoked black and a black sphere swirled around. He reared back and threw it at the base of Granny's neck, it hit and she screeched again. Roxas put both hands on his trapped sword. He twisted, then jerked Her head to the ground, freeing Oathkeeper. Granny moved her head back, opened her mouth again and a red glow of fire shot for Roxas, but he jumped high into the air. She spotted Xinck in the corner of her eye and he waved shyly. "Hi." he said.

She whipped her hand in his direction, but he ducked and her head went right, then she whipped again and this time, He grabbed her underneath her neck and wrapped his legs around her, dangling upside down like a necklace. She screeched again, unable to reach him and raised her head and neck into the air then slammed bother herself and Xinck's back on the flat ground. "Gah!" Xinck yelled out, reevaluating that maybe that wasn't a good good position to be in. She lifted her head again and smashed Xinck again, once again yelling.

He was still in the air when he raised Oathkeeper above his head. He called out, "Xinck, move outta the way!" Then he spun Oathkeeper around, then lowered it it his face, "Reign over, then rain down on her head!" The space between the two prongs on Oathkeeper was filled with a holy light. He slowly moved the sword about him in a wide circle, leaving long, blade-shaped rays of light around him. He stopped when the swords made a full circle, he brought the sword gracefully to his chest then swiped and the dozens of light blades turned into metal as they fell from the sky in a deadly rain.

Xinck had jumped off Granny's neck and jumped out of the way as a blade came raining down and stabbed Granny in the base of the neck, followed by tens of dozens of other blades impaling her neck, eyes, nose and skull. She let out a dying screech as the last of the sword fell and her head fell limply to the bloodied grass.

Roxas landed back on the ground next to Xinck. "I told you I could make swords fall from the sky."

" 'I told you I could meh meh meh meh meh!'" Xinck mocked, "I didn't think you were serious!" Roxas didn't reply. He looked at the fires that were burning down the rubble of the destroyed house and at the dead Dragon head that had been severely shish-kabobbed. He was tired. Not from the fight or the satanic granny, but he was sick of not gaining anything that had to do with Axel.

"I'm sick of this. We've done nothing but waste time and we still don't know how we are going to get off this world. And Axel is-"

"Stop, alright? All I have heard you do is worry. And Axel knows how to take care of himself, and if he did get caught into something, well, at least we're trying to look for him."

"I know that and I understand that, but really, we need to think of a way to get off this world. If we can't use the corridors, then we need to-"

"Run."

"What?"

"Police are coming." He pointed down to the far side of the street and sirens could be heard rounding the corner, "Run."

They took off in the opposite direction, quickly putting one foot in front of the other, the fire from the burning rubble becoming more distant, until it was completely out of sight. "Why are the police coming?" Roxas asked.

"We just fought a dragon at 4 'o' clock in the morning in the middle of a suburban neighborhood. It would be crazy if the police _didn't _come."

"But where are we supposed to go?"

"Wanna go back to the park?"

"And sleep in that tree again? Well, I guess if I had to pick between sleeping in a tree or being sacrificed by a crazy lady, I'd have to pick the tree."

"Makes sense."

* * *

Once again, Roxas and Xinck spent the rest of the night in the park, but instead of sleeping in the tree, they slept on the playground equipment until Noon. Turns out that a kindergarten class was visiting the park and when they got there, they accidentally woke up Roxas and Xinck. Xinck wasn't happy and he made several little kids cry when he told them what an abortion was and that their respective mothers should have had one. They got kicked out of the park.

They walked around for hours, making sure not to get hit with a car and restarting this terrible cycle of events all over again. Eventually, around 3 pm, they started venturing outside of the city limits and onto a road, surrounded by trees and a heavily wooded area.

Chance Happening is the weirdest thing. Just when Xinck had poked through an entire spell book looking for a spell to get them off this world, do they find a genuine Gummi Ship in a forest clearing. Completely by random chance. The only problem was that the ship was in current use by three people. An anthropomorphic, black and orange duck with a lisp and bad attitude, an anthropomorphic black and white cat with a big red nose and a human boy, about 15 years of age(whose name Roxas had overheard as Sky or something like that) who just seemed a little, well, Poser-douchebag-ish.

Long story short, Roxas and Xinck tied them up, hung them in some trees and stole their Gummi Ship. Roxas flew because he was the only one of the two who had actually flown a Gummi Ship before. And pretty soon, they were out in space, amongst the infinite number of worlds in the universe. Everything was going great. Everything was looking up. They finally had a way to better their chances at finding Axel and Nothing was going to stop them or get in there way.

That is, until Xercivio dropped in from a portal into The ship.

* * *

REVIEW, please.

(sleepy time)


	30. Xercivio, Master of Disaster

Okay. here we go again with a new chapter. It's a little drawn out but everything I put in here has a purpose, either comedic or serious.

Between the last chapter and this one, someone suggested to me that I try my hand at One-shooting. At first, i thought I couldn't because I wouldn't know what to write about, but after thinking it over for a while a got an idea. Instead of One Shooting, I'm thinking of doing a parody of a movie, now don't quote me on this because I'm still just thinking it over, but if I do it, I'll have to use every Member and not just the ones that are alive now and It will be written with this story instead of just making it's own little...thing..I don't know, anyway....

I've been doing my best not to look up spoilers for Birth by Sleep, but the other day, I accidently peeked at something. NOTHING TOO BIG, but still something. It was an accident, I swear. It just kinda snuck up on me but my eyes wouldn't stop reading.

And finally, I'm thinking about doing another Q&A. I realize now that the other one I had up was just too early, so I'm thinking of redoing it after this...Section of the story.

I don't own anything...yet

* * *

The shocking part, believe it or not, is not the fact that they found a working Gummi Ship. The shocking part is how easy it was to take it away from the three people who were using it. There were three people, a black and orange duck, a black and white cat and a human, apparently, they were on a quest to find their King or something(Roxas thought that he had heard them say 'King Bugs Bunny', but Xinck said that wouldn't make sense). The black and orange duck was foul mouthed and had a lisp, while the cat had a big red nose. The Human was wearing white and gray clothes and waved around a a chainsaw made to look like a sword. Roxas and Xinck, being stronger and faster, quickly tied them up and stuck them up in a tree.

They quickly made their way into the open Gummi Ship. Roxas took the wheel because he was the only one who knew how to fly a Ship. The Gummi Ship itself was about the size of a Two-person apartment, it's outside colors were red with silver stripes going down the front, red wings with black tips and a tail pointing upwards in the back. Below the tail were rockets and thrusters and weapons and missiles lined the underbelly of the vessel. There were three black, leather chairs in the cockpit in a triangular formation and Roxas took the chair at the head of the triangle, the one closest to the steering mechanism and control panel. Xinck took the chair to Roxas' left.

"You sure you know how to fly?" Xinck asked.

He paused, looked at Xinck for a second, then went back to staring at the window/screen and typing on the panel, "Yeah. I'm positive." There were several screens along the control panel, but there were two main ones. The first one was the small screen that works as a back up in case the cockpit dome isn't closed. The Dome was closed, so Roxas was using the second and biggest screen which displayed itself on the see through screen in a hologram.

"Wait, what was that pause? I don't like pauses like that!"

"Chill out. I know what I'm doing.....I think."

"What?"

"Nothing. You're imagining things. Stop that." He was typing and looking at the Window Screen constantly. Xinck sat back in his chair just as Roxas hit a button and black, nylon seat belts wrapped his body and pinned him down.

"Ack!" The belt caught around his neck, "Ack!"

"Oh, sorry." Roxas hit another button and the belt loosened Xinck and a new belt comfortably wrapped around Roxas. He hit more buttons and the engines of the ship were heard roaring to life while the rest of the ship vibrated along. "Okay." Roxas scooted back from the panel, "I think we're ready."

"Are you sure?"

He looked at Xinck and thought about his answer. "No." But he grabbed the wheel anyway. He swallowed hard in his mouth. He was nervous and he stared out the window to the open sky. "Let's go."

"We're going to die, aren't we?"

"Stop being so negative." Roxas hit a button and immediately the ship started shaking rapidly and metal could be heard grinding in the back, then it stopped, the ship sat still and a red, yellow and black sign on the screen flashed, "WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!" Then the sign left the screen and was replaced with a blue screen that read, "PARKING BRAKE IS STILL ACTIVE. WOULD YOU LIKE IT DEACTIVATED?"

Xinck looked over at Roxas and in a dull voice, sarcastically said, "Would you like the parking brake deactivated, Roxas?"

He replied with a scoff and tried to hold back a laugh, he sighed instead. "Yes, please remove the parking brake."

The Screen flashed and the parking brake symbol on the screen disappeared, then a feminine computer voice sounded, "Parking Brake successfully removed."

"Ooh, voice commands." Xinck chuckled, "Fancy."

"Okay." Roxas hovered his finger over the button again, "Ready..again."

"We're going to die...again."

The button was pressed and once again the engines roared to life, the Ship vibrated and slowly rose into the air. Higher and Higher the ship rose and Xinck looked out of the window to see the previous owners of the ship falling out of the tree and trying to run after the ship. Xinck flipped them the bird and laughed, just as the ship shot forward into the sky.

* * *

The Superior's office was, surprisingly, a little extravagant for someone who only cared for Nothing(and a giant friggin' heart in the sky). Behind his large, ornamental black desk was a large 4-panel window which had a perfect view of Kingdom Hearts and the white Castle below. The window had grayish-blue drapes rolled up in the corner because he rarely ever took his eyes off the moon. On his large black desk, which was the size of a King Sized bed, were two screens, one his computer and the other was a television.

Xemnas had, for some reason, wanted some time off to spoil himself and he did this by propping his feet up on the desk and watching TV. It was about 9:00 in the morning and _The View _was on. "I don't care what anyone says. I like Whoopi Goldberg."

After _The View_, it was time for _Jerry Springer_. Xemnas wasn't sure why, but he fell into the habit of watching the controversial, and very humorous, talk show. Today's segment centered around a couple, a hideously fat woman and her skinny husband. Skinny brought Fatty onto the show to tell her that he was leaving her for a very manly-looking, Ukrainian transvestite who went by the very, very strange name of Balswalowah. Skinny explained to the devastated and crying Fatty that Balswalowah could love him, do things for him and touch him in ways that Fatty simply couldn't do. Fatty, yelling, asking "Why?" and crying flailed her meaty arms about and started running at the transvestite(But it was more of a really weird, flabby power walk). To which Balswalowah, effeminately replied, "Nuh-uh, honey! Girl, you best back up out my face if you know what's good for you, mm-mm. Don't make me slap a bitch!" Followed by pointer fingers pointing in the air and necks snapping from left to right.

Jerry commented that it resembled a very fat Pit Bull fighting a very ugly, very confused Rottweiler. Xemnas's comments included, "She should run her fat ass around the block a few times." and, "Put her in Africa and the natives would have leftovers."

Then, in The Gray Area, three portals opened and Xigbar, Luxord and Demyx casually walked out where they were greeted by Saix, "Did you manage to find them." he asked.

"Nope!" Xigbar said, finding the nearest couch and propping his feet up on the coffee table, "The Dynamic Duo have managed to allude us."

" 'Mana-"' Luxord gasped, "You didn't even try to locate them! All you did was drive around and shoot people!"

"I was lookin' for clues and possible witnesses." Xigbar said lazily.

"Did you manage to find any?" Saix asked calmly.

"You know damn well we didn't find any!" Xigbar snapped.

"Are you even trying?"

"Kinda sorta, you know?"

"We did manage to find a great Mexican food place." Demyx said. He was sitting on the couch opposite of Xigbar. "We looked in there for a while and the Tacos were awesome, _chico_."

"I cannot believe this." Saix walked around the couches slowly, folding his arms and shaking his head. He stopped, looked out the giant glass window, then turned around, "Three of our members are missing and you all ate Tacos?"

"For the record, those tacos were ridiculous! I tried asking for the recipe, but they yelled at me in Spanish." Demyx said, "....what does '_Pendejo_' mean?" Saix ran up to Demyx, grabbing him by the shoulders and pressing him into the couch. Demyx let out a yelp, but was silenced with Saix's rough words.

"Maybe I should etch it into your fucking forehead so that it can get through that dense skull of yours! You are supposed to be on a mission, stupid!" Saix left Demyx shocked as he headed fro the exit, rubbing his temples then throwing his hands into the air, yelling "God! Maybe this is the price I pay for living with so many morons!" He left the room.

"Well, _someone's _pissed!" Xigbar yelled.

* * *

Space. The vast emptiness of the open Universe, only lit up by the seemingly-infinite number of stars and the colorfully large gas clouds and bright rocks that floated freely in the void. Every world in the Universe was reachable through this emptiness, but only a handful of world inhabitants can say that they've seen such a thing. To some, Space has no beginning and no end, much like the Ouroboros. Truly, this seemingly endless 'lack of place' is something that cannot possible be described, only seen. Space, the Universe-surprisingly Simple, yet amazingly Complex. There are as many worlds as there are stars, and they shall forever remain a beautiful testament to God's heavenly Creation.

"Space is _so _boring!" Xinck groaned and spun around in his seat. He stared at the ceiling of the ship and the empty, black space all around him, "I'm BORED! Fix it."

The Ship had been put on Autopilot, but since they had no real idea as to where they were going, it basically served no purpose. Roxas sat in his chair, staring blankly out the front window. "If you're bored, take a nap."

"I don't wanna."

"Fine." He shrugged with his reply, placing his hands behind his head and leaning back into his chair and continued with silence, blankly staring at the window. He noticed the longer he stared out into the void, he see a different world pass by every few minutes. His thoughts, with every world, were the same, _"What if Axel's there?"_ He couldn't even answer that. He didn't want to risk dropping off in a random world, only to find out Axel wasn't even there in the first place. Just a waste of time. Besides, they still didn't have a lead, and all though he didn't want to think about it, he couldn't help but think of the obvious:They were pretty much shooting in the dark. And if that wasn't the worst of their problems, The Organization will no doubt be searching for the-

Xinck started gnawing at Roxas's ankle.

"Aw! Aw! Aw!" Roxas almost jumped out of his seat. Xinck was laying on the floor with his fanged teeth softly biting into Roxas's ankle. He started shaking, trying to get Xinck off, "What the hell, man?"

Xinck gave a mumbled reply.

"Off! Off!" He started kicking furiously, eventually shaking Xinck off. Roxas reached down and looked at his bare ankle. There was no blood, just drool from where Xinck had licked him. "What'd you do that for?" He started wiping his leg.

Xinck got up, and wiped his mouth, "Told you I was bored."

"So you bite me?"

"I licked you."

"Ugh!"

"For the record, you taste surprisingly good."

"Ugh. Okay, now I get why you have the 'Deviant' part in your name! Don't do that again! How would you feel if I bit you?"

He shrugged, "I'd actually appreciate the sentiment."

"Oh, you can't be-"

A terrible, blood-curdling yell, a small white portal appeared in midair. Xercivio flew through, blades from his hands, but his legs were normal. He was the only Reaper nobody who didn't have to form a tail when he extending his blades. He wasted no time and shot past Roxas and to Xinck. He collided with his master, Xinck didn't have time to scream or defend himself. Xercivio's blades sliced into Xinck's upper abdomen, just below his lungs and Heart(the one for blood not the other thing). He was pushed onto his back and slid across the floor for several feet until his head hit the control panel and he came to a stop. Altough the blades were already in his body and Xinck was holding onto him, trying to make sure they wouldn't go in any further, Xercivio started running his feet along the floor, desperately trying to push them in!

"Xinck!" Roxas yelled and started summoning his Keyblades, but Xinck raised a hand and stopped him.

Xinck, a trail of blood streaming from his wounds and mouth, looked into Xercivio's blank eyes, "Hey, X-X-Xercivio. What's going on, how's my favorite Reaper?"

"Die..." Xercivio seethed, still running his feet against the floor.

"Xinck, he's trying to kill you!" Roxas yelled, worriedly.

"No..no, he's not. This..this is how we hug, right, Xercivio?"

"I've waited so long to kill you!" Xinck never noticed it, but just now he realized that Xercivio sounded just like Alphonse Elric, that kid from _Fullmetal Alchemist_.

"Have I ever told you how cute your voice is?" Xinck asked, cracking a small smile, despite being heavily wounded.

"I just couldn't believe it! When I heard about the order that all available Nobodies are to search for you two and attack, I nearly wanted to crap my pants! It's only now do I wish that I could crap!"

"Who gave the order? Xemnas?"

"No. The Superior has been indisposed since before you left and Lord Saix has taken charge! He ordered me, my Reapers and Oaer( Oh-Air) and his Samurais to find their former masters." He started laughing.

"Who's Oaer?" Roxas asked.

"Samurai Leader." Xercivio replied, not taking his eyes off Xinck, "Not that _you'd _ever bother to ask them their names!"

"Aw, Roxas that's just mean. You should pay more attention to your subordinates." Xinck said.

"What? They kinda freak me out." Roxas saw the large pool of blood growing underneath Xinck and Xercivio, "Xinck, you're really bleeding. Look!"

"It's okay."

"No! It's not okay! He's trying to kill you!"

"Wait your turn!" Xercivio yelled, "I'll get you when I'm done with him!" He turned his attention back to Xinck, "I've waited so long to-"

"Get off me." Xinck said. Xercivio obeyed, he retracted his blades back into his long sleeves and jumped off Xinck. He gasped and his voice could be heard shaking with anger, and possibly fear, "No..."

Xinck got to his feet and through his coat, both Roxas and Xercivio could see the skin slowly healing over the wound. Xinck snickered and looked at his Reaper, "Oh, yeah. I bet you were just hoping that I wouldn't figure it out, right?"

"No....!" Xinck started to turn and lunged at Roxas, but Xinck yelled and said to stop and stay where he was and the Reaper obeyed. "How?"

"Come on, you should know that Xemnas is the only person who can override my orders on all Reapers." Xinck walked over to Xercivio and Roxas stood still, watching. "True, every member can tell any lesser Nobody what to do, but Reapers, all Reapers under my command, have to obey me, no matter what." He patted a growling Xercivio on the head, "If Xemnas had given the order, then, well, yeah, you'd never have to listen to me again."

"Watch out." Roxas warned, "He might be faking it."

"No way. See. Xercivio, slap yourself." Xercivio obeyed and slapped himself, "Oh, now you can do better than that. Harder!" The Reaper obeyed and lifted his right hand to slap himself, harder and he staggered to the floor. "That's good."

"I hate you." Xercivio said.

"Say you love me."

He hesitated, then said, "I love you, Xinck."

"Aww. Give us hugs." Xinck leaned down on his knees and held out his arms. Roxas even started laughing when Xercivio outstretched his arms and He and Xinck met in a closed embrace. "Now stroke the back of my head gently." Xercivio obeyed and softly started rubbing the back of Xinck's head.

"I hate you. I hate you so much."

Behind Xercivio's head, Xinck chuckled and started rubbing Xercivio's small back. He sighed, "Xercivio, I wrote a song about you."

"What?"

"I wrote a song about us. I call it 'Shoeprints'. Would you mind if I sang it for you?"

"I'd rather you didn't."

"I'm singing it anyway." Xinck laughed a little. He gently grabbed Xercivio and held him in his arms like a baby and rocked him.

"Xinck, what are you doing?" Roxas asked.

"Just watch." Xinck cleared his throat, still rocking Xercivio, who was staring hatred directly into Xinck's head. Xercivio's arms and legs hung limply. Xinck looked down at Xercivio like a father looked at his new born and sang, _"We walked side by side through the sands of time, your tiny, little hand clutching mine."_ He let Xercivio down slowly and he stood on his own two feet, _"And you ask me, 'Dark master, where did your shoe prints go...During my Hardest Times!'" _Xinck bent down and put a hand on his Reaper's shoulder, _"And I say, 'My son, I never left you, that was when I stood on the small of your back!'"_

Xinck swung around and hopped onto Xercivio's back, who yelled out in pain, trying not to fall down. Xercivio groaned and started hobbling forward, Xinck kicked his sides, _"..And Dug my spurs deep into your thighs!" _He repeatedly kicked and dug his feet into Xercivio's sides, tripping him up and making him stagger across the floor. Then he jumped off, relieving Xercivio of the strain on his body, grabbed him by his head/hood and hauled him into the air, then smashed his back up against a wall and pinned him there, whereupon Xinck started to punch away at Xercivio's face, _"And I'll ram your carcass through an impossibly small hole into a Sea of flaming, hot, human feces!" _He stopped punching long enough to draw very close to Xercivio's face, close enough to hear him trying to catch his breath, _"When you can't draw a breath, yet your lungs are filled WITH THE SAME FLAMING HOT HUMAN FECES!"_

A stroke of luck and Xercivio wriggled free from Xinck's grip. He ran past his master, jumped into the air and a white portal started wrapping around his body, consuming him in mid-jump. But Xinck had grabbed his foot, preventing him from fully leaving, _"No matter how fast you run, or where you hide, know this: I am always with you, amused by your pathetic attempts to escape, and I laugh like this!"_ He yanked Xercivio back into the ship, sat down criss-cross position on the floor and started banging Xercivio's entire body on the ground, swinging to the left and right, all the while laughing with a tune, _"Haw haw haw haw haw! Haw haw haw haw haw haw!" _Then he pulled Xercivio close to him, holding him, once again like a baby in his arms and laughed a whisper in Xercivio's bruised face.

* * *

Everyone calmed down, Xinck and Xercivio's wounds had healed. Xercivio himself seemed to have gotten over his punishment from Xinck, but did claim to find someway to get him back (But, Xinck, as always, ignored this). He sat in the third chair in the cockpit, but because he was short, his legs and feet dangled off the edge. He had been forced to give information regarding where they now stood in terms of the Organization, but now kept quiet and listened as Roxas and Xinck talked.

"Okay, let's recap." Roxas was pacing in circles, "The Organization is after us, The Lesser Nobodies that are not Reapers or Samurais can kill us, and above all we still don't know what happened to Axel."

"Yup." Xercivio said.

"Basically." Xinck shrugged. He got up from his chair and walked over to a corner on the left side of the ship. He took off the black, magic bag/necklace around his neck, opened the top and turned it over. Dozens of spell books, magical objects and Elixirs and Potions clattered to the floor in a giant heap. Xinck completely emptied out the bag, replaced it around his neck and took a seat in the corner and picked up the first book within reach and started reading. "I'll start looking for something. Might take a while, since we're shooting in the dark."

"Right." Roxas nodded, then turned to Xercivio, "Now, we need you-"

"Piss on you, Blondie, I don't have to do a goddamn thing for you." Xercivio snapped back.

"Hey! Xinck!"

From his corner and not picking up his head, "Xercivio, do what Roxas says, or I'll make you do a word-for-word reenactment of _Xanadu._"

"Agh!" Xercivio growled, "What is with you and show tunes?"

"Do what I say and do what he says." His voice was cold and cynical. It's always like that 40% of the time, but this time there was no humor in his words as he read through his book. Xercivio mumbled something under his breath, but no one could hear it, but he looked at Roxas and gave him the finger. Roxas replied with a grin and returned the gesture.

"Now." Roxas continued, "You go back to the Castle, don't tell anyone that you found us and if you can, try to keep the other Nobodies off our tail."

"What if Lord Saix or the others _order _me to tell them?"

"Lie."

"Honestly, I'm not a very good liar." Xercivio shook his head and that zigzag line of a mouth turned upward into a smile.

"You're lying."

"See? Told you."

"Look, just do it!"

"Fine, fine. Don't get so touchy." Xercivio laughed, oddly, he found pleasure in talking to Roxas, a pleasure that he only gets from Xinck when He's not trying to kill his master. "Can I go, because I would just _love _to get started on this."

The Key of Destiny rolled his eyes to the ceiling, "Fine, you can go. Be careful."

Xercivio jumped from his seat, preparing to teleport, Roxas hadn't even finished spoken, when he heard the 'Be Careful' part. He hit the ground and looked up at Roxas, "Did you say..'Be careful'?"

Roxas shrugged it off, he was about to walk to Xinck's corner, but turned back around and nodded, "Yeah, be careful."

"Oh..okay, than." Xercivio started walking/waddling cutely to a portal, when Xinck raised his head from a book and called out, " I love you, Rioveci!"

"Uh-huh..yeah, you, too ." Xercivio wasn't really paying attention to anyone's words, then he jumped and twisted into a portal, gone.

"It's fun when he comes to visit." Xinck said, sticking his face back into a book as Roxas sat down next to him and crossed his legs.

"Found anything yet?"

"No." He continued scanning his book. It was an old and tattered, leather, brown book with gilded corners. The pages inside were torn in some places.

"What's that book called?"

He flipped the book over, keeping his hand in the pages to hold his place and read the front cover, "'_Cataloged Items of The Known Universe_ ' It's a really old book about a lot of magical items in different worlds. I might find an item that can lead us to _Akuseru_"

"Oh, yeah. Can I help?" Without hesitating, Xinck grabbed a huge book and plopped it down in Roxas's lap. Roxas let out a huge gasped of air as the dark green book settled. "Whoa! This book is huge!"

"That is an original works by Oreadin The Strange, so be gentle with it."

Roxas looked at the huge book that was starting to cut off the circulation in his legs, "Uh-huh. No problem. Should I be looking for anything in particular?"

"Nah, just scan the pages."

"This page?" Roxas hauled the great book up into Xinck's face.

"Yeah, That'll do" He gently pushed the book away.

"Okay..and..what about this page?" Roxas held the book again after flipping a few pages.

"Just scan it."

"And..."He started flipping again, "This page?"

"Scan it!"

"And this one?" He flipped again.

"Scan the whole damn book!"

Okay, okay, calm down." Roxas put the book back down, laughing silently to himself. A few seconds later, after flipping through the hundred pages+ book, he closed the back cover and pushed the book back into the pile. "Can I get a new book?"

Without looking up, Xinck handed him a new book, a small, dark red one. Roxas took it and opened the first page, holding it up to Xinck, "Do I scan this page?"

"AAGH!"

* * *

Early morning television was over and Xemnas decided to try something a little different. Something that he had heard about several times over the news and a few times from Demyx, Xinck, Xigbar and Axel. Xemnas would try this new thing called Chatroulette, a type of Webcam chatting internet site that had grown very popular recently.

He turned on his computer in his office, opened Internet Explorer and went to Google. He typed in the words 'Chatroulette', clicked the 'I'm Feeling Lucky' button and the next second he was taken to a website where two windows were open, one on top of another. To the right of both windows were the rules that said that you had to be sixteen, wear clothes and something about a report button, which was at the top of the screen. Xemnas had no problem with that, he was about 30 years old and he had on clothes.

"Now, let us see what this is all about..." He moved his mouse to the 'New Game' button and clicked. The bottom window, which showed Xemnas through his Webcam and the top window showed the webam image of a randomly selected person. The top window buzzed a little, then the image of a little brown-haired boy appeared, he couldn't have been more than seven years old.

Xemnas stared back at the big brown eyes that looked at him. No one spoke, until Xemnas, after a second or two, said, "Hello."

The little boy responded with a middle finger and then clicked 'Next' and his image disappeared.

"Hey!" Xemnas yelled in protest.

Then the image flickered again and the image settled on a new figure. It was a man, sitting in front of a dark and blue background, possibly a laboratory. The man himself had his face covered in bandages, but the little skin that was exposed appeared tan-brown. One of his eyes was covered and the only visible eye was golden/amber. And upon seeing Xemnas, his eye grew wide in shock and he said, "Oh, damn!"

"Hello, I am Xemn-"

The man clicked 'Next' and his image disappeared.

"That is very rude. I wonder what his problem is."

Xemnas would continue with his experience of Chatroulette for another 30 minutes. But after being flashed his 150th penis, he would decide to give it a rest and condemn Chatroulette on his newly created Facebook.

* * *

Only ten minutes had passed since Xinck had started researching in his books and for some reason, after Roxas had gotten on his final nerve with his constant questions, had sent him to the rest chamber to sleep, since there was nothing else to do and they still didn't have a destination.

The rest chamber was one of the standard features of the Gummi Ship, besides the Refrigerator and microwave(There was no cooking station, so you had to stock up on a LOT of microwavable dinners and snacks). The chamber itself was spacious enough for 2 pairs of bunk beds, all an unattractive off-white color. It was a square room, with a round window that was used to view the empty space outside. The door that opened up to the rest chamber also had a small window. Roxas laid on the bottom bunk, the one to the left side of the room. He grabbed his head and rubbed it as he started to lay down. He didn't realize how tired he was until his head hit the pillow. He hadn't slept in quite a while.

He turned over in the bed and stared up at the bed above him. He placed a hand over his stomach and his eyes started getting heavy, closing and closing until they fully shut and he fell into a sleep like no other.

Well, maybe _one _other....

–

A Desert. A Clear, blue sky. Sand. Lots and lots of sand. It was a desert, so of course there's sand. Sand dunes, as high as six feet dotted the empty wasteland. Well, _that _and a military carrier jet that had crashed in the background and was now smoking. It must have crashed landed, thought Roxas, who made himself known because it was his dream. Once again, it felt like he was really in the desert and not just watching it. But he was floating and was transparent. It was just like the time he had fallen asleep on a Mission before Axel went missing. Except the only things missing were his friends, singing and that strange black-haired girl.

The sun was hot and beaming down on him. It was bright and he put his hands over his eyes and squinted, to get a better view. He saw something standing over by the crashed and smoking plane. People. Like a ghost, He started to float over to them and as he drew nearer and they came into focus, he saw that the tallest person of the group was him! Roxas!

He got that same feeling that came along with the last weird dream he had. Roxas saw himself, walking across this group of short people-who turned out to be merely children, tiny grade school children, boys and girls. This desert Roxas, who was completely shirtless, wore camouflage pants, black commando boots and his pants were lined with pockets. He had a bored, uncaring expression on his face and his head was underneath a green, army helmet with untied straps dangling at the sides.

"_Oh, you can't be serious. Again?_" Transparent Roxas thought to himself. He wanted to go over to him and talk, but something told him that it would be a futile gesture. All he could do is watch.

Military Roxas stopped walking and reached into one of his many pockets, pulling out a tiny flare gun. With one hand, he aimed it into the clear sky and fired, a resounding gun shot echoed throughout and the smoky red flare flew into the sky, high and higher, reached it's peak and gradually started to descend with a shining red tip.

Transparent Roxas's view shifted, they same way everyone's view shifted when Xigbar changed the space around an opponent. He was in the same desert, same blue sky over it, except now there was only a large, green Military Vehicle, large tires, communication antennas and black tinted windows.

Roxas stared up at the large truck, going from top to bottom, from the large tires to the large, black tinted windows to-

He gasped and held his breath.

At the top of the truck, sticking out of a manhole, was the dark haired girl from his last dream. She was wearing the same military hat as Roxas, unstrapped and her dark hair fell over her forehead, almost completely hiding her blue eyes. She had on a yellow handkerchief around her neck and green gloves. She looked up into the air, seeing the red, smoky flare and beat the top of the truck. She fell back inside the armored vehicle, closed the lid and the truck stared rolling towards the flare.

He started to move, reaching out his hand to yell, "Wait!", but he knew she wouldn't hear him and before he could start floating for the truck, his view shifted again and he was back with his Military self and those little kids.

Military Roxas lowered his flare gun. The half dozen children around him watched, eyes wide open and staring at him like he was the greatest thing they had ever seen. Military Roxas walked right across the children, then stopped and smiled at them. He raised and stomped his foot on the sandy ground and from the earth, a keyboard--yes, a keyboard—on springs shot up and rested just below His arms. He started to play, pressing each key with expertise and producing a sound and beat that was impossible for just a keyboard to produce. It was a type of beat you could dance to, though.

Roxas floated there, watching, listening. He already knew he was dreaming, but this DEFINETLY confirmed it because he knew he couldn't play piano.

Military Roxas, still playing, turned to the children and while smiling, sang out loud, _"I need a gun to keep myself from harm, the poor people are burning in the sun! But they ain't got a chance, they ain't got a chance!"_ The Children, the ones not picking their noses, became enticed with the music and joined in, _"I need a gun 'cuz all I do is dance, 'cuz all I do is Dance!"_

"It's always singing." Roxas thought, "What's up with the singing?" Before he even knew it, his view shifted once again. He was near the rolling vehicle, gliding right beside it as it drove through the desert. He peeked inside the passenger side window and saw Xinck on the wheel and wearing a short sleeve shirt and a red Fez hat on his head.

Roxas tried knocking on the window, his hand was hitting the glass, but no sound was being produced. It was like he was a ghost, watching his own dreams float by. He glided back to the end of the truck and heard metal hitting metal as the porthole at the top of the truck clanged against the roof. Roxas almost lost his mind! Axel, flaming red hair and all, popped out and rested his elbow against the roof. He wore a Commander's hat, green in color, and a uniform. He had a bored, listless expression plastered on his face.

Roxas wanted to shout out, yell and scream his name, anything to get his attention, but he knew it was just a dream, just a dream. His hopes sank and he felt a bad sensation in his gut, like a weight in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to leave, but he couldn't wake up. It was like he _was _awake and conscious, but there was no where for him to go.

He looked up, straight at Axel who was scanning the horizon for the source of the flare, and next to him another porthole opened up and that black-haired girl with the yellow handkerchief and green army helmet popped out and rested her elbows on the roof with Axel. She turned and looked directly at Roxas, straight at him, not through him like everyone else here. Roxas opened his mouth, hoping she'd hear him, but she spoke first.

"S-"

"Roxas!"

He heard another, muffled voice but it was loud enough to cover the the words of the girl.

"Wait! What did you say!" Roxas yelled in a panic.

She opened her mouth again, "S-"

"Roxas!" sounded again, this time clearer and loud enough that it shook the whole desert. The Vehicle, the sun and even the sun in the sky started to shake as Roxas heard his name vibrate throughout his dream.

"Tell me again!" he roared. The Vehicle started shaking and sand started shooting up into the sky, Axel had ducked back into the car, the sun was falling and everything was being consumed by the desert, even the sky. But the girl, unfazed by The Apocalypse looked at Roxas once more, opened her mouth and-

"S-"

"Roxas, _Mon Ami_, wake your ass up!"

Everything went dark.

–

He shot up straight in his bed like a jolt of lightning just surged through his spine and his head banged against the bottom of the bed above him. A white hot pain flashed in his head and he grabbed it on reflex. He groaned, opening his eyes and letting his surroundings sink in. He was back in the Gummi Ship, in the rest chamber and Xinck was sitting on the floor, criss-crossed and staring at Roxas, like a child stars up at the Television.

"You okay?" He asked.

Roxas rubbed his head, "Yeah." He checked if he was bleeding. There was a small cut on his forehead and a little blood trickled downward, but it was starting to heal. "I'm okay. Why'd you wake me up?"

"I found something. I think I know how we can find out what happened to Axel."

* * *

The Reaper, Xercivio, had returned to The Castle That Never Was some time ago. He walked calmly through the stark-white halls of the castle and thought over the orders he had been given by Roxas. He had to avoid any Organization member, or he'd have to lie in order to get them off Roxas and Xinck's trail. But if they even suspect that he is lying, then they would try to force him to speak, and because he was ordered not to give any information, they'd kill him if he refused. Instead, Xercivio ordered another Reaper below him to take his place in searching for Roxas and Xinck, then, when the Reaper received said orders, Xercivio will order that Reaper to abandon the mission(and if they refused, Xercivio would kill him. He had no problem killing his own men) while He worked on thinning out the Dusk numbers to keep them away from the fugitives. The only problem was that Xercivio could do nothing about the Snipers, Dragoons, Berserkers, Dancers, Assassins, Gamblers and Samurais, all because they did not serve under Xinck. He also could do nothing for any other Nobody that was ordered out, like The Twilight Thorns.

He knew he had to be careful, not for Xinck or Roxas's sake. He already knew that no Lesser Nobody in The Organization's arsenal could handle two Superior Nobodies. No, Xercivio needed to be careful, because if he died, well...How would he ever get the chance to kill Xinck?

"What are you doing?" Xercivio turned around and a few yards away from him stood Oaer, the Leader of The Samurai Nobodies. Samurai's were fearless and uncommonly tactful, being impossibly patient to wait for the perfect opening in their Enemy. Oaer was no different. No one is exactly sure how he was picked to be the Leader of the Samurais, mostly because Roxas never paid much attention to his subordinates (He claimed that they freak him out a little). Some think that Oaer simply took the position as Leader and dared the others to defy him. They didn't. Not because they were scared, but because they didn't really care.

Samurais have a distinctive cylindrical head that is a darker shade of gray than the most of the rest of its body. This head bears six diagonal slits on the front, three on each side. The majority of its body appears to be covered in a gray jumpsuit with bell sleeves and a lighter gray seam going down the front. Each sleeve has the Nobody emblem printed on them, and only the Samurai's black hands are visible. The black, featureless, pointed feet of the creature sprouts out from each of the legs of the jumpsuit. There is also a dark gray belt-like pattern that wraps around its waist, though it does not seem to have a purpose. The swords, also gray in color, used by the Samurai usually just float very close to it, either crossing behind its back or resting at either of its hips. The shape of certain parts of a Samurai's body, particularly its legs, have a vague resemblance to the design of the symbol of the Organization.

"Oh?" Xercivio looked up at Oaer, who was taller, "Not much, just hangin' out. You?"

"Me and a troupe of Samurais and Dusks just came back from Deep Jungle. We found nothing and reported it."

"How can you report nothing?" He only asked to get on Oaer's nerves.

He replied with a huff, "Cute." While he talked he didn't move, but his shoulders and the swords strapped to the small of his back twitched a little, "So, have you found anything or have you already given your report?"

"I've ordered a subordinate who accompanied me to give my report...on nothing."

"Ah, so sad. Because when you were sent out, you sounded strangely confident that you could find Lord Xinck."

The Reaper shrugged, "Guess I was wrong. My Lord can be very....unpredictable sometimes. "

"What makes you think that Roxas isn't the one leading and Lord Xinck isn't the one following?"

Xercivio laughed a little, "I noticed you didn't say 'Lord' before saying the name of your Master."

"Since He has gone against the orders of The Organization and we are being ordered to track him down, I thought it alright."

"Oh, well, interesting."

Xercivio and Oaer stood there for what seemed like an hour, just staring blankly at each other. Eventually Xercivio became bored, turned around and said that he was gonna go, leaving Oaer by himself in the hall, watching him as he went.

"_He knows something_" The only thought in the Samurais head, _"He's just as shady as Lord Xinck and cannot be trusted." _Oaer did nothing, but at his own whim, Three more Samurai Nobodies swooped up from Portals on the ground and stood at attention behind Oaer.

"Follow him."

They twitched and bent while receiving their orders then jumped high over Their Leader. Like the ancient warriors of Japan for which they were named, they ran and jumped all across the hall, turned the corner and after Xercivio. They found him, walking casually down the next hallway and the Samurais jumped off the walls and started running directly behind him.

The Reaper turned and looked at them running for him, "Oh? Ok, that's cool. I haven't killed a fucker all day!" From his sleeves, his obscured hands disappeared and were replaced with two shimmering white Scythe blades. The first and closest Samurai stopped in his tracks and lowered it's head, slowly placing a hand on one of the swords strapped to the small of it's back. He slowly withdrew the sword from it's sheath, lowered it to his side and lowered his head, the standard attack position for Samurais. The other two stood behind him and watched.

All Reapers, when attacking, gain scythes for hands and lose their legs to make a wispy, transparent tail. All Reapers, except Xercivio. He can do it, but prefers not to in order to stand out. Instead, he merely placed one foot forward and one foot back, straightened his torso out and leaned forward a little, as if he was preparing to run.

Both Nobodies stood still, waiting for the other to make a move. But they stayed still, but Xercivio was getting restless and he remembered the Samurai's greatest flaw:They always wait for their opponent to attack them from the front.

Xercivio's legs vanished and his long, clear tail floated between him and the ground. He dived, straight through the floor and shot up directly behind the Samurai and stabbed straight up into it's back with both blades. He hauled him into the, digging the blades deeper into it's body. He pulled and ripped the Samurai in two, it's torso and legs shattered into Nothingness before hitting the ground. The Reaper's legs came back just as he hit the ground and ran for the second Samurai, who wasted no time and pulled out both swords and sheaths. The Sheaths floated in the air behind it and the Samurai started dancing and swinging it's swords about in Xercivio's direction.

He dodged the first two strikes, ducking to avoid them, but took the blunt of a sheath in the stomach, sending him back. Xercivio recovered and jumped and aimed for on top of the Samurai to strike, readying his blades. Samurai blocked the first strike and the second and Xercivio hit the ground and flailed his scythes about. But Samurai blocked and countered, Xercivio blocked and countered in a flurry, and side-stepped to the left as another sheath came down from above. Xercivio dropped to his hips and spun, tripping the Samurai and turning him parallel to the ground. Xercivio, coming around, sliced straight through the Samurai the long way, head to groin and he disappeared.

The Last Samurai drew his sword, only one and lowered it's head, signaling it's ready to battle. Duel Stance. The Reaper and Samurai ran at each other, Samurai swung it's blade and Xercivio parried. They both drew back, getting into their respective positions. Everything went dark, a spot light shone out from the ceiling and cherry blossoms floated through around lazily. The air went still and cold, the spotlight was being reflected off the blades. They didn't move

A single Cherry Blossom floated past Samurai.

It drew it's sword while Xercivio was still in his stance and dashed straight forward. The blade was aimed for the Reaper's midsection, aimed to slice him in half and let him fade into nothingness. But the Reaper was faster. He lowered his blades and pulled his body upwards, tucking his legs in against his chest. He flipped over the Samurai blade and when he was behind the Samurai itself, he unfurled himself, impaling one blade into the shoulder of the Samurai and pulled upwards, Hauling the Samurai above himself.

The flying Samurai took a flurry of quick stabs in it's gut as he and Xercivio fell back to the floor. The Reaper reared back, yelling a warrior's cry and stabbed forward, straight into The Samurai's chest and he shattered into Nothing.

Xercivio fell back to the floor, his blades retracted and he struck a pose. "Damn, I'm good."

* * *

After Roxas's Dream, Xinck brought him back into the cockpit. The Gummi Ship had been put on autopilot ever since Xercivio had teleported into the ship and it continued to fly aimlessly through space.

The two Nobodies sat facing each other on the two leather chairs nearest the control panel. Xinck had in his lap open a black and Purple book and he was just now beginning to explain what he had found. "Okay, so after 3 hours of going through these books, I-"

"Wait, I was asleep for three hours?"

"Yeah, you were sleeping like a baby. I checked in on you once and I thought about drawing a mustache on you."

"Aw, you wouldn't do that! Would-?" Xinck gave Roxas a look, "Yeah..of course you would."

"Anyway." Xinck turned back to the book, "After researching, I found something that can help us locate Axel, or at least figure out what happened to him." Xinck held up and opened the book in his lap to show Roxas. It was a drawn picture of a large, oval-shaped mirror, whose border was decorated with a gold design of waves and winds. The reflection in the Mirror was filled with smoke that billowed behind, what looked like a face, more of a mask, white in color.

"Magic Mirror." Xinck stated.

"Magic Mirror?" Roxas asked.

"Magic Mirror." Xinck nodded, "It's original name is like _Magie Spiegel _or something like that. It's German. Anyway, a decade ago in some backwoods World, this Mirror was owned by some old lady, or a queen, and she used the mirror to answer any all questions. Apparently, it's an all-knowing Mirror."

"I get it. So we go get the Mirror from this old lady, right?"

"_Nein. _She ran into some trouble with some surly midgets and some other hoodlums and died, and the Mirror was lost to the Worlds."

"So where's the mirror?"

Xinck flipped a page and read for a minute, "It says here that since then, the mirror has just been....'around'."

"Around?"

"Yeah, around. But, BUT, it has been reported to have recently, and when I say recently, I mean, like, 3 years ago, been taken into the Underworld....the one underneath that Olympian Coliseum."

"Okay, okay. So we just have to get to the Underworld, find the mirror, ask it a question and leave."

"Not exactly. I have no idea how to get to the Underworld."

"But you said it was under the Coliseum."

"Yeah, it is, but I don't know _how _to get there. I've never been to any Underworld and there is no way to just land in there."

The Thirteenth Member of the Organization spun around in his chair, groaning and rubbing his head. The spot where he hit it had healed up, but it still hurt. But, then, it hit him. "Wait a minute! I git something!" He yelled and stood from his seat.

"What? Did something hit you!" Xinck yelled in surprise.

"Yeah-but no. I know someone in The Coliseum! We can go there and ask him if he knows how to get to The Underworld."

"When did you go to the Underworld?"

"A few months back, before you and Axel went to Castle Oblivion, I went on a mission with Xigbar to The Coliseum. One thing led to another and I ended up meeting this goat-guy, and-"

"Goat-guy?"

"Yeah, named Phil and He had me train under him for a while."

"Ah." Xinck nodded, "Okay, so we go to Olympus Coliseum-"

"-Talk to Phil to get directions to the Underworld-"

"-Find the mirror-"

"-And find out where Axel is!"

Excited, Roxas jumped back into his seat, spun around and laughed. He grabbed the wheel and switched off the auto-pilot. "Here we go!" He pointed straight at the window among the the multitude of stars in the dark sky, "To the Coliseum!" He stepped on the thrust, the engines roared and the Gummi Ship shot forward into Space.

"Uh..Roxas?" Xinck tapped the Key of Destiny on the shoulder.

"Yeah?" He turned around to look at his friend.

The Deviant held up a thumb and pointed it in the opposite direction of where the ship was going, "Uh...Olympus would be _that _way."

Roxas slowed the ship down,"He he, yeah, I knew that." Chuckling and smiling to himself. He turned on the wheel, the ship turning to the left and turning around, then shot through space to Olympus Coliseum.

* * *

REVIEW, please


	31. Heaven's Finest Fantasy

Okay, this chaper, last chapter and the chapter after this were all supposed to be one chapter, but they ended up being so big that I had to split them up. So here I am writing these 20+ pages for one chapter. To any avid video game players who read this, i think you'll be pleasently surprised with the Two guest stars in this chapter.

Can you spell 'Lawsuite'?

Dumbass, can you spell 'Fair use'?

No need for Profanity...you douche.

Go to hell. Anyway, now that it's summer I'm gonna have a lot of time to write.

And finally, a few days ago, I just came up with the details in another Redux, Saix's actually. At this point, the only ones that I don't have a Redux for are Vexen, Zexion and Luxord. For everyone else I have a pretty good idea. And Before these chapters that I'm doing now are over, I was gonna give a little preview of Xinck's Redux. And I'm just gonna spring it on you without warning, He'll be very casual about.

Can't think of anything else, so Enjoy and I don't own anything.

* * *

Olympus Coliseum. It's as big as any other world, but the size of any world is in the eye of the beholder. The Coliseum, while being this world's main attraction, was really just one part of Ancient Greece, but the Coliseum was why individuals from hundreds of different worlds would come and fight! For Glory, Honor, Respect, Power, Money and Women(or Men, if that's what you're into. No one's judging you). The Coliseum was a palace-sized arena with impossible to scale stone walls, tan in color and lined with yellow. It almost shined with it's own light as the sun beat down on it from the blue sky.

The Two Nobodies stood directly outside the Coliseum Door, tan-brown, lightning bolts carved artistically into the wood. It was easily as large any door in The Castle That Never Was. They had been standing there for ten minutes, the first 5 were spent staring up and marveling at the giant door that depicted the God Zeus striking down adversaries with bolts of lightning. And the last 5 minutes were spent trying to get the door open. Roxas didn't remember if it opened in or out because he and Xigbar had teleported inside the Coliseum.

"Try pulling on the handle." Xinck said and Roxas grabbed the two bronzed handles and started pulling and grunting. He even put one foot against the door for more force, but the door wouldn't budge. Xinck stepped back a few feet and ran at the door and rammed into it with his shoulder. A loud thud and he fell back, hitting the ground. "Ow! What the hell is that door made of? Wood?"

Roxas hopped off the door and helped Xinck up, "Maybe they're closed for the day."

"It's Tuesday. I've never heard of Tuesday being so sacred that people take the day off."

Roxas stepped back a little and looked up at the grand walls of the Coliseum, "We could try climbing up there. Or we could fly. Can you fly?"

Xinck sighed, "Well...not very comfortably, maybe we should try th-"

They fell silent as the grand, wooden doors into the Coliseum creaked open. "Someone's coming!" Roxas whispered, "Hide!" He and Xinck jumped and dived into the nearest cover they could find:A conveniently placed bush just next to the coliseum wall. They peeked through the leaves and heard a man's voice saying, "Alright, Phil, I'm going. See you later.."

Through the leaves they say a very muscular man wearing a rusty orange tunic that barely covered his giant thighs. He had a short, blue cape swaying in the wind behind him and a sword strapped to his hip. He had a red band across his forehead just below his strawberry blonds hair. He wore Greek warrior sandals and walked down the dirt path away from the Coliseum.

"Hey, I've seen that guy before, the last time I was here." Roxas stated.

"Really? Wow, he's hot."

"What-"

"Hey!" the man yelled, turning in the direction of the bush and placing a hand on his sword, "Is someone there?"

"No." Xinck replied.

"Oh, alright then." the man released his hand from his sword and continued down the trail, eventually out of sight.

The two Nobodies emerged from the bush. "Wow, He's cute, but really, really dumb." Xinck said, placing his hands in his pockets.

"You just said he was hot, that doesn't strike you as a little weird?"

"What? No. Listen." Xinck looked at Roxas, a serious tone in his voice, "I'm Beautiful. And it's only natural that I recognize other beauty. Beauty is as Beauty does and _I'm _sexy."

Roxas held back a laugh, then fell over onto the ground, holding his sides, "Oh! You're are so full of it! Ha ha ha ha!"

"What the-OH! You're just jealous!"

"Ha ha ha! You think I'm jeal-"

"This has nothing to do with Jelly! Get up, we've got things to do! The door's open." He pointed over to the wooden doors, the left-sided door was open. The man that just walked out must have forgotten to close it on his way out. Roxas hopped up and ran inside the Coliseum, Xinck right behind him.

The inside of the Coliseum was a little different than it's outside. Roxas and Xinck didn't realize how high up they were when they say a very clear blue sky above them and white, puffy clouds just outside the stone windows. They must have been on top of a mountain, a very, very high mountain. The area that they walked into was the Courtyard, wide and square and on the other side of the door they entered was another door, a little smaller, but just as decorated. It stood on a long, marble white level of it's own. Above that door, were two large, golden statues of soldiers, shields covering their midsections. The soldiers held up their swords, right above the door and they meet at the tip. The statues were easily 30 feet tall. On the long sides of the Courtyard, there stood ceremonial fires on pedestals, two on each side.

"Yeah, this place is just as I remember it. Look at this." Roxas walked Xinck over to the far left side of the door they just came through. Hanging in the shade of the large, tan walls, were giant, blue and purple tapestries with witting sown into the fabric. "Can you make any of this out?" Roxas pointed to the words, written in Greek.

Xinck did know a little Greek and just the way the words were formatted, he could tell that they were listings and the title at the top said, _"Tournament Results" _and Xinck could tell that the name "Sora" was written a lot. "Uh, no. I don't really know Greek. Sorry."

"Eh, it's alright. We can probably find Phil in the-"

"Roxas!" A familiar voice. They turned and Xinck nearly jumped back in shock, but Roxas smiled and waved at the little creature walking towards them. He was short with a hairy, rusty orange torso that led down into thin goat legs and black hooves. He had a plump, bare belly with a few hairs on his chest, fat, meaty arms and thin fingers. His head had a rusty red beard and 5 o' clock shadow. Two small horns curved at the top of his bald head. His nose was big and red.

"Hi Phil." Roxas waved at the Goat man, who stopped in front of them. They reached each other and shook hands.

"Ha, you're still as limp as a virgin flower!" Phil laughed.

"That's not true, I've bulked up."

"Liar! Ha!" They both shared a laugh. Then Phil caught a glimpse of Xinck. A cold chill ran down his spine and he twitched a little. An occasional reaction to actually meeting Xinck for the first time. "Who's ya friend?"

"Oh, yeah, this is my friend, Xinck. Xinck, this is Philoctetes."

"Hi." Xinck waved.

"Call me Phil." He held out his hand and Xinck bent down to shake it with his right. "Whoa! Got quite a grip, kid."

"Yeah, I've uh..had a lot of practice...with my right hand." Xinck's eyes shot left and right, "Okay, so..uh..I'm just gonna come right out and say it. You're a goat."

"Satyr!" He replied, "Half man, half goat!"

"Oh, okay." Xinck nodded and retracted his hand. "Has anyone ever told you that you sound like Danny Devito?"

"Who?"

"You know, _It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia_? Really short guy?"

Phil looked at Xinck for a few seconds, then at Roxas, "Roxas, I think you're friend is smoking too much Opium."

"No, Morphine's his thing."

"Who Told You?" Xinck yelled, jerking his neck to Roxas

"Hey, Phil," Roxas continued, "We've got a favor to ask."

"Yeah? What, you need more training? No doubt, I can tell from your handshake. I'll get everything set up. We'll get you-"

"No, no, it's not that. Do you know where the Underworld is?"

"The Underworld?" He sounded shocked, like he was just slapped with a Paternity Suit, "Well, yeah...I might know where it is, why?"

"We need to get there. It's important."

"What could you possibly want in the Underworld?"

"We lost our friend and we think we might be able to find a clue or something in The Underworld."

"Okay, okay, okay. Let me get this right." He started rubbing his temples like he had a headache, "You, want me to tell you how to get to the Underworld, so that you can find your friend?"

"Yeah." Roxas said.

"Uh-huh." Xinck nodded.

"Oh, well in that case, I have three words for you, N-O! NO!"

"Hey!" Roxas yelled in protest.

"Wait a minute! That's only two! I'm not counting the 'N'!" Xinck said.

"But, we-"

"No! Nuh-uh. No, way." The Satyr, shook his head, stomped his foot and crossed his arms.

"Well, why not?"

"I'm not telling two kids how to get to the Underworld just so they can go off and die! That's crazy!"

"No, no, no! No one's talking about dying!" Roxas started getting that weighted feeling in his stomach. The kind of feeling you get when your hopes were high, then they come crashing down.

"Listen, kid, I've seen you fight and you're good, I saw that other guy with the scar fight, he was good, too. And I'm guessing." He gestured to Xinck, "That He's quite the fighter, as well. But believe me, The Underworld is not for the weak of Heart..."

"No problem there." was Xinck's comment.

"Or the Living."

Xinck scoffed, "Got that covered."

"Kid, I'm serious. I can't send you off to die. You've got skills, I'll give you that, but you can't handle Hades' place." He shrugged and turned to walk away, "Sorry."

"Uh!" Roxas looked panicked. He turned to Xinck, but he shrugged. Roxas ran after Phil, called out his name, but he wouldn't stop walking, "Wait! You've seen me fight, you know I'm good!"

"Good, not great. And even Great isn't enough in the Underworld."

"But, I can prove to you how strong I am! How strong we are! Put us in training and we'll prove to you what we can do!"

From behind Roxas, Xinck shouted, "Who's 'We'? You got a turd in your pocket?" Roxas shot an eye at Xinck, not a scolding eye, but a 'Use your forked tongue' eye look. Xinck meet up with Roxas and called out Phil's name, "Okay, how about this. You tell us what we wanna know and we'll tell you something about..._The Future!"_Xicnk ended his sentence with spirit fingers and a really deep voice to top it off.

"The Future? What could you tell me about the future?" He had turned around to look at them. Xinck went up to Phil, kneed down and whispered in his ear, "Indoor Plumbing. It's gonna be big!" Phil replied with a scoff and waved Xinck away, who went back to Roxas. But Roxas didn't move, he just continued to stare at Phil, until finally, he said, "Please."

Finally, Phil turned around and looked at Roxas. They stared each other down, none of them wavered. Then, Phil finally broke, lowering his head, and sighing. Roxas didn't stop staring at him. "Okay, okay kid. I'll help you out."

That deep, weighted feeling in his stomach was lifted. Roxas's eyes lit up like the sun in the sky, "Really? You'll tell us!"

"No."

"Dick!"Xinck yelled, now standing next to Roxas, who quickly elbowed Xinck in the arm.

"Tell ya what?" Phil started walking around the two, one hand on his hip and the other under his chin, "If you two fight in a Mini-Tournament, and come in First Place, I will tell you want you want to know."

"A tournament?" Roxas turned his head to follow Phil walking around them, "What kind of Tournament?"

"Just a Mini-Tournament, The Morpheus Cup."

"And let me guess." Xinck said to himself, "The Tournament is today." Since walking into the Coliseum, he had started to lose interest. He was no stranger to small attention spans.

"The Tournament's today.."

"Bingo."Xinck said."

"..And you two have to come in First place after 5 Rounds. FIRST PLACE and not a spot less. Then...I'll tell you how to get to the Underworld."

"Ye-"Roxas started, then turned to Xinck, who seemed very interested in the dirt he had spotted on his shoe. "Can we think about it for a minute?" Phil nodded and Roxas turned to Number XIV. "So, you want to do this? It's the only way to get to The Underworld."

Xinck let out a single chuckle and took his eyes off his shoe, "Hey, I'm following you. It's your call."

"Really?"

"Roxas, seriously, you woke me up in the middle of the night, dragged me through the Desert to get to Agrabah. We got kicked out of a Strip Club, turned into cats, spent two nights in a park and were almost sacrificed by a Devil-worshiping Granny. If I was gonna turn tail and run, I would've done it when I had sand in my ass at Agrabah. We're gonna find Axel, but first, we're going to win this tournament, and then, I am going to follow you into Hell." He held out a hand and grabbed Roxas' and shook, "Let's get this crap over with."

They locked eyes and Roxas nodded, "Yeah." He turned from Xinck and looked at Phil, "Alright, we'll do it. First place."

"And not one place under, right?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then." Phil turned around and started walking towards the Arena door, "I'll get everything set up, The Tournament will be in 10 minutes. Follow me." He gestured to the door and they followed.

* * *

Knock Knock Knock

No answer

Knock Knock Knock

No Answer

Xigbar knocked again and again until finally he heard a groan and, "Somebody better be dying."

"Uh, no actually, Xemnas, we..uh..we got some serious problems that could use your immediate attention."

"Xigbar, whatever it is, Saix is responsible. I already told you and everyone else that I'm on Vacation."

"Yeah, it's just that He's a little pissy right now and we can't find him."

No answer or Reply

"Xemnas?"

Nothing.

"Xehanort?"

"...That's such an old name..."A hushed reply.

"Yeah, I know." Xigbar reached up and scratched at the skin around his eye patch. Even thinking about that name brought back interesting memories, memories as clear as day.

"Very well, If Saix isn't in his position, then feel free to fill in until he is ready. Now go away."

"Alright, but there's also the matter of Axel, Rox-"

"I don't care. No more office talk."

"But it's about-"

"Leave now or I'll inform everyone of how you lost that bet to Ienzo and Even. Remember that?"

"Alright! Alright!" Xigbar snapped, "I'm goin'!" He snapped his fingers and a Corridor wrapped itself around him. The next minute, he was back in the Gray Area. Demyx and Luxord were already there, still there, but Xaldin was still on his special mission in Beast's Castle. Xigbar clapped his hands together and walked towards them, "Alright, my kiddies, since X-face is nowhere to be found, I'll take over the search for Kitten and ZiZi."

"Kitten and what? Those are their nicknames?" Luxord said from the couch. He had put down his Magazine, _Tea Drinker Monthly_. "How terrible. It's like you've put no effort whatsoever in Xinck's name."

"Look, I came up with it at the last minute. Thinking about 'Deadhead'."

"I've never heard Xinck listening to The Grateful Dead. But the name kinda fits." said Demyx, as always sitting on the couch and strumming his sitar.

"So what exactly is _your _action plan, Xigbar?" Luxord asked, "We're not going to do more Drive by's are we?"

"Nah!" Number II jumped and landed on the nearest couch, stretching out and crossing his legs. He comfortably placed his hands behind his head and laid back, "I don't care where they are. They'll be back, let the Nobodies handle it. Desui!" Right above him, space rippled and a Sniper hung in the air, gripping space itself with it's free hand and one hand on the trigger of it's Laser Crossbow.

"Yes, my Liege?" He said.

"Get any and all Lesser Nobodies you can find and scour the following worlds, Wonderland, Deep Jungle, Beast's Castle, Olympus Coliseum, Agrabah and that giant Space whale...what's it called?"

"Monstro, I believe." Luxord replied.

"Yeah, Monstro. And send out a few Twilight Thorns."

"Yes, my Lord." And with that, Desui disappeared through space to round up every Nobody he could find.

"_Baby, Round up every single Nobody you can FIIIIIND-Ah!_" Demyx sang from his seat., _"Baby!"_

"Yeah, let's do a little bit less than that." Luxord cringed at Demyx's song.

* * *

The Lobby of Olympus Coliseum was just across the courtyard. It wasn't much, just a room with stone walls, floors and ceilings. On either wall, large, square openings sat and fires burned on golden pedestals. Next to the pedestal on the right, a large golden trophy sat, the next to that was a gold and red plaque. Next to the right pedestal was a large, blue trophy.

On the back wall, on the left side, was a poster board, outlined in green. Next to that, directly on the center of the farthest wall was the doorway to the Arena, where the Olympic battles are held. Phil walked the two Nobodies into the room and Roxas pointed out the trophies. "Hey, Phil, what are all these trophies for?"

"Oh, these?" He glanced at the Golden trophy and golden plaque, "Yeah, those went to the winner of past tournaments. The Hercules Cup and Pegasus Cup. It was a few months back, way before you came here. It was a rookie with a few of his friends, but they had a lot of Potential. They even took down Cerberus, the Guardian of The Underworld, but of course Herc had softened him up a bit."

"Herc?"

"Yeah, Hercules. He's-"

Their Voices became muffled and nothing was heard except, _"..Is He bold? No one's braver! Is He sweet! Our Favorite Flavor! Hercules! Hercules!..._ " Then the singing voices stopped as soon as they started.

"Wow. What was that?" Roxas looked at the ceiling, even though the singing came from all around.

"Those were the Muses, Goddesses of The Arts. They like to sing anytime people mention Heroes of any kind. It's annoying as hell, really." Phil explained, waving the event away like it happens everyday.

"I wish I had a theme song like that." Xinck said.

"Ha, no you don't. Herc told me even his Father thinks it gets old sometimes."

"His Father?"Roxas asked.

"Yeah, Zeus, King of the Gods on Olympus. He-"

"_And then along came Zeus! He hurled his Thunderbolt , He zapped and locked those suckahs in a Vault! They're trapped and on his own, stopped Chaos in it's tracks! And that's the Gospel Truth, the guy was just too Type 'A' to just Relax!..."_

"Huh. They're really detailed."Xinck stated. "So where is this Hercules, that we've just heard so much about in song?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right!" Phil slapped himself on the head, "Yeah, you just missed him. You must have seen him on your way in, right?"

"Was He that nice hunk of Man-meat in the tunic?" asked Xinck.

"Uh..yeah?"

"No. No. Didn't see him."

"Oh, alright, then. Next time I guess."

"Is he going to be in the Tournament, too?" Roxas asked.

"Nah, he said he was gonna spend the day with his 'Girlfriend'" He did air quotes to show emphasis. "Looks like it'll just be us today."

"So, when do we sign up for the Tournament?" Roxas asked.

"Hold your horses, I already gotcha signed up right here." He pointed to and tapped his head, "Don't be so eager to start, kiddies, just because it's a Mini-Tournament doesn't mean it should be taken lightly. Got a lot of tough customers this time."

"Alright."Xinck cracked his neck left to right, "When do we start, I don't have all day."

Phil snorted and scoffed at the same time, placing his hands on his hips and giving Xinck an odd look, "Don't get fresh, kid. I just told you I got some serious fighters signed up. Being arrogant and cocky like that ain't gonna win matches."He looked at Roxas, then at his own feet. He threw his arm back, "Get to the Arena, your first match will start in a few."

"Right."Roxas nodded and he started walking for the doorway to the arena with Xinck close behind.

The Arena. The Largest section of the Coliseum, rectangular in shape with two stands for patrons on either side. In the middle, flat area was a smaller square arena with tiles for sections. Four large and tan columns at the four corners. At the very edge of the Coliseum was the opposite wall, which had a small section of bars, really large bars. Nothing back blackness could be seen from the inside. Roxas and Xinck came out of the Lobby and straight into the sunshine of the Arena and ran onto the large, square arena.

"Seven Rounds. That's it, and he'll tell us what we wanna know." Roxas had already called both his Keyblades and hung them across his back. Xinck had done the same, but hung his swords on the the outside of his hips, they just hung upside down against his coat.

"Okay. Good. So who's up first?"

1st Match-Cannons of War

On the other side of the Arena, quick bursts of dark portal appears and several small, cartoon-like Heartless appeared. two Cannon Launchers, one Jumbo Cannon and one Ice Cannon. These Heartless had the same basic body shape-a cannon. Except, the Cannon Launchers were much smaller and purple, while the Ice Cannon was just a bigger, bluer version that shot Ice. The Jumbo Cannon was black and gray and just as large as the Ice Cannon. They all had the Heartless Symbol printed on their bodies, signifying that they were Emblems and they all had the standard Heartless face.

"Heartless? Really?" Xinck asked, "How do Heartless sign up for a Tournament?" He turned away from the Heartless to look at Phil, who was watching from the door to The Lobby.

"Don't underestimate your Opponent!" He shouted back to Xinck.

"They're Heartless!"Xinck yelled, even stomping his foot, "Did they sign a sheet or what? That doesn't make any-" While Xinck was talking, one of the Cannon Launchers took the liberty to start by leaning forward and charging a blast in it's barrel aimed for Xinck. The red hot blast, exploded against Xinck back, throwing him to the ground and lightly setting him on fire.

"Aah! Aah!" He yelled as he stopped, dropped and rolled. Roxas knelt down and started patting him to stop the fire.

"Come on, you're okay."He grabbed Xinck by the arms and picked up. The fires were extinguished and Xinck had no visible wounds. "We don't have time to play with these guys, so let's just breeze through, alright?"

"Right."Xinck nodded, wiping at his body to remove whatever dust might have collected. He pulled at the swords on his hips and got into his stance, reversing the grip on his swords and and slightly lowering his head. Roxas did the same, grabbing the Keyblades from his back and lowering his body. The 4 Heartless at the other end of the arena started hopping closer to them. The Ice Launcher twitched, falling and pointing it's barrel straight for Roxas. Ice shards collected at it's opening and fired, the Heartless fell back from the force of the blast. Roxas crossed both his swords in an 'X', blocking the blunt of the small blizzard.

"Nice try!" Roxas ran at the Heartless, just as Xinck sank into the ground through a black portal. Keyblades bombarded the front of the Ice Cannon and it twitched and jumped with every hit."Try this!" He slashed the Ice Launcher up into the air, jumped and finished the combo, sending the Heartless crashing back down to the ground in a daze. Roxas looked to his left and saw Xinck shooting from the ground, sending a purple shock wave out to damage both Cannon Launchers. He hit the ground and started stabbing and slashing at the closest Launcher, then reared back and slashed at the other with one chained sword, which shot back to Xinck after one hit.

"We're doing good! Keep it up!" The Jumbo Cannon, from behind, charged a blast and fired into the air. Like a missile, it fell from the sky and hit Roxas, exploding on contact and blasting him back. He yelled and his face burned and a loud ringing sounded in his ears. He staggered back and started shaking his head.

"Remember Rule #53!" Phil yelled from the sidelines, "'Keep your eyes on your opponent!'"

"Uh.."Roxas groaned, rubbing his head, "Yeah..right." He recovered and started running at the Heartless, quick, bursting beams of light fell from the sky around him. He meet the Jumbo Launcher and tore into it, slicing and hacking. He raised Oathkeeper above his head, yelling as blue light filled the hollow point of his sword. He slashed down across the Heartless, just as the built-up light exploded, sending the two halves of the Bifurcated Heartless crashing to the ground and fading away in black smoke. Roxas didn't watch the Heart fly into the air.

He turned and saw Xinck being attacked by the three remaining Heartless. He had been frozen in place by The Ice Cannon and the the two smaller Cannon Launchers were throwing themselves at his head. "Ack! Dammit " He grunted, being hit in the forehead by the small Heartless. Roxas shot over like a bolt of lightning and slashed through the two small cannons, releasing their hearts. "Get me out, get me out, get me out!" Roxas started hacking furiously at the large ice chunks that covered Xinck, but it was too tough.

"Hold on. I'll blast you out." Roxas held up an open hand, a small flame appeared in his palm, "Fira!" A small but quick blast erupted from his hand and exploded on the ice. It didn't melt, but it was weak enough for Xinck to break free. He kicked and moved, the ice crackled and broke off in chucks and the Deviant broke free and hit the ground, shivering. Roxas pulled a potion from his pocket and tossed to Xinck. It shattered in the air around him and a green ethereal light glowed and settled around him. He stood and stretched. "Feel better?"

"Yeah. I feel as good as a fat kid eating chocolate cake." He grinned a little and turned to the Ice Launcher behind them. He raised a hand, a black and white flame burned in his palm with white lightning shooting around his wrists. He aimed for the Heartless "Ebenholz-Böe." A dense, monochrome blast fired from his fist, colliding and throwing the Heartless out of the arena and high into the stands. The blast stopped and It hit the stone wall and rolled down, hitting each step on it's way down. Before it hit the arena floor, another blast came and tossed it right back up the stands, this time the blast continued, devastating the Heartless and and pressing it further into the wail. It could only squeak it's pain.

Xinck laughed a little. Firing a continues blast from his hand and watching as the Heartless suffered. He did this for two minutes, stopping the blast, watching the Heartless fall down the steps, then fired another blast, sending it right back up the stands and starting the process all over again.

"Xinck, stop it." Roxas watched. This wasn't a fair fight. It was torture. It was cruel and Xinck enjoyed it.

"Do you think Heartless feel pain?" He fired off more blasts, tossing the Heartless then letting it drop.

"I don't know, but..."He watched the Heartless, struggling against Xinck's dark blasts then falling, then being hit again. "...Stop, you're hurting it."

"Fine, fine."He shrugged it off, stopping the blast for a second, Charged a concentrated blast then fired. It exploded on contact with the Ice Launcher, a silver heart floated up from the fiery blast to the sky.

"Hey!" Phil called out, walking towards them from the sidelines. He didn't look happy, "Keep the fight fair! I don't want to see anymore of that! We fight fair here!"

"Fair?" Xinck spat out, "What's fair about Heartless, who I'm pretty sure can't even speak nor write, signing up for a Tournament?"

"Hey, Kid, it don't matter how they're in the Tournament, all that matters is that you fight fair and you don't kill anyone!"

"Kill anyone?" Roxas asked, "People have died fighting in this tournament?"

"A few times, a few years back. But we've stopped letting people kill each other. No killing people and/or things that can speak. And I know those Heartless are Monsters, but there's no need to be cruel about it."

"Alright, whatever."Xinck shrugged it off. He didn't really care either way, "We just beat 'em, not kill 'em. Got it. I hear you and all that, and both my ears hear you loud and clear. They're fine-tuned onto your frequency, like Satellites sending you cable signals from space, but Oh no! It's raining and your TV is coming in scratchy, and then you get that annoying "Signal Lost" banner running across your screen. That's why I use cable instead of satellite, much more reliable during storms."Xinck shrugged again and started walking away, over to the stands where he could sit and wait for the next match.

"Wow. What is wrong with that guy?" Phil looked at Roxas for an answer.

"What do you mean? He's always like that."

"You mean Insane?"

"No..I mean...uh.."Roxas really didn't have a word to describe Xinck. No one word was enough to describe him. He often wondered what Xinck thought of himself. "He's..uh..Complicated."

"Roxas, believe me. There is nothing complicated about Madness."

"He's not Mad. He's just...different. He always makes jokes, then just kinda..goes off on random subjects. They don't _always _relate to what he's talking about, but-"

"Sounds like the definition of Madness to me."

"I've also got Loneliness and Despair! In case you wanted to know!" Xinck yelled from the stands. Roxas forgot that that was one of Xinck's powers: Super-hearing. He waved, then laid down and stared up at the sky.

"Huh." Phil said, "Kid's got good hearing. With friends like him, who needs enemies, right?"

"No..he's not my enemy. I wouldn't even be here if he wasn't with me."

"Mm-mm." He looked at Roxas, then shot an eye over at Xinck. "Alright, alright, whatever floats your boat. Listen, take some time to rest up for your next match. I gotta go get your 3rd fight ready."

"Yeah. Uh...how do you get Heartless in the tournament anyway?"

"Hey, I now a little magic to get monsters here. Don't worry about." Phil's tone of voice change a little. Now it sounded as if he were bragging, "You should just worry about your Third fight, I mean, if you get past your second fight."

"Who's our third fight?"

"Ha ha. Kid, I didn't just have monsters in these games, I got at least Two heavy-hitters in the ranks. People, warriors to be more precise. They've been through more fights than you could even imagine."

Roxas didn't respond. He didn't how to. He really didn't want to talk to Phil anymore, the way he talked about Xinck didn't set well with him. Besides that, he didn't want to talk about how powerful the other fighters were. It didn't matter. He had his mind set on something and nothing was going to stop him. Roxas nodded slightly and turned to walk away just as Phil turned towards the Lobby. He walked over to where Xinck was laying on his back on the stands and took a seat next to him.

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts a deedily-dee. There they are, standing in a row." Xinck sang to himself. Roxas leaned down and stared blankly at the bare ground.

"Xinck..."

"..Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head."

"I had another dream."

"Huh?"Xinck stood up straight and looked at Roxas, "Like that other one where I was playing the drums, Axel the Guitar and you were singing?"

"Yeah."

"Wow. What was I doing this time? Playing the drums when a giant, blue ghost popped out of my head and started rapping?"

"Uh..no. This time, it was just me, some kids in a desert and I started singing and playing a keyboard. Then, I saw you and Axel in an army car. You drove and Axel and...that girl with the black hair were poking through the roof, looking around."

"What were you singing?"

"I..it's hard to remember." He groaned loudly and rubbed his fingers through his hair, "I think it was...'I need a gun...to keep myself from harm. The poor people are burning in the sun...'"

" 'Dirty Harry.'"

"What?" He looked at Xinck.

"That's what the song is called. Why do you keep having these Dreams where we're all singing songs by the Gorillaz?" Xinck was a very good liar. He knew where the dreams were coming from, even if Riku said he had no idea what he was talking about.

"I don't know. But that girl..she was trying to say something to me..but I couldn't hear her. She looked right at me, even though no one else knew I was there, and said something..but I..."

"Did she say that word again? The one with the 'S'?"

"Probably."He cut an eye at Xinck, "But you woke me up and I couldn't hear anything."

"Oh. I'm sorry." He wasn't. He hadn't known what Roxas was dreaming, but it's a good thing he interrupted it when he did. He, like Axel, was under strict orders to never reveal his connection to his Other on penalty of being turned into a dusk, or worse. While the Superior promised to kill Axel if he said anything, for Xinck, who's Healing factor was the strongest in the Organization, he promised to _thoroughly _test how powerful it was.

Roxas sighed, putting his face in his hands. Xinck sighed and leaned over, putting his head on Roxas's shoulder. "What are you-"

"My head hurts. You're very soft."

"Oh."Roxas didn't mind. He wanted to change the subject. He didn't want Xinck to think it was his fault for ruining the dream by waking him up. "Phil said that our third fight is supposed to be really hard."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. He says it's a person, not a Heartless. Who do you think it's gonna be? Hope it's not Xigbar."

"Xigbar? Why would you think it's Xigbar?"

"First time I came to the Coliseum, he entered into the preliminary and fought me, but a Heartless got in the way." He lifted his head from his hands and looked at the clouds in the blue sky. He moved his shoulder, so Xinck had to reposition his head.

"Well, I don't think it's Xigbar. It might be that red-haired women I saw earlier."

"What red-haired women?"

"When we first came in, I saw a women with Blood Crimson hair, long enough to reach the small of her back walking into the lobby. She looked too pretty to be a fighter, but a fighter nonetheless. Not to mention, she had a really nice sword strapped to her back."

"Huh." He thought for a moment. He didn't see any red-haired lady in the lobby and the only other door out of the lobby is to the Arena, but he hadn't seen anyone except Phil the entire time. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"Yeah. Maybe if we let her win she'll give us B.J.'s."

"I don't think so. Hey, Xinck?"

"Yeah?"

"Whats a...B.J.?"

"It's a..."He stopped mid-sentence. And carefully thought it over. He was silent long enough for Roxas to look at him on his shoulder. "I think it's something you're better off _not _knowing. You're too young."

"What? I'm older than you!"

He scoffed, "Yeah, by like what, 4 weeks?"

* * *

"Okay, okay, watch-ha ha ha-watch this!" Luxord, with a bottle of liquor in his hands and laughing like a madman, staggered onto the coffee table that stood between the two sofas and the armchair. Demyx and Xigbar sat around the alcohol-covered table laughing as Luxord pulled himself up.

"Oh my god, he's gonna do it! He's gonna do it!" Demyx laughed.

"Shut up, he's doing it!" Xigbar yelled.

Luxord got on the table, bent down a little and started to Percolate, while singing and snapping his fingers, "It's time for the percolator, yeah. It's time for the percolator, it's time for the percolator. It's time for the-"The table broke under his weight, shattering and sending both wood and glass crashing to the floor. Luxord fell into the mess, luckily landing on his wobbly legs, then falling backwards onto the couch next to Demyx, who started laughing so hard he hit hit the floor.

Believe it or not, they were just tipsy.

A little later, after they calmed down some, Demyx pulled out his laptop and started to check his many social-networking sites, like Twitter, Facebook and even replying to comments people have sent him on his Youtube account. He, unlike the majority of the others in the Castle, wasn't a total recluse. While checking his Facebook, he found The Freeshooter's profile, which was a picture of Xigbar with an open palm behind his head and the other arm outstretched towards the camera. A Dramatic pose, indeed. His profile status read, 'Chillin''.

"Ha ha, hey check it out, Xigbar, I didn't know you had a Facebook." Demyx said, turning his laptop towards Xigbar's direction.

"Uh..."He lay stretched out on the couch, an arm pulled over his face to shield his eye from the blinding whiteness of the room, "Yeah, I got a Facebook. I don't use it too much, though."

"Ha. What happened? Got addicted to Farmville?" Demyx thought it was funny and proceeded to laugh. Xigbar thought it was a real question and replied with a firm "Yes."

"Oh..well, okay."

"Facebook."Luxord stated, leaning over the side of the couch. He had a Whiskey bottle clutched firmly in his hand "Another useless offspring of the godforsaken internet."

"What you got against the Internet, Gambit?" Xigbar asked.

"It's not the internet I have a problem with, it's the absurd and meaningless dreck that inhabits it that I can't stand in the least. Social networking sites like Facebook are just excuses for the Socially insignificant to post their worthless opinions. You couldn't possibly understand how joyous I was after I heard the news of Myspaces' end."He laughed a little, "Take that Tom!"He took a drink from his bottle, "And Twitter, Ha! Why the bloody hell would I care how much better off you are after breaking up with your rugged, self-made, mountain man of a Boyfriend after you found out he was into gay yiffing?"

"Wow, Luxord."Demyx said, still typing away on his laptop, "I can't believe how not-drunk you sound after drinking your Happy juice."

"It's not Happy Juice, It's Necessary Juice!"Luxord Bellowed, and savagely threw the bottle in Demyx's direction. But he was a little intoxicated, so he missed and hit the wall far behind him. Demyx, being a little drunk as well, didn't even notice. Luxord went back to his regular position of hanging over the couch.

"Hey, guys." Demyx started. He read from his laptop, "What's..uh..'Seagulling'?"

"Whating?"Xigbar asked in a slurred voice.

"Seagulling. I read this comment that this guy posted on his Twitter account that he just spied on his friend kissing his girlfriend so he 'Seagulled' in his face. What's that?" He looked at Xigbar for an answer.

"How the fuck should I know?"

"Seagulling?"said Luxord, "Ugh! That is horrible. People are still doing that?"

"What is it?" Demyx asked.

"Well."Luxord turned around and sat normally on the couch and pulled out his magazine and pretended to flip through it a little, "It's a...uh...prank, particularly done in The UK, where young men, adolescents, will masturbate, cup their hands, then proceed to ejaculate into said hands. Then, finding a poor victim, whether it be a close friend or teacher, the young man will throw his...uh..underpants armada into his victim's face, while yelling, 'Seagulling!'."

"What?"Xigbar had almost jumped off his couch from hearing this.

"That's disgusting!" Demyx nearly gagged, "And then what?"

"I don't know."Luxord said, "Run like Hell, I suppose. If I committed the dirty deed, I definitely wouldn't stand around and wait for retribution. That's just dumb."

"Oh my GOD!" Demyx and Luxord turned to Xigbar, who was now standing up and laughing maniacally. He had his hands over his mouth and his eye was darting left and right. "Oh, God!" Cackling like a madman, Xigbar ran out of the Gray Area.

"Well, that's just brilliant."Luxord rolled his eyes, "We've finally drove him mad." He opened his magazine and settled on a page to read.

"What do you think he's doing?"Demyx asked.

"Honestly, do you have to ask? All we can do is pray that his Drunkenness throws off his aim."He sighed loudly, rubbing his temples, "_God_, PLEASE let his aim be off!"

* * *

As predicted, Roxas and Xinck breezed through their second match, which called itself "Unfriendly Skies". It consisted of 3 Wyverns, two Air Pirates and Three Bolt Towers. The group name that Roxas and Xinck had chosen for themselves was Equinox. It was the best suggestion after Xinck said they should call themselves "Viva La Vida: Or Death And All His Friends" He wanted that name because he liked the titular song from that album.

After defeating The Unfriendly Skies, the next match came up.

3rd Match-**Vengeance Has Never Been So Beautiful.**

The Sun was high in the sky. It's radiance shined off of the weapons wielded by the three fighters that walked into the square arena. Roxas and Xinck walked onto the platform that was surrounded by the four tall pillars at it's for corners. When they were on, they stopped and got a good look at their opponent, who stared right back at them.

"Told ya she was hot."Xinck said.

A fair skinned, female warrior of average height stood apart from them. Long and voluminous red-as-licorice hair flowed from her head and danced in the air with just the slightest breeze. A fit woman, her clothes were small and revealing. Pale salmon in color, her skirt was cut so that only her right thigh was covered, but her entire left leg was bare. On her waist, was a bronze-colored belt that separated her legs from her perfectly, lightly defined bare stomach. Just below her breasts, appeared to be another bronze-colored garment that connected to another pale salmon section of clothing. Her breasts were covered, with a fair amount of cleavage shown. Her right arm had no clothing, except for fingerless gloves on her hand. Her left arm was covered by cloth from the shoulder down past the elbow for another inch or two and the rest of her arm was visible. Her eyes were golden brown and strapped to the small of her back, were two, jagged, ornamental short swords. Her right hand was on one handle and her other arm hung limply and she jutted out her knee, possibly out of annoyance.

"Whoa."Roxas watched this women watching him and Xinck, "She's..."

"Fuckin' hot? Go ahead, say it."

"No, not like that. She's..."

"What? Pretty? Beautiful? If You Like It Then You Should Have Put A Ring On It Sexy?"

"I..no. I don't know. It's like..."

"You _do _like girls, right?"

"I..I...How do you know if you like anyone?" He looked to Xinck, who crossed his arms.

He replied with a scoff, "I'm probably not the _best _person to ask, you know. That's more of an Axel question. For me, personally, I _just _found out that I maintain a policy of Sexual Ambiguity. In fact, I don't really know if Nobodies can like someone that way."

"Oh." Roxas turned to the women, who was now tapping her foot impatiently. He looked back at Xinck, "What's 'Ambiguity'?"

"I'll tell you when you're older." He produced his swords out of Darkness.

"Again, I'm Older that you!" Roxas took out both Keyblades, while still looking at Xinck, "Why do I have to keep saying that?"

"I'd rather you stay pure and uncorrupted."He walked a little past Roxas and closer to this red-haired women. He turned and looked back,"Lest you become something akin to me." he looked back up towards the woman and his facial expression changed. It looked much more childish. He raised his hand and started waving madly, "Hi! _Me Llamo _Xinck _y Tu?"_

The Women raised her eyebrow and her face twisted a little. She spoke, possibly understanding that it was appropriate to give your name. "I am Nariko."

"Hey, how's it going?" Xinck asked, faking interest.

"Very well."

"That's nice. I like you're hair."

Her facial expression did not change, "Thank you. I like your...eyes."

Xinck batted his naturally think eyelashes and said, "Thanks. They're my best feature." He turned to look at Roxas, who was a little shocked at Xinck's sudden change in disposition. Usually, he was antisocial and generally sarcastic to meeting new people. Maybe he was Mad. "Introduce yourself."

"Uh...Hi. I'm Roxas."At this point, possibly trying to speed things up, the women walked over to them and personally shook Roxas's hand. After the shake, she looked at him, he looked at her, then she looked at Xinck and Xinck looked at her, and when she turned around, he looked at her butt.

"You two seem rather young to be in a tournament like this."She said.

"I'm younger than I look."Xinck said, walking closer to them. "And he's actually older than me. Wanna Compliment me on my eyes again?"

She ignored that last comment, "To be honest, I'm a bit conflicted at fighting young boys." She seemed to be expecting a reply from Roxas, but he just looked at her with wide, open blue eyes and stayed silent.

"Don't feel conflicted." Xinck's eyes momentarily flashed all black then back to normal, releasing that dark and deadly presence inside of him. Any weak, living thing in a certain-mile radius of him, would stagger for a moment then die. Phil didn't die, but he sat at the sidelines and obviously felt something because eh shivered. Nariko was strong willed too, she only looked at Xinck, then turned back to Roxas.

"Not much of a talker, are you? Or are you just shy?" She leaned dwon a little and her eyes softened a bit. And to Roxas and Xinck's surprise, Roxas's face flashed red and he suddenly became interested in a small scuff on his shoe. He Muttered a small, "No."

Xinck pulled his presence back in. "Can I bite your hair?" He asked.

"Pardon me?"She looked at the Demon-eyed boy.

"I said, can we get started? We're kinda in a hurry."

"Mmm."She stood up and looked at Roxas. He was now staring at her, not her face but her hair, her Crimson Blood hair that was visible wind, whipping and flowing behind her head. "I've entered this tournament and I've already beaten hordes of those black creatures."She cut her eyes at Xinck, "And telling me that you're in a hurry sounds like an insult. Respect and never underestimate your foe."

Xinck scoffed, folding his arms and rolling his eyes, "Well, what are you gonna do about it, Miss Fancy Boots?"

The Woman calling herself Nariko closed her eyes for a moment and spoke softly but loud enough for both of them to hear, "Another important rule of battle is to never let your opponent get too close to you, because even their nice attitude could be nothing but a ruse!" One swift motion, she ducked down, her hair whipped across a shocked Xinck's face, he couldn't see, only jump back. She reached back, grabbing the two jagged blades strapped to the small of her back and struck forward for Roxas.

He was off by one second. He avoided the full force of the strike by jumping back, but the blades, in a scissor-like motion, sliced through his coat and pierced the skin on his bare stomach. He looked up in a panic, she was already on top of him, ready for another hit. He blocked, Oathkeeper intercepting both blades. Nariko pulled up her feet and jumped off Oathkeeper, back flipping through the air and landing away from Roxas .

She held both swords with a reverse grip, similar to Xinck, but hers were pointed upward and his downward. Sensing the danger from the corner of her eye, she jumped back as black energy shot for her. Xinck ran straight for her, blades ready, she did the same and they met each other halfway. Their swords clanged and blocked, sparks flying around them. Xinck aimed for her stomach with a stab, Nariko side-stepped and raised her right sword over his head, she struck, but he blocked with his free sword.

"Interesting swords."She gave him a compliment, while struggling to push down on the block

"Likewise."He nodded and struggled to push up o her sword.

Right behind her, Roxas stabbed forward, aiming for her back. She sensed this, pulling herself upward horizontally, dodging the strike, spinning, knocking Xinck back and round-house kicking Roxas in the back and sending him for the ground. Nariko saw her opening, just as Roxas was starting to get off the ground. She raised one sword and aimed for his back. She plunged downward just as Xinck jumped across the path of the blade, taking it full force in his stomach.

Nariko gasped, Roxas gasped and Xinck groaned. But the fight was still going. The blade had went straight through and stuck out through his back. Nariko was strong and she pulled on both the blade and Xinck. She stabbed her other sword into is back, another scream and more blood. She started grunting as she spun in a circle, her blades lengthening themselves by chains and Xinck flying around at the ends, leaving a perfect 360 degree circle of blood around her. With enough force built up, she pulled on her swords and they came shooting back for her, releasing Xinck and throwing him for one of the four pillars. He crashed against it and slid down to the floor, blood gushing from his two wounds. He hit the ground and his head slumped over.

"Hey!"Phil yelled from the sidelines. He hopped up and down to show his displeasure, "No killing! That's against the rules! Do it again and you'll be disqualified!" Phil didn't want Xinck or Roxas to die, he only wanted them to lose.

"My apologies."She said, not taking her eyes off her target, Roxas, who had rolled away from her. He had gotten to his feet, and looked over at Xinck's body. It didn't move, twitch or anything, just sat there and bled. He started growling, clenching his fists and staring daggers at the person who did it.

Without warning, before he could even realize what he was going to say, he yelled at her, "What the hell is wrong with you, Axel?"

"What?"

"Who?"Phil called out.

"Uh.."He caught his mistake, a little late though. He had been distracted since before the fight started. He couldn't afford to get distracted, but watching Xinck being attacked and thrown off like trash snapped him out of it. He wanted retribution.

Nariko loosened her stance a little and her swords had changed. She still had the reverse grip on her left sword, but her right sword was now swinging on a short chain. She had sword just like Xinck that had short and long range capabilities. She spoke and her voice was calm, "Your friend must have a strong loyalty to you, strong enough to take a fatal attack for you without a moment's hesitation. I know when a fighter is giving it everything they have when they fight and since we've begun, I've noticed you haven't been trying. I don't know who this Axel person is, but if you don't want your friend's sacrifice to be in vain, I suggest you clear your mind and take this seriously."

He cut his eyes and seethed, "Take this seriously!"

"Yes. You don't want-"Not even a Third of a second, she stopped talking, her eyes flashed as a long, cold piece of steel slowly positioned itself underneath her neck and she heard the words above and behind her, saying, "I'll take this seriously and I'll make you pay for making him bleed!" Nariko was fast, but Roxas was always faster. He started to draw back on his Oblivion, drawing blood from her neck, but her reflexes saved her. She ducked, bushing her hair in Roxas's face, and avoiding the killing blow. She black flipped several times, gaining great distance between each other.

"_Impossible"_ She thought to herself, _"It's not possible for him to be able to move that fast. I did not even see him move his legs!"_

"Over here!" On her bottom left, Oathkeeper swung at her from an angle, she arched her back, avoiding the strike for her head. Strands of red cut hair floated in the air between them. She countered just as Roxas jumped back. Like a dance of blades and chains, she swung her weapons around in wide circles, protecting herself and generating a wind. Her body, arms and legs moved with agility and precision, careful not to touch either sharp blade or hard chain.

She moved for Roxas and his upper body fell limp, making it easier for him to sidestep and dodge the whirlwind of blades. He kept his face stalwart, his eyes cut and his arms limp by his side. He moved left, right, ducking and bending to dodge, all the while moving his feet back without looking. Nariko roared, retracting her blades and slapping them together. Each jagged edge and curve effortlessly fit together, forming one large, jagged, single-edge buster blade. It was heavier and slowed her down, but dealt significant damage. She ran, yelling at Roxas and dragging the Sword along with her. Broad swings flew between them, Roxas effortlessly dodged them all.

"Quit running and fight me!" She roared furiously and Roxas only glared at her and continued moving from her every strike. He backed up far enough, jumped and pulled his legs up to his chest. He started back down, feet aimed straight for her face. She held up her sword to block with both hands and Roxas hit the bottom of his shoes against the edge. She pushed him off just as he jumped, sending him even higher through the air. He spun straight up like a corkscrew. He held out Oathkeeper and the blade shrank in his hand, turning into a shining, blinding blue orb of light. He came flying down, straight down on Nariko. She yelled and ran from her spot, running out of Roxas's way. He hit the ground with a roar, smashing the ball of light upon impact and he was consumed in an explosion of translucent light. The blast quickly spread, Nariko couldn't outrun it and it smashed into her back, lifting her and throwing her like a Rag doll to another stone pillar, front first.

She spat a mouth full of blood against the immaculate pillar as she slid down to the ground, still clutching her buster sword. She turned around on the ground to see Roxas, now standing but he still looked angry and light was shining from his shoulders.

"_He isn't normal. That other one wasn't normal either. He's got a fighting spirit." _Her breathing was labored and she started staggering to her feet. She hauled her sword up, wiped her blood from her face and stood in her position. "I see you've found your will to-"

"_Brazos!" _Nariko heard a yelling voice from her right. She started looking just as a great, black arm and fist punched through the air and bombarded her with enough force to smash her out of the ring. She hit the stands, torso first, her giant sword clattered to the ground. She groaned, clutching her chest, a rib or two had been busted and she had cuts and bruises all over her body. She was done. She looked up, seeing Xinck walking for a surprised Roxas.

"_He's alive?"_Phil nearly chocked on his own saliva, seeing Xinck walking casually to Roxas.

He looked at her while walking to a somewhat shocked Roxas, "Believe it or not, but that wasn't because you stabbed me in the stomach, but because you copied my swords! That's not cool!" He pointed at her, then stuck out his tongue and cut his eyes.

"You're..you're okay!" Roxas rejoiced and Xinck stopped in front of him, casually placing his hands in his pockets.

"Of course. It takes a lot more than two very fatal stab wounds, a throw into a very blunt pillar and almost bleeding to death to kill me."

"I almost thought you did." He looked down and at the two large holes in Xinck's coat. They were magically restitching themselves slowly, but his chest wounds were still visible, healing and the blood around the entrances were dissolving into his skin. "Loos like that hurts. Do you need a po-"

"Can you believe her swords have chains? That's my thing!"

"She didn't just have chains, she put them together and had this huge sword." He Stretched out his arms to their fullest to show how big the sword was. Then they both turned their heads over to where the beaten warrior lay. She had gotten up, still carrying her sword with one arm, the other arm was tenderly caressing her broken ribs. She walked around the arena behind Roxas and Xinck and she cautiously held up her hands to show her surrender. She was trembling, possibly from her injuries and even though she had been beaten, her face remained unchanging and stalwart.

"I concede."She said, stopping in front of them. Her voice didn't waver. She looked to Roxas, who only cut his eyes. " You are quite powerful for someone so young."

"What about me?"Xinck asked.

"You as well, I suppose."

"What do you mean, 'You suppose'? We won. And call me young, I'm younger than him! And I want an apology for stab..." He went on with this rant, but Nariko turned back to Roxas.

"For insulting you earlier, I sincerely apologize." Roxas looked at her in silence for a while, and she stared back. He nodded and she nodded. "Go in peace and good luck to you both." She turned and started walking away towards the Lobby door. She was intercepted by Phil, who walked hurriedly next to her as she opened the door.

"What the hell? You were supposed to win!"He whispered loudly so that Roxas nor Xinck could hear.

She didn't stop walking as Phil spoke. She said, "That boy. He had a fierce determination, an unbreakable resolve. There was no possible way I could have won. Those eyes...those eyes with the Iron will..._He _would never have let me win."

"I don't care about your philosophical bull! Those two CANNOT win! If they win, I'll have no choice but to tell them how to get to the Underworld!"

"So tell them. No Hell, No Purgatory, nor Afterlife in existence can hold them."She looked down at her 3-in-1 sword, "Not even the Heavenly Sword could stop them."

Phil spat, "You were supposed to be my ace in the hole!"

"You have another, correct? Use him. But no amount of enemies will stop them, try as you might ."She walked on, through the Lobby and towards the other door. She took her sword and split it in two, placing them at the smalls of her backs once again and walking out the door, leaving Phil alone.

"I've got one more Bad-ass. If they beat him..no. They won't beat him. They can't beat him."

Back on the Arena floor, waiting for Phil to return, Xinck turned back to Roxas, a strange look occupied his face. "What?"Roxas asked him.

"Why...did you call her 'Axel'?"

As predicted, Number XIII looked away to the ground, like a Newborn will shy away into it's mother's bosom. "I just..her hair."

"Yes, yes. I wanted to lick it. It reminded me of licorice."

"No, not that. It was just really, really red. Like Axel's hair. Her hair reminded me of Axel's and I..got distracted."

"Oh, yeah. We haven't seen him in almost a week, right?"

"I don't like this. We're wasting time here at this stupid tournament. Even if we get to the Underworld, we till have to find the mirror."

"More than likely, Hades has it."

"What makes you say that?"

He shrugged, "Just a hunch. If anything, when we get there, you can ask him and he might know and tell you."

"Where's Phil?" Roxas started turning his head around, then towards the lobby, "What's taking him so long?"

"Okay, you two!" Phil started marching out of the lobby, his fists clenched and his voice near-yelling, "Fifth and final round is coming up!"

"Fifth? What about the Fourth one?"

"They...they forfeited!"He lied. "They saw how badly you beat Licorice-head and turned tail and ran. So I'm bumping you guys up to your fifth and final round!"

"Wha-That's great!" Roxas's mood perked up, "And after we win, you'll tell us how to get to the Underworld!"

"Don't get ahead of yourselves! This next guy don't take nothin' from Nobody!" He moved his arms round as he talked, adding emotion, "He's a Heavy hitter. Only person who could take him on is Hercules himself! And-"

"And Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah!"Xinck interrupted, "We get it! He's strong!"

Phil huffed, eying Xinck, then looking away when Xinck returned the gaze. He turned and proceeded to walk away back to the lobby, "That's it."He said, smiling to himself and speaking loud enough for them to hear, "Keep your spirits up."

"I don't like your little goat friend."Xinck sounded cynical.

"Yeah, I...don't think he likes you either."

* * *

"I'm back." Masses of Shadows spiraled into the air, forming an oval, door shaped Dakness. From the shadows, the man with the black dreadlocked hair and permanent scowl on his face, Xaldin, appeared. His hands were in his regular pose, situated behind his back. He walked over to the sitting section of The Gray Area where Luxord and Demyx were.

"Hello, Xaldin, all went well, I hope."Luxord said. Instead of reading his magazine, which he had already finished, he had started playing a Childish racing game on a black Nintendo DS.

"Everything went fine."He stood rather than sat, "The Beast is taking a little longer than I thought he would, but there is progress. Where is everyone?"He looked around and only noted Demyx the only other person in the room beside Luxord. Demyx seemed too caught up in his quiet Sitar playing to notice much.

"Saix left a while ago, he seemed a tad...irritated, to say the least. And Xigbar...well..."He trailed off a little, his eyes moving around the room.

"What?"

"Be on guard. He might try to-GOOD LORD, THERE HE IS!" He pointed to the entrance into the Gray Area to Xigbar, who had a large grain plastered on his face and his right hand held up in a closed fist. He started running for the group. Luxord jumped to his feet and through the air in slow motion. His face distorted around his mouth, screaming "No!" Like he was in The Matrix and trying to dodge bullets. He sailed through the air, over the couch and hitting the floor behind it. Demyx, catching wind of what was happening, jumped from his seat with a cartoonish yelp and hid behind his chair. Xaldin just stood there.

"What are you all doing? Am I missing something here?" He looked at Xigbar who was heading straight for him. Xaldin just stood there with his arms behind his back. It was like everything slowed down as Xigbar came within range of his target, he reared his hand back, opened his mouth and proudly proclaimed, "Seagullin'!"The contents of his hand let fly and soar through the air. Xaldin's eyes widened in shock and surprise, but it was too late, he could not move out of the way in time! The contents smacked against his face, his forehead, his eyelid and the tip of his nose and drooped down to his upper lip.

Everything sped back up. Demyx lifted his head from his cover, "What's that smell?"

Xigbar's arms fell limp to his side. Xaldin wiped his face and the mess was dangling from his fingers as he looked upon It with disgust. "What? What is this?"His eyes widened! He looked at Xigbar who smiled, he looked back at his hands, the mess, Xigbar, his hands, the mess! "Did you just? On me?"He roared, throwing the contents of his hands to the ground furiously.

The the entirety of the world just crashed down around him, Xigbar realized his mistake and his disposition sank, "O-o-okay, Xaldin, I know what this looks likes, but it's not what you think! It's just-" A spear tip was eagerly thrust into Xigbar's eye patch, stabbing though the cloth and into whatever was on the other side. A blood-curdling scream echoed through the Gray Area, Xigbar's hands flailed about . He ripped out the lance, but drew no blood. He and Xaldin tackled each other, grunting punching, kicking and yelling. The rolled on the ground, built up enough force and crashed into the Great Glass window that took up an entire wall of the room. They broke through the glass and fell from the Castle, fighting.

"Seriously, what's that smell?"Demyx popped his head up again. Luxord got up as well.

"What are you talking about?"He, too, sniffed the air.

"It smells like.."He walked over to where Xaldin through down the mess that Xigbar threw at him. He looked at it, it was pink.

"It smells like Cherry Blossoms." Luxord said, also eying the mess.

"Wow. Who knew that Xigbar's spooge was pink and smelled like Sakura."

"Wait a minute."Luxord bent down, looking at the mess and dabbing it with his pointer finger. He held it up to his nose to get a better smell, "This is Lotion."

"He threw Lotion at Xaldin?"

"Apparently."He stood up, consciously flicking his finger to throw the lotion away from him. "What a strange Gamble he'd take for a gag/"

"Yeah, it wasn't even that funny."

"More disgusting and repugnant than humorous."

"What is going on here?" The two Nobodies turned their heads to see Number VII standing in the doorway.

* * *

Final Match-**Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.**

"Wow. Look at this guy."Roxas stood next to Xinck in the Arena. They stood on one side of the Arena and their opponent stood at the other end.

"He's..uh..rather big isn't he?"

"He's about as tall as Lexaeus." Roxas held on to his Keyblades.

"God rest his Zombie bones." Xinck gripped his sword pair.

"You two just gonna talk, or are we gonna do this?"The man yelled from his side of the field, pointing a black-gloved hand at them.

"Yeah, of course!"Roxas called out, "Just give us a minute!"He turned around with Xinck, they bent down and whispered in a hushed tone, "Okay...he's just like every other guy we've fought, nothing special, right?"

"Right."Xinck nodded. He looked back at the man, examined him, then looked back at Roxas, "I don't know. Have you seen the size of his shoes? You know what they say about guys with big feet, right?"

"If this is another weird joke-"

"No, not that! For guys with big feet, they have to work twice as hard to stick their boots in someone's ass! Especially people who've pissed them off."

"I'm dying of old age here!"The man yelled from behind.

"Okay! We're coming!"Roxas yelled back, "Hold your hoses!"

"Horses."Xinck corrected.

"Yeah, Horses, too!"

"Alright. We just gotta stay on guard. And watch each others' back. It's our last fight, Ready?"

"I'm not _un_ready."

"Great." They broke their huddle and looked straight at the man. He was tall, really tall, easily over 6'5. he had blonde hair, blue eyes and a small stubble beard. Covering his head was a black bandanna. He wore black gloves, large gray boots, a light blue vest and a striped blue scarf hanging from a belt under

a long off-white ivory trench coat.

"You two got names?"He asked.

"I'm Roxas."

"Xinck."

"Yeah, nice to meet you two."He smiled a cocky, hot-headed grin and pointed a thumb at himself, "I'm Snow. Snow Villiers."

Silence.

Laughter.

Xinck busted out laughing, chuckling to himself. He held his hands over his mouth to stifle himself. Roxas elbowed him in the arm, "What's so funny."

He stopped laughing long enough to look at Roxas, then at their opponent, "_Ridi, Roxae_. We're fighting a man named Snow."

* * *

Heavenly Sword and Final Fantasy XIII

Review.

EDIT-I know accept anonymous Reviews, so...hop to it!


	32. The Cold Sovereign's Fists

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Re:Coded and 3D. Wow...well, _I _have something to look forward to. Speaking of Birth by Sleep, after it comes out, I'm gonna write something for it from the Aprentices's point of view. You ever read the KH manga? I just read a some new chapters from the KH2 manga and it was so funny. For some reason, Xaldin kept eating chips...

Anyway...Um...yeah...I got nothin'

I don't Own anything.

* * *

Final Match-**Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow.**

"Wow. Look at this guy."Roxas stood next to Xinck in the Arena. They stood on one side of the Arena and their opponent stood at the other end.

"He's..uh..rather big isn't he?"

"He's about as tall as Lexaeus." Roxas held on to his Keyblades.

"God rest his Zombie bones." Xinck gripped his sword pair.

"You two just gonna talk, or are we gonna do this?"The man yelled from his side of the field, pointing a black-gloved hand at them.

"Yeah, of course!"Roxas called out, "Just give us a minute!"He turned around with Xinck, they bent down and whispered in a hushed tone, "Okay...he's just like every other guy we've fought, nothing special, right?"

"Right."Xinck nodded. He looked back at the man, examined him, then looked back at Roxas, "I don't know. Have you seen the size of his shoes? You know what they say about guys with big feet, right?"

"If this is another weird joke-"

"No, not that! For guys with big feet, they have to work twice as hard to stick their boots in someone's ass! Especially people who've pissed them off."

"I'm dying of old age here!"The man yelled from behind.

"Okay! We're coming!"Roxas yelled back, "Hold your hoses!"

"Horses."Xinck corrected.

"Yeah, Horses, too!"

"Alright. We just gotta stay on guard. And watch each others' back. It's our last fight, Ready?"

"I'm not _un_ready."

"Great." They broke their huddle and looked straight at the man. He was tall, really tall, easily over 6'5. he had blonde hair, blue eyes and a small stubble beard. Covering his head was a black bandanna. He wore black gloves, large gray boots, a light blue vest and a striped blue scarf hanging from a belt under

a long off-white ivory trench coat.

"You two got names?"He asked.

"I'm Roxas."

"Xinck."

"Yeah, nice to meet you two."He smiled a cocky, hot-headed grin and pointed a thumb at himself, "I'm Snow. Snow Villiers."

Silence.

Laughter.

Xinck busted out laughing, chuckling to himself. He held his hands over his mouth to stifle himself. Roxas elbowed him in the arm, "What's so funny."

He stopped laughing long enough to look at Roxas, then at their opponent, "_Ridi, Roxae_. We're fighting a man named Snow."

"You think my name's funny?" The man named Snow asked, punching his right fist into his open left palm. "Well, what kind of a name is Sink anyway?"

He stopped laughing, "Hey! It's an 'X' not an 'S'!"

Snow folded his arms, "Could've fooled me, Sinky."

Xinck started stammering, "Well, you...! You can...! Nice hair!"

"Nice hair?", Roxas said, "Wow, you're really off today."

"I know, right?" He scratched at his head and crossed his arms, "Not on my A game."

"We can talk about it later-"

"You know."Snow started, he pounded his fists together three times, "I gotta be honest, I'm a little hung-up about fighting two kids."

"The last person we fought said the same thing." Roxas said.

"Oh, really? How'd it go?"

"We-"

"Kicked her ass."Xinck said.

"Huh. Guess I'll have to be extra careful, then!" Snow crouched down and sprinted, he was big but apparently that didn't make him slow. He easily closed the gap between him and Xinck and struck his fist forward for his face. A quick step to the left and Xinck dodged the fist and back flipped to get more room. Roxas came up next to Snow, Oathkeeper ready and aimed for his head. Snow turned and threw up both arms, crossing them and blocking the strike.

"You're blocking with your bare arms?" Roxas started an assault with both Keyblades, but Snow kept his arms up, blocking the barrage and moving back away from Roxas. A last strike, Snow raised his left arm just as Roxas struck again, deflecting his strike, knocking him off balance and leaving him open. Snow raised another fist to his him square in the chest. A chain and sword flew from behind and ensnared Snow's arm, the sword dangled from the end of the chain. Both Roxas and Snow looked and saw Xinck at the other end of the chain, a few yards behind Snow. He waved and grinned with his free hand. Snow panicked looking back at Roxas just as he took a swords trike in his exposed gut. He yelled out, just as Roxas jumped back and a ray of blue light fired from above and struck Snow in his chest. He groaned and just as Xinck's chain slipped away from his arm, he took a knee and hung his head, breathing heavily.

Xinck jumped over Snow and over to Roxas, where they both took their stances. Snow smacked his knee and looked up. "Whoo! That was fun, eh?" He huffed. He stood up, and brushed himself off and smiled, "I was wrong for callin' you two kids."

"We just beat your ass and you're smiling?"Xinck asked

"Well, I wouldn't say you beat my ass. You caught me off guard, no doubt, but you didn't win." His smile faded some and his blue eyes darted from Roxas to Xinck, from Keyblades to large Butcher knives. "Of course, it's not much of a _fair _fight, with you two and those swords." He looked down at his bare arms, there was a little bruising and some scars, and his chest burned a little from where Roxas had fired a laser at him, but other than that he was okay. His clothes acted as a very effective armor. He reached into his coat and grabbed something small and pulled his arm out. Roxas and Xinck couldn't see what he pulled out, even as he held it up to his face. "But I've got a little something for that!" He threw the contents of his hand out forward, a small red and orange gem that left a trail of orange dust in it's path.

Roxas and Xinck held up their swords to block, but the gem stayed in the air before them and hovered. "What's the matter?"Snow laughed, "Scared?"

"We're not scared!" Roxas yelled, letting down his guard.

"You will be. **Banishing Burn!**" With his command, the orange gem combusted in red flames. Fires swirled around it and in a quick wave of heat, exploded and quickly consumed the three fighters, the arena and hit the wall and stands around them. But the fires didn't harm them and when the flames died down and everything came back into focus. Roxas put his hands down from shielding his face, he looked at Xinck and he was doing the same, and to Snow, who looked as if he hadn't even put up his arms.

The flames had gone as quickly as they had come, leaving nothing but a few burning embers. Xinck was the first to notice something was wrong. "Aw, crap, that's no good." he had his back turned to Snow and was looking at the Coliseum wall, where burn-marked outlined etchings of his two swords were plastered to the wall, right next to the same etchings of Oblivion and Oathkeeper. "Roxas."Xinck called and he turned to see his Keyblades burned into the wall.

He turned back to Snow, "What did you do?"

"I evened up the fight!" Snow was already on him, fists ready to punch. He threw a punch for Roxas' head, but XIII threw up his arms in defense to block. He sidestepped after the block and started back away towards Xinck. "Oh. Not bad. You're fast, kid."

"Don't call me Kid." With that, Roxas took a wide stance and lowered one arm to his stomach in a fist and the other to his face. Xinck came up next to him, taking another stance, which to the untrained eye would look identical to Roxas.

Xinck laughed a little, "Roxas."

"What?"He didn't take his eyes off of Snow, who was advancing inch-by-inch to them in his own stance.

"Make sure you protect the _Kintama._"

"The what?"

"_Kintama._"

"What's that?"

"I'll tell you later."

Roxas and Xinck were weaponless, and when you're weaponless, there are only two logical solutions: Run, or fight. They couldn't run because they had a job to do and they were determined to finish it, so they had to fight. A misconception about the Organization is that the only two members who have experience outside of armed combat are Lexaeus and Xaldin, but that's not true. It wasn't required, but it was recommended that every member learn the basics of any Martial Art, in case of a scenario where their weapons are useless. Roxas had training from Axel in various Asian martial arts, mostly Shaolin style, but he was only taught the basics. Xinck had little training in Northern Shaolin Kung-Fu from Larxene and Capoeira from Marluxia, he occasionally switched between the two to keep people off guard. Neither of them were Masters in the arts, but they knew enough to get by if necessary.

"Let's kick some names and take some ass."Xinck declared.

"You mean-ah, nevermind. Let's go!"

* * *

Saix had returned to the Gray Area, just as Xaldin and Xigbar had thrown each other out of the window after Xigbar had 'Seagulled' Xaldin. After about ten minutes of their fighting, and twenty minutes of the others trying to convince Xaldin that it was just lotion that Xigbar threw, Saix had calmed them all down. They all sat around the rectangular table in the center of two couches and an armchair. Saix sat in the armchair, Demyx and Xaldin on one couch and Luxord and Xigbar on the other.

"Xigbar."Saix started, "I am aware of you taking over my post while I was gone. As of now, I resume my duties."

"Fine."Xigbar sat back on the couch. "It's not like I did that much anyway, right, Xaldin?" He smiled and shot an eye at Number III

"You don't get to talk to me, you SON OF A BITCH!"Xaldin stood from his couch and pointed an angry finger at the Freeshooter. Then he sat back, closed his eyes and put his head on his hand.

"It was just lotion."Demyx said, "You know that, rig-"

"Shut your fucking mouth, or I swear, I'll rip your dick off."

"Oooohkay..."Demyx looked away and nervously drummed his fingers against his legs.

"Anyway."Saix started again, "Has anything new developed since I was gone?"

"Nothing acceptable."Luxord piped up, "The only thing we have is a report from a few Dusks that they've picked up a minute trace of Their presences in a remote world."

"Which world?"

"It's an insignificant little world. It's Heartless population is too small to award it a name. In fact, the only thing that that world has is a Satanic cult, but nothing of any interest to us."

"I see."Saix nodded.

"Other than that, I told whatever Nobodies that could be found to search a few nearby worlds, just in case."Xigbar said. "But, we still haven't found them."

"Well, it would seem that I was the only who have had any success."Saix reached around into his pocket and pulled his hand out so that the rest of them could see. Clenched between his pointer finger and thumb, was a small, golden blonde hair.

"It's a hair." Demyx stated.

"No shit, Sherlock."Xaldin spat.

"I found this in my room."Saix said, examining the hair.

"So." said Demyx.

"So? So, this shows us how serious our situation is."

"So, what?"Xigbar said, "Luxord was in your room, big whup! You gonna kill him like you killed the others that snuck into your room?"

"I didn't go into Saix's room!"Luxord yelled next to Xigbar.

"Dude, it's your hair, we can all see it."

"That's golden blonde, mine's white blonde! Demyx did it!"

"What?"Demyx yelled, nearly choking on his words. "I didn't! I swear!" An argument ensued, with Xigbar yelling at Luxord, Luxord yelling at Demyx and Demyx just yelling, period. Xaldin yelled out loud, a loud grunt or roar, silencing the three.

"It's like I'm on an island, surrounded by idiots! It's Roxas' Hair! You'd have to be blind, stupid or Demyx to not know!"

"Yeah!"Demyx agreed, "Hey, wait-what?"

"Yes."Saix's calm, cold voice had silenced them all, "In my room, earlier, I found this hair on the clipboard I use to record missions. The only problem is that every time I leave my room, I place a magical incantation around it, making it impossible to get inside, either by door, corridor or other, unless you are me. My room is locked down tight when I leave and somehow, Roxas got inside, browsed through my files and found the schedule for the last mission Axel was on."

"What exactly does this mean?" Xaldin asked.

"It shows how determined Roxas is to undermine the decree set forth by the Superior himself."

"And Xinck."Xigbar said, "He's also undermining the decree and whatnot."

"Yes, yes, of course, Xinck, too."Saix let the hair fall to the stark, white floor and he held the same hand up close by his head and closed his eyes. He let his two fingers snap past each other for awhile and sighed. "My guess is that they went to Agrabah, from there they returned to The World That Never Was, per Luxord's report when He battled them in The corridor. Then, another Dusk, after They had defeated a Darkside, reported that they left through another Corridor. That is also supported by the second half of Luxord's report when he fought them once again."

"And during the fight, they escaped through a different portal." Luxord added.

"Yes. And if my guess is correct, they might have ended up in that world you mentioned earlier where small traces of their powers were detected. And, If they are smart, they'll avoid using The Corridors"

"But,"Interrupted Xaldin, "If they aren't using the corridors anymore, then that could mean they are still on that world, right?"

"If they were than the Dusks or other Nobodies would have been able to find them."Xigbar said.

"They couldn't find them if they were shielding their presence, right?"Demyx suggested.

"They are not hiding their presence."Saix said. His eyes were still closed, his hand still in the air next to his head and his fingers sliding past each other in the snapping motion, but making no sound. "And the Nobodies wouldn't be able to find them there because they aren't there."

"That...doesn't make any since."Demyx started, "If they can't use the corridors, then they can't be-"

"They must have found another way off-world. Gummi Ship, more than likely."

"Gummi Ship! Impossible!"Spat Xaldin.

"Improbable."Luxord jeered.

"Gummi Ship's are useless to get from world to world now, ever since Sora sealed them all off after defeating Ansem."

"Yes, this is true."Saix said, still calmly, "But the Keyblade is a truly remarkable weapon and Roxas's strong will may well be acting through it. The impassable walls surrounding the worlds may have weakened because of Roxas's resolve."

"So, you're saying that because Roxas wants to go from world to world, without using the corridors, the Keyblade, reacting through his will, is weakening the barriers around the worlds to allow him passage?"

"It is just a theory, but it seems to be very accurate."

Xaldin blinked, a little taken aback, then he sat back on the couch, crossed his legs and put his hand on his chin, "Indeed, his resolve is a force to be reckoned with..."

"Yeah, but we still don't know where they are."Demyx said.

"No, we don't."Saix continued, "But what I still do not understand is _how _Roxas broke the spell around my room to get at the schedule in the first place. His understanding of magic isn't enough to break that level of magic."

"Xinck could have done the deed." Luxord said, "We can't rule that out."

"Of course, but now is not the time to worry of that."Saix finally opened his eyes. He sighed and stood and looked out at the others who kept their eyes on Number VII, "If my theory is correct, they are traveling by Ship, so Xigbar..."The Nobody in question perked up, "Send out about a dozen ships from The Dreadnought Armada to search space, as for the rest of you, make yourselves useful and start scouring worlds."

Receiving their orders, the four others stood and started making their own portals to random locations. Luxord stayed behind as the others departed, his portal lingered behind him. "And what of you, Second-in-Command, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I'll be taking up the research for a tracking spell to locate Roxas and Xinck. Since the rest of you seemed to have grown bored with research."

"Ah, of course."Luxord grin slightly, walking into his portal and waving back at Saix, "Good Luck, old sport." he disappeared into the Darkness.

And with that, Saix left the room as well.

* * *

"Take this!" In his hand, a grenade and Snow tossed it for Roxas. The little green ball sailed through the air and the ground next to Roxas's feet. He jumped back, just as the explosion went off below him. "Pay attention!"Snow jumped through the blast straight for Roxas, letting loose a barrage of fists. They punched and dodged around each other, as Roxas backed away. With a grunt, Roxas ducked down, tucked in one leg, kicked out the other and spun, catching Snow in the leg and tripping him up. As he staggered to get his balance back, Roxas shot up and struck with quick fists to his stomach and finishing with a roundhouse to the side.

"Dammit!" Snow landed a few feet from Roxas and stood.

"Not bad, huh?" Roxas took his stance, "Bet you wish I still had my weapons, right?"

Snow replied with a cocky smile, "Nah, this is good. If anything, I'm getting a workout!"

"Then work this!" From behind, Xinck came from above, a fist ready and consumed in shadow. He dropped down on Snow, who moved from his spot and punched for his head. Snow moved and countered with a punch to Xinck's chest. Xinck yelled and curled back, held the sore spot. "Oh, you hit like Six year old!"He cringed, still holding his chest, "...Agh! Who keeps bricks in his gloves...!" Xinck came back up to Snow and threw out six quick jabs, Snow dodged two and blocked four. Snow raised his foot to kick and Xinck bent backwards in an arch to avoid it. His back bent all the way until his hands touched the ground, then he raised his legs up and started to spin, switching to Capoeira. He spun in a 360 degree circle, catching Snow in the stomach once. Then he shot back onto his feet as Snow staggered backwards. Xinck kicked high for his head, smacking Snow in the side, he spun around and hit him in the stomach again with the other foot. Snow groaned, holding his stomach and stepping back from Xinck.

"Ha ha."Snow raised his head to look at Xinck. He was smiling, "Damn, you really like to kick don't you?"

"Ha! Yeah, I could've been a Rockette, except I have a penis."

Snow responded with a small chuckle, but said nothing. He just ran for Xinck, but he was fast and easily closed the gap between him and Xinck. He tried to jump back from Snow, but he was too fast. Snow held up his giant fist and unloaded punch, after punch on Xinck, who tried to keep up with his blocks, but snow was too fast. He took a hit in the gut, then one in the ribs and yelled in pain. Xinck raised up to try and punch, but Snow twisted around and landed a kick in Xinck's side, tossing him to the ground. Roxas ran up to Snow, jumped and punched for his head, but Snow grabbed his arm, spun him around and slammed him on the ground next to Xinck.

"Oh!" Roxas yelped, rolling on his back, "That sucked..."

"You guys look like you need to take a breather, he he."Snow was pounding his fist into his palm again, watching the two lean over and with their hands on their needs.

"We don't need..!"Roxas nearly chocked from those last three words as he stood up, "..Give me a sec..."

"This is embarrassing..."Xinck coughed.

"Wow, you guys can't do anything without your weapons!" Snow laughed and Roxas looked up at him. "What?"

"Nothing..How about this!" In a flash of light, Roxas ran straight for Snow, passing by and stopping behind him, leaving a trail of light on the ground. Roxas raised his hand and pulled upward and the light exploded, catching Snow off guard. He quickly threw his arms up to shield himself.

"Right here!" Snow heard the other one from his front. Xinck reared back, just as a small, black portal levitated in the air in front of him. He punched forward, his fist thrusting into the portal, an even larger dark portal appeared a few feet in front of him and a grand, enormous, black arm punched threw for Snow. Snow saw the arm coming for him, he threw out his arms and grabbed the giant fist, the ground behind him crumbled and broke away from the shear force.

Snow grunted, his arms twitching and locking in place, he tried to hold the fist back, but it was huge and showed no signs of stopping, "Damn...this is..!"

"I know, right!"Xinck grunted just to keep the fist from coming back into the portal, "Each fist has the power of ten, but enough about me, Hit him again!"He threw out his other fist, and another, large dark fist shot from a portal at Snow, catching him in the side and smacking him clear across the arena. Like a rag-doll, he hit the ground, bounced, flew a little, then rolled to a stop.

"Oh!"He hit his back and coughed blood onto his chest. He stood, a little wobbly, to his feet and swayed from left to right. He saw Roxas and Xinck standing next to each other, "I see. You two are out for blood, huh? Fine." Like he was healed, or he had no fear, he started running straight fro them, pumping his legs and arms.

Xinck held his hand out to the on-coming Snow, white and black lightning shooting around his fist as a black flame formed in his palm. A dark ball formed and fired at Snow, missing and hitting the ground around his moving feet, followed by several more shots that continued hitting the ground around Snow, "How the hell do I keep missing?"

"Get out the way!"Roxas came and pushed himself and Xinck out of the way, falling to the ground and out of the way of the rampaging Snow. Snow laughed, jumping straight into the air above them. He threw a hard, closed fist into the air. He descended, heaving his fist for them, just as Roxas shot back up and threw his hands into the air, generating a translucent, domed forcefield of light around him and Xinck.

"Sovereign Fist."Snow Roared and collided his energized fist against the dome, breaking and shattering the light like glass. Roxas fell back, Xinck shot up and Snow landed on the ground. "Whoo! That was wild, right?" He laughed, but stayed in his stance, even going so far to jab at the air a few times. He saw Roxas and Xinck and saw they weren't laughing. "He he..yeah."He nervously scratched at the back of his head. Then, like he was hit with an idea, his eyes lit up, "Hey! You know what? Let's finish this up, 'kay? Looks like I'm gonna win, anyway."

"What makes you say that?" Roxas was a little peeved. This man was standing in his way.

"Big talk coming from a guy who wears a bandanna..."Xinck said.

"Don't hate on my bandanna!"Snow moved a finger along the rim of said bandanna, "And to answer your question, I'm gonna win because I've got this."From his coat pocket, he produced a small, blue object that radiated a frozen energy that Roxas and Xinck could feel all the way across from Snow. Snow looked at the blue object, then back at Roxas, "I'm gonna win, and I kinda like to finish in style!" In his hand he crushed the small object, causing a small burst of white frost around his hand. "Shiva!"He called and he jumped back as the frost expanded and a large, neon-blur sphere, marked with translucent etchings and marks that orbited around the sphere like rings on a planet. From the very center of the sphere, two objects started to slowly emerge. They floated out of the sphere, two female figures, one appeared dark-skinned with a white patch around her right eye and detailed with bronze markings around her body and bronze jewelery dangling from her arms and headpiece. Her headpiece was large, and seemed more like her hair, white and also detailed in bronze, but solid and metal with a bronze-rimmed wheel sticking out from underneath the headpiece. The other figure, light-skinned with a black patch around her left eye, appeared to be dressed in dark and silver. She, too, had a headpiece, sleeker and slanted downward, instead of upward like her sister. She had no wheel in her headpiece, it instead levitated in her right hand.

They both had a humanoid shape, but looked more mechanical with machinery covering their bodies . They had no feet, but only more machinery in the form of legs, so they levitated. They completely burst from the sphere and glided over to Snow, floating in the air behind him.

"Come on!" Snow called to the Sisters and they flew into air, floating around each in a slow dance. Suddenly, they each grabbed each other and threw their legs into the air, gripping each other. Their torsos bent and and their legs and feet twisted and fit into each other. The Wheel held by the light-skinned Sister floated behind her and fit into the back of her head, matching her Sister. In a second, the sound of an engine came to life and the wheels started to spin. Snow jumped above and landed on his newly created motorcycle. He gripped the handle bars and the engine sounded again, falling to the ground to face Roxas and Xinck.

"Okay..."Xinck said, shocked, "He calls out two android girls and they turn into a Motorcycle. Wow. Hey!"Xinck called to Snow, "You know it looks like you're sitting on their v-"

"I know!"Snow snapped back, he gripped the throttle, he and his bike shot forward for the pair, leaving a trail of ice spikes in his wake.

"Move!" Roxas shouted, prompting them both to jump over and out of the way of the oncoming vehicle. Snow continued riding, until he turned at the last minute just before he drove off the arena.

"Got any ideas?" Xinck asked, sneaking a glance at Roxas as they landed on the arena floor, waiting for Snow to charge them again. They were both a little cut up, their coats had cuts that were re-stitching themselves every few minutes. They, too, had a few cuts and bruises, but it was nothing that wasn't healing by itself. Roxas thought Xinck's question over for a few seconds, his eyes darted around the arena. From the stands to the walls to the surrounding four pillars of the arena, he-

"Yeah."Roxas nodded, looking and giving a small smile to Xinck, "I got an idea."

"What?"

"Even though we don't have weapons, we can still do magic. I've got a plan, and all I need you to do is to keep him occupied."

"Oh...I don't like that idea. I'm gonna get hurt, aren't I?"

"It's the only idea I can think of, besides, just be quick and we can get him off guard."

Xinck sighed, scratching the side of his face, "Alright..fine."

"Do you trust me?"

"No."

"Good. Let's go!" With that, Snow started again, engines roared and he charged for them again. Xinck braced himself and at the last minute before Snow collided with them, Roxas jumped into the air and out of sight. Snow collided into Xinck and continued driving, this time out of the arena and all around the coliseum. Xinck yelled, the wind whipping against his back as he and Snow continued rolling around the arena.

"Hey!" Snow yelled over the roar of the engine, "Get off!"

Xinck's yelling turned to laughter and grinned evilly at Snow, "Pull over! Let me see your license!" Snow took his hand from the left handle bar and punch Xinck in the side of the face. Xinck yelped , laughed then hit Snow back in the face. The back wavered, but Snow regained control and started smacking Xinck over and over again. After another hit, they both heard a snap of bone, "Agh! My jaw! You dick!" Xinck moved the bottom half of his jaw around a little, "You popped it."Then he opened his mouth, wider than a normal human should be able to, exposing his large tongue and fanged teeth and a dark blast erupted from his throat, shooting from his mouth to Snow.

"Agh!" Snow gasped and moved his head out of the way of the blast, just enough for the blast to singe his coat.

"Oh my god."Xinck looked shocked as he closed his mouth, "I swear, I didn't know I could do that." Snow growled and slammed on the brakes of his cycle and made a sharp turn and stopped, the resulting force flinging Xinck off the cycle and to the ground with a grunt. But he quickly stood back up to see Snow pulling on the throttle and charging at him again.

"Cool him off!" Snow bellowed over the roaring engine, he pulled and turned the bike so he leaned over and skidded on it's size, shooting large spikes of ice from it's bottom. Xinck jumped back just before the spikes could touch him and quickly melt away.

"What's wrong?" Snow asked, kicking his bike back up onto it's wheels, "Running away?"

"Nah..just wanna see what your weird, oddly sexual motorcycle can do.."

"Mm."Snow nodded slightly, "What happened to the other-"

"Don't worry about him! Pay attention to me!" Xinck quickly yelled back, jumping and punching a fist straight into a black portal, creating another large, black fist underneath him and directed at Snow. A colliding force hit Snow in the side, but not knocking him off the bike, simply sliding the bike along it's wheels and tossing Snow a round a little.

Snow viewed Xinck falling back to the earth, growling and revving his bike, he took off for Xinck's landing point. "Chill out!" He screamed, pulling up on the handles and popping a wheelie. As he spun upside down below Xinck, a quick forming, large curve of ice appeared, trapping Xinck up to his waist. Snow spun all the way around and hit the floor again, revving his bike and looking at the frozen Xinck.

"'Chill out'?"Xinck looked down at Snow, occasionally beating at the ice encased around his torso, "What is this, the 90s? I haven't heard that in years."

"Nice, huh? Short, sweet and to the point!" He revved his engine again, hit the gas and turned his bike around, heading in the opposite direction. After reaching the other end of the arena, he turned back around, slamming on the gas and shooting for Xinck. Ice crystals, started forming on the front of the bike, Snow slammed on the brakes just before reaching Xinck, he jerked the handles bars to the left and started spinning in circles toward Xinck, throwing snow, ice and water from the ground into the air. He was generating a great wall of ice, like a frozen whirlwind, it bashed into Xinck's frozen case, screaming and yelling, Xinck went flying out of the arena and into the stands. Snow stopped spinning and the wall of ice immediately started melting as he and his bike came to a stop.

"Ha Ha! Had enough?" Snow slapped his leg, looking at Xinkc sprawled out in the stands and breathing heavily.

"You!...Jer...Jerk-ass!"Xinck huffed, his chest moving up and down vigorously. He hung his head back and closed his eyes.

"Xinck!" Roxas called out from somewhere in the Arena. Xinck threw up his head at the calling of his voice. He looked, and Snow looked around as well, but Roxas was nowhere to be found in the Arena. "Over here!" This time, following his voice, Xinck looked at the tops of the walls around the arena. At the top of the corner of the walls across and adjacent to Xinck, Roxas waved to get Xinck's attention.

"Hi, yes, I see you..."Xinck waved back.

"What the hell's going on?" Snow looked alarmed, craning his neck around to see Roxas standing at the top of the wall.

Roxas started "What are you-"

"Just do it already!" Xinck yelled.

"Right." Roxas jumped down off the walls and landing at the top step of the stands. He knelt down and from his pocket he pulled out, what looked like, a black dagger. He raised it into the air and stabbed it downward. Upon stabbing the stands, a ring of white light circled around the blade, then fell onto the ground. Four, lines of light shined and zoomed away from the circle, falling down each step and making their way to the arena pillars. Each line made it to a pillar and circled around it, the lines faded but the circles around each pillar stayed. Roxas stood up and held his hand out to the arena, "Draw!" At his command, each circle produced three, identical lines of light, two on opposite sides and the other facing the inside of the arena. The two outside lines shot out and connected each circle, creating a complete circle around the small, square arena. The remaining inside lines started started to become part of a grand design, like a brush moving across a canvas, each line made the same, symmetrical design, and meet at the center, ending part one of the the spell. "Shoot for Heaven!" Roxas pointed straight up, his spell reacted by the boundary shining even brighter, essentially trapping everything within the arena.

Snow and his motorcycle were the only ones in the Arena.

"You're really fucked now!"Xinck cackled safely from his seat in the stands.

The large, glowing white symbol Roxas created in the Arena, glowed and from each white line and curve on the ground, tens of dozens of thin rods of solid light fired straight up, catching Snow in his arms, legs, torso, throwing him and his bike into the air. The rods ripped through his overcoat as they hauled him straight up, higher than the pillars and higher than the walls around the entire Coliseum. He started panicking, throwing his legs around and jerking his legs about, but unable to get free. Then, it all stopped, leaving him stuck and suspended in the air with his back to the ground.

"Ugh! Hey, get me down!"He yelled, throwing his arms and legs about. Xinck staggered up from the stands as Roxas made his way down from his stands. They meet at the edge of the arena and watched Snow thrash about in Roxas' prison of light.

"How the hell did you know a spell like that?"Xinck asked, cutting his eyes, leaning his head and sticking his hands in his pockets.

"He he."He laughed nervously, "And you said I didn't know any magic. Proved you wrong, right?" Roxas pulled the previously seen black dagger from his pocket and held it out to Xinck, "This is yours."

Xinck looked shocked, looking at his dagger, "How did you-" He pulled his hands out his pockets and reached his right hand into his left sleeve, feeling around and finding nothing, he pulled it out. "How'd you get me knife!"

"I-"

"You thieving slut!"

"I remembered when we were tied up in that basement, you said you kept a knife in your sleeve just in case. Well, before I ran up to put up that shield to block Snow, I grabbed your dagger from your sleeve and I figured I could think of a plan. Which I did, and I needed a bladed weapon to start it off."

"How'd you get the blade without me noticing and why didn't you just ask for it?" Xinck grabbed the black dagger.

Roxas shrugged, "It was, uh, spur of the moment kind of thing. I didn't have time to ask because Snow was coming."

"Ah.."Xinck nodded. He had no idea Roxas was just a good pickpocket. Xinck took a closer look at the dagger. It was a nice size for a blade, a curved a jagged edge and the blade was a pure, glassy black color. The handle was adorned with two skulls on either side, dark silver in color. Xinck put the blade in his left sleeve.

"Where'd you get that thing anyway?"

"Sometime ago, I went to this one world and I met a kid who said he was-"

"Get me down!" Snow yelled, catching their attention, "Okay! I give! You win! Just get me down, dammit!"

"Yes! We won!" Roxas, to Xinck's surprise, jumped up and down. He landed and snapped his fingers, the prison of light entrapping Snow and his bike faded away with quick bursts of light. He hit the ground with a thump and his bike crashed to the ground. With that, Phil walked away from his spot on the wall and drudge over to the two. He didn't look happy.

Snow came over as well, his bike had disappeared and he was rubbing the sore spot where he had fallen. He sighed, giving a feigned smile, "Well-hell, looks like you two really pulled through. I didn't even hold back."

"I was."Xinck said, his eyes shifting left and right. "Speaking of holding back, can we get our swords back?"

"Huh, oh yeah." He snapped his fingers and along the wall behind them, the burned etchings of their weapons dissipated. Immediately, black smoke wrapped around Xinck's hands and shining light and dark shimmered in Roxas's hands. Before they could materialize, Roxas dismissed his Keyblades. Xinck kept his swords out, rubbed them up against his face, saying 'I missed you.' Then he dismissed them.

Roxas started to laugh, he looked at Phil as he approached , "That's it. We won, I told you we could do it!"

"Yeah...you did." Phil stopped in his tracks. He looked at Snow, he looked disgusted, "You. You're out. Get lost."

Snow tugged at his coat collar, sniffed the air, "Fine. You can be mad all you want, but I wouldn't wanna piss these two off." Snow casually placed his hands behind his head and started walking for the door, as he passed Xinck, he looked and quietly said, "Watch out for the goatman, seriously." Xinck returned with a bewildered look, watching Snow leave into the lobby, then out the Coliseum doors.

But Roxas turned to Phil. He was smiling a little, "Alright, we won the Tournament."

"I know." Phil said behind gritted teeth. He gripped the bridge of his nose, placed a hand on his hip and sighed. He turned from Roxas and stomped his foot. "No."He said calmly.

"What?"

"I said No."

"What do you mean no!" His smile quickly faded and he gripped his fists.

"I won't-I can't tell you how to get to the Underworld. I won't be the one to put you two in that position. Listen, kid, the Underworld's no place for you, even your friend. No normal person has ever come back from there and I know you're strong, I know this, but I just can't tell you how to get there for your own safety. I'm sorry."

"You grubby little wanker!" Xinck yelled, advancing on Phil, "You lied to us! We did this stupid fucking tournament for no goddamn reason!" Xinck started pulling at the knife in his sleeve as he walked up on Phil, but Roxas stopped him, holing out his hand to stop.

"No." Roxas's head was lowered. Xinck couldn't see his eyes and he spoke in sullen, still words. "There's no point. This whole thing was pointless." He turned from Xinck, his head to the ground and walked for the door of the lobby.

"Roxas, wait!" Xinck yelled, running after him. Xinck opened the door after Roxas had already ran inside, he looked back at Phil, who was still with his back to them. "Get fucked, Tripe!" And Xinck slammed the door behind him.

Xinck ran through the lobby doors, through the stone lobby and out into the main Courtyard. Upon running down the steps, he looked to the left and right and saw Roxas sitting against the left Coliseum wall on the ground with his knees pulled up to his chest and his head in his lap. Xinck ran over to him, stopping just ahead of him and waited for him to say something. But he didn't, he just sat there. The wind blew, his hair moved, thee sun beat down, it was hot.

Xinck pulled at his coat collar, trying to cool himself off. He was much more sensitive to light and heat than Roxas was, so he sat down next to him. As he did, the air around his left hand darkened until it was just a pitch black, shadow. He took both his hands and stretched the gaseous darkness until it was in the shape of a large circle. He held it up in the air, stretched some more so that it fit over both him and Roxas, then let it bend naturally so that it formed a dome over them, shielding them from the sun. Xinck rested his hands in his lap and crossed his legs. Roxas didn't speak.

Even beings who had no emotions or hearts had empathy. But for Xinck, this was something that was a little underdeveloped in him, but he'd have to be blind deaf and dumb to not notice how upset Roxas was right now. Let it never be said that Xinck never tried to cheer someone up, even though Roxas wasn't talking, he'd talk for the both of them and hopefully strike a chord.

"The clouds are nice. Pretty." He started looking through his self-made umbrella to the cloud-filled sky, "I don't really like sunny, blue sky days. You can see a blue sky any day, but for me, I like cloudy, rainy days." Roxas didn't say anything, or move. Xinck nervously scratched at the back of his head, "You know, uh, er...um...yeah. Hey, sometimes clouds have two sides, right. A dark and light ... and a silver lining in between. It's like a shining, silver sandwich. So if life seems hard, take a bite out of the silver sandwich." Xinck waited, nothing.

Then, Roxas lifted his head from his lap,slightly turned his head in Xinck's direction. His eyes looked dark and almost sad, "That doesn't make any sense."

"Yeah, I told Zuko the same thing."

This time, Roxas let his legs down and, limp against the ground , but his head stayed down. "What are we gonna do now?"

"We could Kill Phil..."

"No, that wouldn't do anything."

"...Volume 2. Are you sure? I mean maybe a little torture might make you feel better?"

"We can't hurt him. We're not even supposed to be seen by anyone."

"You think the Organization cares if we're seen?"

"Probably. They didn't even want to help us find Axel, so I doubt they'll want to risk having us out and about." Sometimes, both Roxas forgot who outranked who. To Roxas, it seemed that Xinck was much more well-informed in the matters and inner workings of The Organization, despit Roxas being in the group much longer than he had. He had a great understanding of magic, because of that, he was inducted into the Organization's inner circle, meaning he knew things that only the Original members were only supposed to know. But to Xinck, Roxas would always out rank him, because when everything was said and done, Roxas was the most important member in the group. Therefore, no matter how much he screwed up, they could never get rid of him because he had the Keyblade. But for Xinck and every other member under Xemnas, despite having important roles, we're all expendable.

The Deviant rubbed his head and sighed, "If they find us, what do you think they'll do to us for disobeying orders?"

"Who knows, kill us?"

"That would be an unfortunate denouement. They'd kill me, not you."

"Why you?"

"Because I'm expendable. The Organization functioned perfectly well without me, and they can keep doing it."

"That's not fair. They'd kill you just because you don't have a Keyblade?"

"More than likely. That giant house key is your own personal ass-saver."

"I hate that. It's not fair." Roxas held out his hand, a bright light shone and he gripped Oathkeeper. "Here." He handed it to Xinck.

"What?"

"If you have a Keyblades, then they can't kill you."

Xinck looked shocked. He looked at Roxas and saw that he still looked angry, but he was serious. He started to hold his hand out to grab the blade, but stopped halfway. "Can I see the black one?"

"Why?"

"Black is in style this season."

Roxas gripped his sword, it wrapped itself in a shining black cloud and he gripped Oblivion. Xinck held his hand out again, but once more, he stopped midway, this time completely dropping his hand. "What's wrong now?" Roxas asked.

"Nothing, it's just that I've seen you hand your Keyblade to others before and every time I've seen it return to your hand."

"I know." He dismissed Oblivion in a plume of black smoke, "I guess I'm the only one who _can _wield the Keyblade."

"I didn't say that."

"Mmm?"

"Roxas, in this matter, I've decided to keep my blissful ignorance. They say that only a chosen few can wield the Keyblade and I don't know that I'm not one of those chosen few. Perhaps that me not knowing that I can't hold a Keyblade is enough to allow me to hold it. Maybe my ignorance of my own ignorance is enough...maybe."

"...I'll have to take your word for it."

"Yeah."

A loud, crumbling boom sound exploded into their ears from inside the Coliseum. They looked from underneath the dark umbrella to see stones and rocks and pillars from the Lobby being thrown out. And Phil came flying out of the Lobby door, smacking the pavement of the Courtyard with his face. He looked bruised up and a little beaten.

"Hey, look, it's Goat-man-do." Xinck said. Neither he nor Roxas seemed alarmed at what was happening.

"_My Lieges..."_A telepathic message sounded into both Roxas and Xinck's heads. Rising above the walls of the partially-damaged Coliseum, long, blue wavy scarf tails rose and a large, white, twitchy figure emerged. A Twilight Thorn with it's long, crab claw-like arms, long pointed feet and spiky body. Easily the largest Nobody at the Organization's disposal, _"I have come for you."_

Roxas quickly stood up, breaking through and destroying the dark umbrella. He still looked angry, well, _angrier. _"What are you doing?" Xinck started getting up to follow.

Roxas looked back to Xinck, but kept walking, "I'm taking a bite of the silver sandwich."

"...I though we agreed that didn't make any sense..."

The Twilight Thorn actually left the bulk of it's body in the Coliseum Arena, but it stretched it's upper body, torso and all, over the broken wall and down into the Courtyard. Roxas walked without fear straight up to the faceless head of the Twilight Thorn, it's blue scarf appendages on the back of it's neck seemed alive as they moved by themselves.

"Leave." Roxas's only words to The Twilight Thorn.

"_My apologies. My orders are from a more Senior member and my orders are to neutralize and bring you back to The Castle."_

"You should know I'm in a really bad mood right now."Roxas cut his eyes at the Thorn. His fists were trembling being clenched so tight. Xinck appeared next to Roxas, his weapons drawn, but not in his stance.

Without taking his eyes off The Thorn, Roxas spoke to Xinck, "You should back up."

"Why?"

"I don't want you to get hurt." The Twilight Thorn raised it's large, think and ropy right arm, clenched it in a fist and punched for Roxas. He didn't lift his head, he didn't flinch at all as he barely raised Oblivion to block. The fist collided with full-force and Roxas moved not one inch, Oblivion did not waver and Xinck got the hint. Roxas was serious. Seriously pissed.

Just as Oathkeeper appeared in his other hand, Xinck jumped far away from Roxas. The Twilight Thorn retracted it's arm and Roxas raised his head. "Reign In The Light And Revel In The Twilight...!" Like the light of the sun carved itself a perfect circle around Roxas, an outline of light encircled him. He screamed, yelling at the Twilight Thorn as his image disappeared behind a blasting wall of light. He exploded, blasting into a column that tore into the sky, shooting through the clouds. Blasts of light ran across the grounds of the courtyard, barely missing Xinck, who was running to Phil.

Xinck grabbed the Satyr's arm, jerking him awake. "Get up. Get up!" He yelled over the noise. He shook Phil awake and pulled him to his feet. Phil shook his head in his hands, then nearly jumped from surprise at the exploding geyser of light in his Courtyard. He tried to turn to Xinck, but he grabbed the Goatman's head and jerked it back towards Roxas, "You will watch this..."

The Light died, slowly and Roxas stepped away. In his Redux he wore a form-fitting black suit, black shoes and black gloves. Under the suit, he wore a shining, black undershirt and over that, a golden tie with a small, white Nobody sigil on the front. His hair, acting like a halo, glowed brightly with it's own ethereal light and draped along his shoulders was a large, blinding white trench coat. It flowed behind him, shining so brightly that it almost seemed impossible to look at. Another, silver outline of the Nobody symbol was asymmetrically tattooed in the corner of the Coat. Both Keyblades, Oblivion and Oathkeeper floated behind him. "... _Archangelus Exitium Et Creatio, Lucifer (Bringer of Light, Archangel of Destruction and Creation)."_

"Oh, he's really pissed now." Xinck said.

"What is he doing?" Phil watched, frozen in place.

"Watch. He'll show you." Phil tried to move his head around, but Xinck grabbed it again and jerked it back to Roxas's direction. "Watch or I'll snap your neck."

Twilight Thorn moved it's sagging body over the Coliseum, dragging it's giant feet and scraping them against the pavement. It's face wiggled and twitched, as it and its neck stretched down and started curving around Roxas. He grabbed Oblivion from his back and swung it once, generating a great crescent shape of Light. It shot for the base of the neck of the Thorn, bashing into it and throwing it back. It recoiled from the attack and stood back up in it's original form.

Roxas jumped, in less than a second he was in the air, face to face with the Thorn. He held onto Oblivion and slashed at it's face, throwing the Thorn even further back into the Arena. Roxas threw back his coat, tucking in his arms into the sleeves. The coat faded around his body, moving along his back, he sprouted a pair of wings, white and 5x bigger than his body. He unfurled his wings and flew for the staggering Thorn, like a holy bullet, he smashed into it's abdomen, tossing it clear across the Arena and to the opposite wall.

Roxas drew back, throwing an arm into the air, "Empyrean." He snapped his fingers. Far behind him, in the distant sky, a quick, thin burst of light like a shining star shone and then faded. Roxas moved to the left slightly, moving out of the way. Somewhere in space, a star gave off a grand discharge of energy. It shot through space to Olympus Coliseum, shot through the sky and found it's disabled target. The powerful blast of light collided with and devastated the Twilight Thorn, incinerating it on contact and destroying the Coliseum wall, the ground and whatever rubble was around. The blast destroyed part of the arena and stands and took off the tops of the four pillars around the arena. Then it stopped, just as fast as it had come.

He looked down at what had happened. He figured that he had done less damage than he thought he would. He turned around and started floating to the ground by Xinck. Meanwhile, as he watched Roxas coming, Xinck saw, among the partially broken Coliseum, a Creeper Nobody disappearing into a portal back to The Castle That Never Was. "Oh, shit on a stick."Xinck cursed.

"Let's go." Roxas said, landing next to Xinck, "We'll find another way to Axel." As he landed, his wings dissipated in a cloud of feathers and his black suit reformed into his Organization coat. Xinck let go of Phil, who stood frozen looking at the damaged Coliseum.

They headed for the door, Roxas leading the way and Xinck behind him. "Wait." Phil said. He turned slowly towards them. Roxas had already opened the door, but quickly turned back. Xinck didn't move. Phil spoke, "South of here, very far south. You'll get to the City Thebes. From there, go west until you reach a Dark Forest. Go through the forest until all the land around you is dead and barren with grayed ash. You'll find a dark and smoking hill. At the top of the Hill, you'll find the entrance into The Underworld."

"Are you sure?" Roxas only asked this, because he already knew why he was telling him.

"Positive. There are more than one way to get to the Underworld, but that's one way I know. I'm sorry. But..after what I just saw, I don't think you'll let anything get in your way."

"That's what we tried to tell you before!" Xinck said.

"I know. But what I need you two to know is that in the Underworld, Heroes can't fight."

"Believe me, that's not a problem for us."

"How long will it take to get to the Entrance?" Roxas asked Phil

"About half a day." Phil said. Then , like he was caught from behind with a pin, he started running for the wrecked lobby. He looked back to yell, "Just a second!" Then he disappeared into the Coliseum.

Xinck scratched at his head. "Hey, Lucy, your Redux is pretty."

"Shut up!" Roxas laughed slightly. At least he was in a better mood now. "And stop calling me Lucy."

Not long, Phil returned from the lobby, running at them and caring something wrapped in a clean, white cloth. "Here you can use this." He stopped running and handed it to Xinck, who took it.

"What is it?" he asked.

"A sop."

"A what?"

"Sop."

"...Are you saying 'Wassup'?"

"No! A sop! It's bread dipped in wine. I stuck a little sleeping medicine inside. Use it on Cerberus when you want to leave. He'll let you in, but he won't let you out. It's his job."

Xinck unwrapped the cloth to see the sop. It was a golden brown loaf of bread, Phil said it was soaked in wine, but it glistened like it was soaked in honey. He wrapped it back up and stuffed it into his pocket, hoping it wasn't sticky. 'Ready to go to Hell, Roxas?"

"We're not going to Hell, we're going to the underworld." He replied.

"Same thing, basically." He shrugged.

"You guys are really going to do this, aren't you?" Phil said.

"We have to." Roxas pulled open the door and Xinck followed, "We're looking for a friend." They closed the door behind themselves, leaving Phil in the wreaked Coliseum.

"Just don't die."

Roxas and Xinck weren't the only ones in a black coat who left the Coliseum that day.

* * *

Review and I also am now taking Anonymous reviews...because I'm so close to 100!

REVIEW

Oh, one more thing. Kintama is Japanese slang for testicles. Of course if you've read all of my chapters, I'm sure you're not surprised...

Edit-Taking awhile to update with next chapter. Writers' Block is cruel..


	33. Let Us Descend Now Into The Blind World

_**"Behold..These Lifeless Keys Used To Be Full Of Power, United With The Hearts Of Their Masters! On This Barren Soil, Keyblades Of Light And Dark Were Locked In Combat, AS THE GREAT KEYBLADE WAR RAGED!"**_

(just a little excited)

Okay, So I re-uploaded this chapter for 4 reasons.

1-Birth by Sleep is coming out and I really wanted to update

2-The next chapter was taking too long, so I just copied and pasted what I had so far onto this one.

3-I do plan on writing a chapter or two on Birth by Sleep, but I actually have to play it first.

4-Between last chapter and this one, I got a lot of Anonymous Reviews, from, well...Anonymous people. Mostly because I really like reviews(Thats why I put up REVIEW at the end of every chapter) So, thank you for the reviews. I would respond to them personally, but..I don't know how to...so, yeah. Thanks for the reviews.

So, if you've already read this chapter, feel free to go down the page to the part where you left off and continue. And don't forget to review(I'm so close to 100).

I don't own anything

* * *

The Underworld, true to it's name, was located just underneath the world known as Olympus Coliseum. There were several ways for the deceased and, if the situation calls for it, the living to reach this place of the dead, but the traditional way was found through a dark hill in the middle of a dark and dreadful forest far out west. Upon entering the cave at the top of the hill, a large passageway is found that leads down into the darkness for several kilometers. After walking down through this dimly lit cave, instead of finding more underground caverns or more rocks, a dock and shore are found. The shore itself is small, dead and black like a black sand beach. The dock is ash gray and appears to be carved from large chunks of petrified wood. At the two posts of the dock were large, wooden posts with skulls at the top, flaming to light the entrance of this woeful place. Surrounding both the shore, the dock and the entrance were large cave walls in the distance, like pale purple thin shadows rising up against a black painted canvas. The ceiling of this place did not appear like the ceiling of a cave, but of a black sky that was barely lit by stars when in actuality, the dark 'sky' was lit by the Earth above and it's multitude of shining gems underneath it's crust. But, like falling stars from the black skies, newly-departed souls fell into the Underworld, usually screaming and crying their ghostly wails. These souls fell everywhere in this dark place, not just on the shore where they were meant to wait for the cursed boatman, but they also fell into the hateful river, were taken by the current and washed into Hades where they would be judged.

In front of the dock was a watery passageway. This dock stretched out for 10 feet, then stopped as the river of Hate, the River Styx, gently waded against the shore.

Roxas and Xinck had been sitting at the edge of the dock for 30 minutes, waiting for the boatman. They both sat along the edge, watching soul after soul fall into the river and be dragged along it's current down the passageway and out of sight. One thing about being alive in an abode of the dead was that the lives of the dearly departed were visible in the minds of the living. It wasn't a perfect technique, sometimes it worked and other times it didn't, depending on who's soul you were looking at. But when it did work, it was like a drive-thru movie, only lasting for 3 seconds where you could briefly see a random good or bad deed in their life.

"I think that guy was a rapist." Xinck pointed to a soul. His legs were out over the edge of the dock and he kicked them against the air above the river. "And had a thing for bestiality."

"Maybe that's not bad here." Roxas suggested.

"It's bad everywhere. Trust me."

"Are you...talking from experience?"

"What? Are you implying something?"

He shrugged a little, "Hey, I'm just saying, you've said yourself, 'I'm a pervert. I have no problem admitting it.'" He did a very good Xinck impression. All he had to do was make his voice a little sinister and high pitched, like a madman huffing on helium. It was easy since Xinck's voice changed of it's own volition.

"I don't sound like that!"

"You do sometimes."

He scoffed, dropping the subject, because it was true. He did have a tendency to sound like a mentally unstable 14-year-old girl occasionally, "Well, to answer your question, no. I draw the line at bestiality."

"Good to know." He turned his head to the earth above to see soul after soul fall into this place. Hundreds, thousands of the recently deceased just falling into this dark pit. "It's hard to believe that every single person who dies in the universe comes here."

"Wrong-O."

"Huh?"

"Look." He yawned, opening his mouth and briefly flashing his fanged teeth, "There are way too many living people in the universe to die and come here. It's a complicated system that decides where you go when you die, mostly depending on where you're from, what you believe in and what you did with your life. This Afterlife is like a magnet that not only pulls in the souls of those above, but also the souls from the surrounding worlds."

"Really? So, say if I was born on the world right next to this one. If I died, I'd end up here?"

"Yup." He nodded, "But it also deals with what world you're on when you died. Chances are, if you're on another world and you die, you're not going to your original world's afterlife."

"There's more than one?"

"Hundreds. Possibly thousands. It all has to deal with the different cultures and belief systems of the worlds. But, Afterlife's like this Underworld we're in now, where paradise and damnation are in the same place are all connected to each other."

"What do you mean,'connected'?"

Xinck scratched at his head. "In this Underworld there is a place called Tartarus, which reminds me of disgusting tartar sauce, which I never eat."

"Uh..okay..."

"Anyway, Tartarus is where the wicked and evil are damned for eternity. Tartarus is basically one of many connected sections of the greatest place in the universe for damnation.."

"You mean.."

"Yes!" Xinck shouted excitedly, "Reno! No, I'm just kidding. I mean Hell."

"So there is a Hell?"

"Yuppers." He nodded. "Hell is an entirely different place where all remnants of a punishable afterlife gather. No soul may escape. Many of them are bound to their tortures, while others are allowed to roam but never can they escape the entirety of Hell itself. But there are rumors that what Hell is, it's as large as a galaxy to accommodate it's many denizens and portals to the myriad of other punishable afterlifes."

"Wow. What's it like?"

He shrugged innocently, "I dunno. Reno?"

"Oh, stop it. Have you even been to Reno?"

"No, but I don't hear good things."

Roxas was about to reply, but a glowing red light caught his attention. Far down the dark waterway, came a boat, not a large boat but also not small. It looked big enough to carry, at least 20 people at the same time. The boat looked rather old as it made it's way through the water to them. It looked almost blue, matching the mood of the area and that of it's captain. At the front of the boat, standing tall and looking tired was a pale, almost blue-tinted skeleton-man who had a very large stick in his hands that he used to push his boat along the bottom of the river. He wore blue and black rags around his neck, wrists and waists and his eye sockets were filled with dark-hued multicolored light.

"Look over yonder, Roxas." Xinck proclaimed in a deep voice and an open hand to the coming boatman, "And see he who shall grant us passage with thine own eye..thingies."

"Why are you talking like that?" He asked, standing up on the dock.

"I hope to be a lesbian one day." He, too, stood up.

"I think you mean 'Thespian'."

"That too."

As the boat drew nearer to the dock, the man turned it just as it's side hit the dock with a thump. The man raised his head to the two and he spoke in a deep raspy voice, the kind of voice you would expect from the Grim Reaper or Kevin Micheal Richardson. "I am he who is called Charon, Ferryman of the dead and Servant of Hades." He looked down at the two and yelled, "Lo! Who hath summoned me, when thou art still breathing!" He pointed a bony finger at the two.

Xinck leaned over to Roxas and whispered in his ear, "I think he wants to be a lesbian, too."

Roxas chuckled, "I knew you were gonna say that!"

"Turn back, those who are alive and make way for those who are dead." Charon spoke. Then he turned his head to Xinck, "Except you, man. You can stay."

"No more theatrics?" He asked.

"Not for the living!"

"Hey, excuse me." Roxas caught Charon's attention and he turned his head to him. "We need to see Hades."

"You need to see Hades? What possible business could you have with him?"

"He's got a mirror that we need to use and you're the only way we can get through. Can you help us out?"

Charon pulled away from Roxas and held a hand to his chin. "Mmm. I am not opposed to giving the living entry into this dreadful realm, but I am obligated to warn them that this is not a place for them."

"You already did that." Xinck said.

"Indeed, I did. Very well, but first, my payment." He held out a bony hand to them.

"What?" Roxas asked.

"Payment!" Xinck said.

"Yeah, payment, man." Charon said.

"I thought you were a servant of Hades and ferryman of the dead."

"I am, but it's just a title. It's still a job. Now pay up, I got bills."

"Bills? You're a fucking skeleton!"

"Hey, no pay, no way." Charon retracted his hand.

"Oh!" Xinck grunted, "Fine. How much."

"Two coins."

"How much do you have?" He asked Roxas, while feeling around in his own pockets.

"I don't have anything." Roxas patted himself down and found nothing. "Do you just take coins?" He asked Charon.

"It depends. What do you have?" He replied.

"Check your bag." Roxas pointed to the black necklace/bag around Xinck's neck that he used to carry various books and other objects they thought they might have needed. He took the bag from around his neck and it glowed green as it grew to normal size. Xinck opened the top and started shifting through the materials, looking for anything shiny.

"Hey, how about this?" He pulled his arm out and in his hand was a large, silver stake with markings in it's metal. It was a holy stake Xinck had taken from a devil-worshiping old woman who tried to kill them and sacrifice them so that she could increase her own powers in dessert making to beat some other devil-worshiping woman's dessert. Ha! Old women and their competitions.

"You sure we won't need that for anything?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah, like we really need a holy stake blessed by the Vatican that can kill anything." He replied, handing it to Charon, who eyed it.

"Yeah, like we _won't _need that." He said sarcastically.

"Sarcasm is an ugly fit on you, Roxas!" Xinck spat. "Will this do?" He asked Charon.

The Ferryman grabbed the stake from Xinck's hand and held it up to his face. He opened his palm and the stake caught fire before their eyes. The metal stake started twisting and turning in the heat, shrinking until it had completely fused with the flames. Charon opened his mouth and swallowed the fire whole. He looked at the two, "All aboard."

"What happened to those bills you were talking about?" Xinck added as he and Roxas slowly got into the boat. Charon pushed off from the docks and his boat turned to face the dark and watery passageway. As the boat waded through the water and Charon guided it, Roxas and Xinck down in the boat. The air around them was still, cold and calm and as the boat moved, a very thin fog started moving through around them. It was cold with a feeling of unending dread around them. Xinck had no problem with it, Charon was used to it, but for Roxas, he found it almost sad and despairing.

"This place is so...depressing." He took a good look around the cave-like walls around the river that held their boat. Faces of ancient and long dead souls were plastered against the dark rocks in gruesome expressions of pain and suffering, screaming and agony. He looked down into the river Styx over the boat and gazed into the murky blue water. Soul after despairing soul drifted through the water, almost like they were flying. Some went along with the boat, others swam past it, but they all had they same basic face: Sad and scared as they drifted into Hades.

"Those are the souls that did not have the toll to pay my services." Charon said, breaking Roxas' concentration, but still keeping his eyes on the river. "Through me is the way into the Underworld. Those who cannot pay must forever wait on that cursed shore or swim. But if you swim, it my take decades to reach the other shore."

"We didn't see any souls on the docks when we were there." Xinck said, leaning his head back and upward as his back shoulders rested against the side of the boat.

Charon shrugged. "Slow day."

Roxas turned his head upward to the black sky that was really the underbelly of the earth above. Souls fell screaming from the bottom into this place. They fell everywhere, some in the Styx, others on the shore, some in the underworld and any place else. "It's a sad place. No sunlight. No hope..."

"I know!" Xinck said, "I'm already looking for apartments." Roxas looked and saw a black and blue magazine in his hands, labeled "_Underworld Monthly."_

"Where'd you get that?" He asked, shocked.

"Charon." He pointed to the boatman. Charon turned and bent down to Xinck. "If you're interested, you might want to try Cookie Kwan. She's a realtor. She's number one on the West Side."

Roxas scoffed and hung his head back, "Well, maybe I should move down here, too!"

"Stay away from the West Side!" Charon snapped and he returned to rowing the boat.

Why exactly Xemnas wanted a vacation is beyond anyone's understanding. He claimed that he needed "Me-time" from what? What is so stressful about being the leader of nothing, literally? Regardless, even though he was on a "mini-vacation", he did manage to get a little work done. His desk was cluttered with papers, documents and mission reports, all related to Heart Collection. Because Number XIII was the only one who had the power to get massive amounts of Hearts in very little time, his numbers were the only ones worth looking at. His numbers ranged in the ten thousands, while everyone else's were well below 20. That's because their missions mostly consisted of the small number of humans with strong hearts, while going after the many Heartless was best left to Roxas.

Xemnas started to do many complex calculations, using all the data and information he had. He wanted to find out, if His Organization continued at it's regular pace, when Kingdom Hearts would be complete. He used the information about Kingdom Hearts current state, the amount of hearts it has, the number of hearts that Roxas collects, and the amount of power that Kingdom Hearts naturally gives off by itself. He crunched the numbers over and over again on his computer and when the computer gave him the answer, he didn't like it. So he tried writing out the calculations on paper, but still got the same answer. Eventually, he took out his iPhone, which he spent two days in line to get and when he finally got to the front of the store, they were sold out and he had to come back next week. But even still, he got the same answer. He tried the calculations several times on his iPhone for 8 minutes before the battery ran out and he had to charge it, but he still got the same answer.

If He, Roxas and his Organization, even the lesser Nobodies continued on the same way they were now, Kingdom Hearts wouldn't be completed for 30 more years.

Xemnas couldn't wait that long. He wasn't even sure if he could hold on to the Organization for that long. True, they didn't age, but he couldn't risk them finding something better to do and trying to leave the Organization. Xemnas wasn't really worried about this, because he had already come up with a plan to significantly reduce that number and increase Kingdom Hearts by 100 fold. His plan would turn 30 years into 3 months. As long as everything went according to plan...

So since he was finished with that, he needed something else to kill some time. Perhaps he could go see a movie.

The boat ride through the River Styx was a long one. The Scenery never changed: Dark blue Gothic cave walls, the dark, soul-full river and the slow wailing of the falling pale white souls from above. The screaming was like slowed audio, like the dead were howling and falling in slow motion like snow in winter. Some would hit the surface of the water and be dragged along with the current, others hit the dry sides of the river and just laid there.

Xinck had fallen asleep in the boat. He was curled up in the corner with his knees pulled up to his chest. Roxas was awake. He thought what was fear was keeping him awake. He didn't like like this place. So far, they had been here for what seemed like hours and his anxiety had waned some since then, but the feeling that something could still pop out of nowhere and drag him down to the bottom of the river made the hairs stick up on the back of his neck. He looked to Charon, who was still standing and guiding the boat and had his back to Roxas and the sleeping Xinck. "How much longer until we get there?"

With a cold voice, he replied, "Soon." And he continued his ferrying.

Suddenly, a piercing scream shot through and echoed out through the Underworld. Roxas shot up, Charon looked back and the screaming stopped. Xinck had closed his mouth and was panting heavily as he sat up. His face was covered in sweat and he ran has hands across the sides of his face. His eyes looked as if they were trying to escape his head.

"What's wrong!" Roxas yelled. And Xinck nearly jumped over the side of the boat but stopped halfway just as his torso hit the side. He leaned down and gazed into the reflective water, looking past the terror-stricken souls at his own image.

"Oh, god." He sighed, "My pretty face. I'm okay."

"What were you screaming about, you damned fool?" Charon spat out. He asked, but didn't really seem interested. He continued rowing.

"I thought something happened! Don't do that!" Roxas, for some odd reason had grabbed at his chest in the place were his heart should have been. He was now breathing heavily and had his back leaned up against the boat side. Xinck pulled himself back into the boat and sighed deeply.

"I had the weirdest dream."

"Was it like the ones I have?" Roxas asked.

"What? No. I told you I didn't know anything about those weird singalongs. You're lost with that. Now my dream..." He closed his eyes. "I was standing in the middle of a fog. I couldn't see anything. No one was near me. I was alone and for some reason I couldn't move. Then, in the distance, I saw a figure running for me with the utmost haste. I strained my eyes to see and as they ran closer, they came into focus. It was the Holy Mother coming for me."

"What?"

"Yeah, I thought it was weird, too, because I'm not catholic. Anyway, as She came running at me, I was shocked, which only added to my immobility. She was wearing white and blue robes and at first, her face was smiling and filled with joy. Then, it was almost like I came into focus for her and her face turned angry and wrathful. I tried to move but couldn't and she was too fast. She readied her right fist, reared back just as she was close enough and punched me right between my nose and cheek straight down. And I fell to the ground as a geyser of blood shot from my nose and flowed from a cut on my cheek. I think she had on a few rings, too."

"Wow. That is weird." Roxas blinked a few awkward blinks, "But mine are weirder. I don't care what you say."

"But that's not even the weirdest part! She stood over me and I looked up at her. She looked down at me and said, "Oops. Thought you were someone else." Then I woke up screaming." He told Roxas his dream as if he were retelling a repressed memory that manifested itself as a dream and even nodded his head to add to it's authenticity.

"That's..uh..some dream." Roxas nodded. Desperately wanting to change the subject, Roxas thought it best to talk about their current situation. Even if this place made his hair stand up, they came here to do something. "So...when we get in here, how are we supposed to get Hades to let us use the mirror?"

"I'm not sure, but we should be careful. In here, I might be at a disadvantage."

"What do you mean 'disadvantage'?"

"I don't think I'll be able to get the dead to help in here. This is Hades' place. His realm, his rules. All my Dead-related powers might be out the window."

"So, worse-case scenario?"

"If Hades tells them to attack, I can't tell them otherwise."

"That's no big deal, right? I mean, we've handled worse than a bunch of dead people right?" He smiled a bit but Xinck responded with:

"Try over a Billion dead people. Give or take a few million. The dead easily outnumber the living. We wouldn't be able to last forever. We'd burn out and fade away." But then his face lightened up and his voice wasn't as deep, "Then again, they all just might be ghosts or souls. They don't have bodies so I don't they can touch us. And we really don't know what Hades can or will do, right?"

The Organization had had dealings with many individuals from different worlds. These dealings range from handing business contracts to aiding in scientific progress. While only a few people in The Organization had been to the Underworld on minor recon, they had contacted Hades before. They had asked him, in exchange for a few small services, to use his Godly powers to acquire information for them. It was known that Hades liked to gamble and make deals, so they were shocked when Hades declined, saying "I don't like making deals with a bunch of nobodies. Literally and figuratively." The Organization was still a little young but very serious at that point and responded appropriately with Justice...in the form of a flaming bag of dog shit on his front door.

"We have arrived." Charon said, the ferry boat coming to a stop. "This is as far as I go." The Ferry beached itself upon another dark shore, but the idea of a beach quickly left the scenery when their eyes took hold of the entirety of the Underworld entrance. Black, rough rock was the only walkable land and the river Styx gently curved away from the grand-size wall and continued down into another tunnel, where it would circle around the Underworld 8 more times. This Underworld entrance could rival or even surpass any doorway in The Castle That Never Was in terms of size and creepiness. It could barely be called a door as it was like two, enormous stone hands, blue in color as thick as they were large that let it's fingers slightly curve into each other. The hands only slightly opened to allow souls in, in fact, they only opened to about 30 feet high to let souls in and, if it were necessary, the hands would open even more to allow something 30 feet in height with a great bulk to retrieve any soul that might try to escape.

Even as Roxas and Xinck got out of the boat and onto dry land, souls, who had their proper wits about them, were already pulling themselves out of the river and slowly walking towards the door. "Alright. So..this is it." Xinck declared, stuffing his hands into his pockets and eying the entrance.

"Yeah." Roxas nodded. He turned to Charon, who was still standing in the boat, waiting to depart. "You wouldn't happen to know where we can find Hades, would you?"

"Hades resides in the exact center of Hades. Be cautious, for though he stays in it's center, the way to get there is not an easy one."

"We've had harder. Trust me." Roxas replied.

"No, you haven't. The Underworld cannot only harm you physically, but mentally. Your worse fears, your nightmares, your self doubts. All your flaws, imperfections, sins, and anguishes are brought to light to torment you."

"Wow." Roxas said. "You wouldn't happen to have a map so we can avoid all that, would you?"

"I have several maps of the Underworld." Charon said.

"That's good." Xinck said, turning to face the two.

"But they will do you no good."

"Aw, I'm sad now." Xinck lowered his head.

"Why not?" Roxas asked.

"While the three main sections of The Underworld, Asphodel, Elysium and Tartarus, remain the same, the areas surrounding them change naturally so as to make it difficult for souls to leave. The maps I have are over 3 centuries old and would do you no good."

"So you're saying." Xinck started, "That Hades is in the center of the Underworld, but it's going to be like Hell trying to get there because the Underworld changes all by itself?"

"Yes."

"Perfect!" He threw his hands up to show frustration, lacking a heart, "Just fucking perfect! There's always a catch! I don't think I want to live here now."

"Alright then." Roxas said to Charon. "We'll be going." He nodded and Charon nodded and he pushed off from the shore and down the River Styx into the darkness. For Roxas, even though they were walking into the Underworld blind, it didn't deter him even a little. "Let's go." He turned and started walking with the now-increasing crowd of souls that were headed for the entrance.

"Still? You still wanna go through with this?" Xinck asked, starting to follow.

"Did you forget? We're looking for Axel and we need that mirror."

"Still? Oh, well we haven't talked about it in a while, I assumed we were just on vacation." He joined Roxas, just as the large crowd of newly-departed souls joined around them, walking with them, but paying them no attention whatsoever. The dead can be very snobby. Some of them were quietly sobbing, others wailing but most of them just had their heads down and slowly walked through the doorway with everyone else. Some of them, the ones from the world above, wore clothes traditional with that time period, while a few could be spotted wearing more modern clothes. They were the ones from farther away worlds, but still close enough to be pulled into this afterlife.

While Roxas wasn't looking, Xinck stuck his foot out in from him, tripping him and he fell into the back of a female spirit in front of him. Instead of falling through her and hitting the hard ground, he felt a cool splash of liquid on his face, like he had been dunked into a sink. For a moment, he opened his eyes and he felt as if he were looking through someone else's eyes. All around him, new scenery appeared and the shape of blood stained hands appeared in front of his face. They were petite, feminine hands drenched in fresh blood. Roxas lowered the hands and on the floor below him was the shape of a dead boy, a large pool of blood forming around his head. His deep green eyes stared back lifelessly. Roxas couldn't speak, he couldn't breath or think, only see in horror.

Xinck pulled Roxas by his hood and he came back into his own body. The female spirit in front of them turned and cried, clasping her head in her hands and wailing only to have her screams drowned out by the collective cries of the dead.

Roxas got up from the floor and pushed away from Xinck, breathing heavily. "What was that! Why'd you do that?"

"It's a trip, no?" He grinned evilly and chuckled.

"Why did you do that?" He yelled angrily.

"If you're ever in a position were a soul is attacking you, you can use that so they'll retreat."

"What?"

"Most of the souls here are filled with grief and despair for their past sins in their lives. As we are technically living, having both body and soul, we can temporarily connect our souls with theirs. It's just like earlier, but more in depth. For the damned and less than good souls who won't go to Elysium, we can see their worst deeds, turn them around on them and they'll end up like her." He pointed to the howling ghost women.

"I don't want to do that." Roxas said defiantly. "It's...it's wrong and cruel. They're already dead, what more could we do to them?"

Xinck shook his head and stuffed his hands back into his pockets. "It's not what we do in here that'll make their deaths any worse." He looked out amongst the crowd of souls that had followed and past them through the entrance and into a very long, very large cave tunnel. "They punish themselves by not being able to let go. It's just like Charon said, in here they can be hurt physically and mentally."

Roxas glared at Xinck. He was angry for Xinck tripping him and showing him that horrible, blood-filled vision. He knew how Xinck could get when the mood struck him, but in this situation, Xinck seemed to know more about this place then he did and Roxas would have to take his word for it. Roxas forced a smile and walked closer to Xinck. "I'm gonna get you back."

"_Pourquoi?"_

"For tripping me." He turned and started walking through the large entrance.

"Oi." Xinck scratched at the back of his head and followed. "Is it too late for 'Sorry'?"

"Uh-huh." He said in a nonchalant tone.

"Oh, come on! I don't like surprises. Can't I just make it up to you?"

Roxas stopped, thought it over, then turned back to Xinck and gave a real smile. It was almost a cruel smile, a smile Xinck had seen before from the late Savage Nymph, one of his mentors. He said, "Yeah. I got something..."

"Oi.."Xinck sighed deeply

In The World That Never Was in The Gray Area, Saix stood in front of the glass wall/window and stared out into the cloudy night. The Kingdom Hearts moon shone brightly in the sky above, casting the world in a pale light. It was in it's cradle of clouds high above the Castle and rested gently, like a baby without a care in the world. Saix had been standing there for sometime, irritated that they had had no leads as to the whereabouts of Roxas and Xinck.

But other than that, he had others on his mind, like Axel and Xemnas. If Axel were here right now, Saix would scowled him for being so careless. If he was gone for good, then where would that leave Saix? He knew he couldn't do this by himself without getting caught. And if he were still alive, then where was he? Axel is one of the most skillful and resourceful members, there could be nothing to get in his way of returning. Or maybe, Saix thought, what if this was Axel looking for revenge on him for...Xion?

Saix rubbed a hand against his face. He, Xemnas, Xigbar, and Xaldin are the only members alive who still have a memory of Xion because of all the research and effort they put in to fixing her. Demyx, and Luxord all forgot because they had no real interaction with her. Roxas forgot about her upon her death and absorption and Axel and Xinck should have forgotten as Roxas had...

But what if Axel somehow remembered and he recalled how He and Saix had had such a terrible falling out? That was one reason why Saix had hated Xion, because of her, Axel pretty much abandoned whatever relationship he had with Saix. And although Saix showed no reaction at all, Isa was broken. But with her death and erasing of her memory, came the paving over of their falling out and it was like Axel had never once had a fight with Saix. Although Saix remembered everything, his angry glare, his harsh words and attitude, he was okay with it. He wanted to forget just as Axel had and he never brought Xion up again, as everyone else was ordered to as well.

But Saix didn't want to think of it. It was impossible for Axel to remember and no one would have told him out of fear of retaliation from Xemnas. Axel's disappearance must be due to other means. He wondered if Xemnas had something to do with it. The Superior of the Organization, despite being distant and never interested in what was happening around him, was always on top of things and two steps ahead of everyone. He is, as they say, a mystery wrapped in an enigma and boxed in a mystery box. It made no sense to Saix nor anyone else, why did he choose to just stay on a 'vacation' while three of his members are missing? Heart Collection has fallen and he refuses to show any concern or even come out of his room, leaving Saix in charge.

Xemnas could be behind Axel's disappearance. But what for? What could he possibly gain from that? And if he was, then Roxas and Xinck looking for him was a waste of time!

"Your blue hair reminds me of Marge Simpson from _The Simpsons_."

Saix's train of thought was broken with Number II's reference. He turned to see Xigbar walking into The Gray Area, his hood up and hiding his face. He strutted towards Saix and even though his face was hidden, Saix could tell he had an arrogant grin plastered on his face. "I take it you being here means that you found something?"

"Nope. Not a thing."

"I let you go to any world of your choice and you found nothing. Where did you go?"

"Gran Pulse."

"And you found nothing. Did you even look?"

"Do you know how big that place is? How big and empty! There were these giant, dinosaur turtle things just roaming about, I almost got squashed."

"That world is connected to another world called Cocoon, did you check there?"

"Uh..well." Xigbar stammered and scratched at the back of his head, "I..I was gonna, but-"

"Go, then."

"Ugh!" Xigbar groaned, "You're such a hard-ass! Can't I at least take a break?"

"After you return from Cocoon." Saix turned back around to the window without another word, he heard Xigbar grumble something, then the sound of a corridor opening and closing. Not a minute went by before another corridor opened and the voice of Luxord sounded behind Saix.

"Any word, or luck on their location?" He asked.

Saix turned around again, "None. Xigbar came just earlier and said they were not on Gran Pulse. What about you?"

"They aren't in Russia."

"You went to Russia?"

"Yes, very cold." He reached into his coat pocket, "I brought back Vodka!" he sang, holding small bottles of the alcoholic drink, "I also had several lesser Nobodies to search a few other worlds and they aren't in Neverland, San Francisco, Vigrid or Acre."

"Oh." Saix rubbed at his head once more. Luxord was one of the, for lack of a better word, less retarded members and found it easy to hold a conversation with the gambler, "We're getting no where fast and I've had no luck finding a suitable tracking spell."

Luxord took a long drink of Vodka.

"You're drinking straight Vodka? This early?"

Luxord shrugged, removing the bottle from his mouth, "It was 5o'clock in Russia when I bought it and I'm sure it's 5o'clock somewhere else. It balances out, I'm sure." He took another drink, drained the bottle and sighed loudly, "Ah, that calms the shakes."

"Have you heard word from Demyx or Xaldin?"

"Uh.." He discarded the empty bottle into his pocket to throw away later, "Xaldin, I heard was heading over to, oh, what was that bloody place called? Oh, yes, Namek, Planet Namek. And as for Demyx, I haven't the foggiest idea."

"Oh, well, I never really expect much from him anyway."

Just then, next to Saix, a very small, white portal, wrapped in gray thorns exploded into existence and a Creeper nobody fell to the floor. Creepers were small, gray and dark colored. Appearing to wear a baggy jumpsuit with small, pointy, featureless feet that point out like the spikes on the Nobody logo. It's arms are long and huge, with great flat hands in teardrop shapes. It's head is in a teardrop shape that curves to the right. They're called Creepers because they crawl with their hands rather than use their feet, which dangle uselessly below them.

"What is it?" Saix ordered.

"Bloody Hell, those thing creep me out." Luxord said, drinking again.

The Creeper spoke into Saix's head, _"I have spotted Superiors XIII and XIV in Olympus Coliseum. Lord Roxas decimated a Twilight Thorn with his Redux and then they left. I overheard them say they were heading for the Underworld beneath that world."_

Saix urgently turned to Luxord, but calmly said, "They're at the Coliseum. In the Underworld."

"Brilliant. Good show, old sport." Then Luxord took another drink of a freshly opened bottle of Vodka. After that, he looked at Saix and dropped his accent, "So, watcha gon' do?" He said with a flawless Southern American drawl.

"I trust you to handle it, if you aren't drunk already. Do not fail a Third time." Saix said flatly. Immediately without argument, Luxord snapped his fingers and opened a gaping corridor of darkness behind him.

"Ahh!" Roxas took in a deep breath of air and exhaled. "You know, this place isn't all that bad, at the right altitude."

"Whatever." Xinck grumbled.

"Aw, what's wrong? Come on, you said you thought about moving down here, right? Can't you just smell that Underworld air!" He took another deep breath.

"When was the last time you took a shower, because all I can smell is your stink." he spat back and Roxas dug his heels into Xinck's sides, "Ow! You dick!" In order to avoid a random retaliation for tripping him, Roxas jump onto Xinck's back for a horse ride just to see what it was like. He didn't really ask for one, but instead just jumped right on. When Xinck asked if this made them even, Roxas simply replied, "We'll see." Which everyone knows always means 'No'. They, or Xinck, continued walking through what seemed like an endless cave tunnel, following the crowd of dead souls. The cave roof had to be at least 30 feet high and 15 feet wide to accommodate the large crowds that moved through to their judgment. The walls of the cave, while dark and jagged in some places, appeared to have been expertly carved out in others. Also in other places were souls had been here for centuries, their screaming faces were plastered and carved into the walls, only adding to the very unwelcoming atmosphere.

Xinck stopped right in the middle of the cave. The dead seemed to pay him no mind and simply went around him. He looked back towards the entrance, then forward to the exit.

"What's wrong?" Roxas asked above Xinck.

"We have to find a way out of this cave."

"Then let's just keep following the crowd. We can see the exit up ahead." he pointed far down the cave to a circular exit into a green, ghostly wave of smoke.

"The dead are going that way to be judged and sentenced to their place in the Underworld. There probably wouldn't be any place else for us to go unless we find a different way out of this cave." He started walking to the left cave wall, where a long line of sad and crying stone faces lined the cave wall as far as the eye could see in both directions. The faces were of men, women and children alike, all showing their torment and pain as it was their only expression.

Xinck started to trace over the faces with his finger.

"What are you doing?"

"There are hundreds and thousands of passageways in Hades." He traced over a male face and started circling around his eye. "Some in plain sight, others, hidden." He took his right hand to his left sleeve and started to pull out his black dagger. "And all you have to do to find them is have a really good eye!" He struck the dagger into the stone's eye and quickly pulled it out. A man's scream echoed out through the cave as a fine light of green outlined a large rectangular doorway around and above the face. The entire doorway blared green and disappeared, leaving a large doorway open to them.

"Oh my God!" Xinck proclaimed with excitement, dropping Roxas to the ground, "I did that just because I wanted to stab a wall, I had no idea that would happen!"

"Ow!" Roxas landed on his bum, "What are you talking about? You mean you just did that at random?"

"Yeah! I can't believe I'm that good!" He laughed, slipping the dagger back into his sleeve. Roxas picked himself up and wiped off any dirt and dust that had gotten on him.

"It was just dumb luck." He said.

Xinck scoffed and folded his arms, "You're just mad because _your _luck is dumb."

"Is that the best comeback you can do?" He asked calmly.

"Tch-yeah, well, you-"He stammered, "Your legs are stupid!" He walked past Roxas into the newly formed passage. "And your butt is fat!"

Roxas' expression flattened and remembered that only Xinck would make a comment like that. He followed into the dimly lit passage.

Mountains Above Forgetfulness

Immediately entering the passageway, Roxas saw a light at the end of the small tunnel. It was curved to the left and when he turned the corner, he saw Xinck standing on a small, ash gray/white cliff. Roxas left the passageway and joined Xinck at his side. This new area they were in was much brighter than the rest of the Underworld they had already seen. To their right and to the front of them, it appeared to be a very steep valley Mountain range with roads or stairs going up and down each mountain face. There also seemed to be several finely-carved granite bridges stretching across one mountain face to the other with large statues of Hades over every other giant column. The columns, each as wide as a tree, securely fastened the bridge a good 30 feet above the wide bottom of the valley floor. Several souls were seen slowly crossing the bridge, possibly to a random cave on the other side. At the very bottom of the green-less valley, a river, barely viewable underneath it's own murky fog, flowed calmly through the Underworld. Along it's shores, the bodies and heads of souls, some naked and others in rags, could be seen drinking from the river. To their left was just another corner that curved along some stone stairs going upwards and twisting around a bend and in the distance was a very large hill, not a mountain, but a sharp tipped hill that was large enough for it's top to hid in the dark gray clouds around it.

"And yea." Xinck said dramatically, "Behold the Lethe, Underworld river of Oblivion and forgetfulness. Some sayeth that thou not even have to drinketh of it's waters to forget and become stupid. So very, very stupid." He held out a hand down through the valley to the river below.

"Do you have to talk like that?" Roxas asked.

"Yes, I do, yea. For the drama, yea."

"Stop saying 'yea'!"

"Okay...yea."

Roxas flashed him a look and Xinck held up his hands as if to say, 'Okay, okay, I'll stop'. Roxas wondered how all of this, the mountain range, could just be a few feet away from that long Tunnel they just came from. He turned to look at the passage that they had just come out of only to see that it had been replaced with stone and was gone.

"Yea, it would seem that it's just a one-way trip, yea." Xinck said.

"How do you know so much about all this stuff?" He turned back to Xinck, "You know about the Rivers, you knew about Charon, you knew about the dead. You told me you had never been to the Underworld."

Xinck scratched at his head, "Well, okay. I used to read a lot of Greek Mythology and when I said that, I meant that I had never been to _this _Underworld. Remember when I said there were others?"

"Yes."

"Well, it ties into how I got this knife." He pulled the black knife out of his sleeve again and showed it to Roxas.

"I asked you at the coliseum how you got the knife, but you never told me."

"A few months back, before Castle Oblivion, I went on a mission alone to this world where Greek Mythology is, quote, unquote, "real" and these Greek gods and monsters and all that crap are around in the modern day. So anyway, I met this kid, who said he was the son of the Hades in that world by the name of Nico di Angelo. We talked a little bit and it turns out we have a lot in common...with dead people."

"Nice to see your making friends." Roxas nodded and laughed.

"Don't mock me. Anyway, eventually, I gave him a little skull ring that helps with his powers and he gave me this knife which is made from Stygian glass. It's unbreakable, has a few magical properties and, if I'm in that world, it can kill any monster in the Underworld. But since I'm not in that world, it can't kill just anything, so it's basically a regular unbreakable, semi-magic knife. I keep it in my sleeve just in case I lose my swords."

"I don't understand how there is more than one Hades."

"Only if a world has a Greek Pantheon-based belief structure will Greek gods be born. It's the same for any polytheistic belief...probably." He shrugged. He didn't want to admit he was just making a bold guess.

"...What would happen if the Hades from this world meet the Hades from that world?"

Once again, a bold guess. "Shit, I don't know. Universe-ending paradoxes? There are as many worlds as there are stars and just as many possibilities, if not more."

"Wow. Makes you wonder how big the universe really is, right?"

"This big." He outstretched his arms as far out as they would go, his body almost resembling a lowercase 't'.

"I think you might be off a few, oh, I don't know, several trillion feet?"

He lowered his arms. "'In the beginning, the universe came into existence. This was considered a very bad mistake and it made a lot of people very, very angry.'-_The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy._"

Roxas laughed some,"We should rent that movie when we get a chance."

"Yes, but before we do that, we should strike a really cool Anime pose."

"A what?"

"You know, at the starting or ending credits to an anime when the main characters start striking poses or just stand around looking cool and deep. We should do that!"

"This isn't anime. This is real life...so, maybe later. Besides, we're still looking for Hades."

"To use his mirror, to ask where we can find Axel."

"Right." Roxas nodded. He looked to the left, since it was the only part of the cliff that was connected to a bridge, and started walking with Xinck at his right. "You know, we should really try to keep on track with what we're doing. First we were talking about gods, then the Universe, _Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy_, then anime. We need to stay focused!" He thrust a fist into the air as they ascended the rough stone steps that curved around a bend.

"Stay focused for what?" Xinck asked.

"For...something!" Roxas declared, thrusting his fist again. "Something for Axel, I'm sure!"

"Oh! Let's get him some biscuits for his birthday!"

"Oh, even better! Let's throw him a party!"

"Oh, how I love a party!" Xinck said in a crisp, feminine English squeal, clapping his hands.

Roxas looked out into the dead valley and at the souls that waded around in misery and despair. "This place could use some...oh, what do you call it!" He started pounding at his head. Finding that ineffective, he dove to the wall and started banging his head against the hard stone. "WHAT! IS! IT! CALLED!"

"Shrimp puffs!" Xinck yelled, still in an English accent, "Nasty pieces of shit! I hate 'em! Kill 'em all, I say!"

"Yes! Shrimp puffs!" Roxas stopped banging his head and laughed, "That's what this place needs to SPICE! IT! UP!"

(A/N: Okay, I'm writing this and even I have to say, what the hell?)

"Shrimp puffs!" Xinck crouched on the stairs, "Shrimped puffs. Puffy Shrimps. Shrimpy Puffed...stuff. I love Shrimp puffs! In England, I bet they'd go great with Bangers! That means sausage..I think! I learned a new word from that song that played in that commercial from _Get Him To The Greek!_ I haven't seen it but I heard good things! Russel Brand is funny! He's like a metrosexual Pirate! He makes me laugh! HA HAH AHAHA AAH AH AH ! Oh, I messed up a little..oh, well, fuck it!"

"Oh, I'd love to be a pirate!" Roxas yelled, jumping up and down, "NO! A flying pirate! With roller blades." He bashed his head up against the stone wall once more, blood stained the wall and trickled down his head. Then he stopped breathing so hard and removed his head from the wall. "Wait. What're we doing?"

"I was watching _American Idol_ once and this old lady whose daughter didn't make was rather sore at Simon. She said he needed to go back to whatever country he was from, and the daughter told her that he was British and the mother said that he should go back to British. And I'm like 'Whaaaaat? You don't go back to British, British goes back to you, duh! Haven't you even taken Venusian Geography before?'"

"Xinck, what are you talking about?"

"Roxas, my friend, my one and only friend." He got up and placed his hands on Roxas' shoulders, "For the record, I would like to state that I have gone 'round the bend."

"What?"

"I'm delightfully mad."

"Oh. That's not news." Roxas brushed it off, "I mean what was all that stuff we just said. Ow!" He dabbed a finger at the wound on his forehead he had inflicted on himself.

"_The Morning I wake up, oh! And I put on my makeup, I'll say a little prayer for you-ooh!" _He had taken out his black dagger and used it as a microphone to sing,_ "Together, forever, you'll be in my heart and I will always love you!"_

"Snap out of it!" Roxas slapped Xinck across the face, stopping the song and Xinck looked back and muttered a small "Ow. _Mein _face." He held his cheek and spoke in his regular voice.

"You said the river can make you forget, right?"

"Yeah. You forget permanently if you drink it, but I guess you just get a little...retarded just being around it."

He replied with a groan, grabbing his head, "We almost forgot why we're here in the first place."

"To find the mirror and to find Axel." Xinck put his hands back into his pockets. "This place does play tricks on your mind."

"Do all of the rivers do this. If they do," He looked out to the foggy, swamp-like river, "We need to be careful."

"They all might have different affects on people. Like the river Styx. It is the river of hate, but we lack emotions, so it didn't effect us. But Lethe is oblivion, forgetfulness and memories are all we have as Nobodies."

He heard what Xinck had said as he looked down into the valley and saw soul after soul drink from the river. Roxas felt that they were just like him, after drinking from the river, they'd have no memory of who they were. Just like him.

"We should keep going." Xinck said.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Right." They turned from the valley and proceeded up the stairs.

**Path to Paradise**

The stairs they had taken were much longer than they had thought. By the time they had reached the bend of the stairs, the Lethe valley below could barely be seen underneath it's own fog. They rounded the corner, just as a group of wayward souls walked past them down the stairs. To the adjacent left was a long stone path way with a flat floor and the walls around it curved like stone waves frozen in place. The path was long, easily 20 yards from where they were standing to the end where two statues stood in front of more stairs that lead upward to a green covered hill whose summit was obscured by grayed clouds.

"More stairs, eh?" Xinck said, "Getting _real _tired of stairs."

"Hey, look!" Roxas said. He pointed down to the end of the walkway to a crowed of black shadows, Heartless, crowded around each other up against the wall.

"It's kind of refreshing to see Heartless here." Xinck declared, "Being around all these dead people can be a tad depressing after awhile."

"Hold that thought." Without any warning Roxas shot from Xinck's side to the Heartless, almost instantly covering 20 yards of ground in less than 3 seconds. He pulled both Keyblades out of the air as he ran and the Heartless, upon sensing the Keyblade, jerked their heads in his direction away from their target. There were 2 Shadows, 1 Neoshadow, 1 large Body, 2 Dire Plants 3 Blue Rhapsodies all looking at Roxas. He pounced on them, Blades flying around him. He knocked away the Large Body and cut 2 Dire plants in half, releasing their hearts. Roxas came back around and stabbed into a Blue Rhapsody, killing it and bringing down Oathkeeper to kill the Shadow. The Neoshadow pounced like a cat for Roxas' turned back and he kicked one leg up backwards, sending the Heartless up. Roxas flipped in the air, catching the Neoshadow in it's stomach, killing it. He landed, dodging a large spike of ice from the last Blue Rhapsody and throwing Oblivion to cut it in half. The Large Body came waddling/charging for Roxas, catching him in the side and running through him. Roxas recovered from the hit and came running for the exposed back of the Heartless. He crouched down, both Keyblades glowed and he tucked them in against his side as he exploded in a burst of light, running through and piercing the Heartless and releasing it's heart to the sky.

Roxas breathed in and out and dismissed his Keyblades, turning around to see what the Heartless were crowded around. He had learned from experience that if the Heartless were crowding around something it was usually never good. Sitting against the wall with it's hands covering it's head was a boy, a soul more accurately. You could tell it was a soul by the way his image shifted every few seconds. Roxas saw the Heartless around it and immediately reacted, he had seen how the dead suffered in this place and he didn't like it.

He walked up to the boy and saw no signs that the Heartless had actually attacked him, or if he had even noticed them. The boy just sat there, knees pulled up to his chest, head down in lap and hands covering his head, like he was scared. He looked as if he were shivering. "Hey, are you okay?" Roxas asked, getting closer.

The boy said nothing.

"Hey!"

Still, nothing.

"Roxas." He looked back and saw Xinck a few feet away from him at the pathway exit near the two statues. "Leave him be."

"But look at him. He might need help." Roxas leaned down to the boy and reached for his shoulder. It didn't fall through and he could feel it under his palm.

Xinck sighed to the sky, "Great. You've touched him. Now, like a dog, he might try to follow you around." The tone in his voice was sarcastic.

"Just hold on a minute." Roxas snapped back. He looked back to the boy and this time, he spoke.

"My mommy loves me." he said, muffled through his lap.

"What?" Roxas had heard him, but he wanted to be sure.

"Aw, crap." Xinck sighed again.

"My mommy loves me." He said again.

"Were you looking for her? Do you need some help?" Roxas asked again.

This time, the boy looked up at Roxas with his deep green eyes and he yelled, "My Mommy Loves Me This Much!" He threw his hands away from his head, exposing the gruesome remains of his shattered skull and brain. His own bloodied red brain was partially drooping out the side of his head and sharp fragments of his skull were embedded in the flesh around the wound. His hands were stained with his own blood. Roxas screamed and jumped back, falling backwards onto the ground in front of the boy. He remembered that boy through the vision of the women he had seen earlier. She was his mother! And she killed him! Roxas felt sick to his stomach, he turned over and threw up on the ground next him. He looked up and over to Xinck, who was still standing there, but with his hood up covering his face. He had pulled up the drawstrings so that the hole of his hood was nearly all the way closed.

"Is it over?" His voice shivered out through the hood.

"Is it over?" The boy asked as well. He looked to both of them and they looked at each other.

**Virtuous And Innocent Summit**

They had made it to the Hill that they had seen in the background ever since they had entered the Valley. This hill was completely out of place with the rest of the Underworld. Unlike everything else that was dead, gloomy and overly depressing, this Hill was green with grass, alive with flowers and welcoming with trees that dotted it randomly. There were stone steps that lead from the bottom of the hill to the top, but just like all the other stairs in this place, they were a lot longer than they were at first glance. Just being on the hill felt like they had left the Underworld all together, they couldn't see the valley anymore, or anything other than the hill. It was like it's own realm of green earth and a dark sky filled with gray clouds that moved as if a storm was coming. Wind blew slightly, whipping their coats in all directions as they trudged up the hill.

"What's supposed to be at the top?" Xinck asked over the blowing wind.

"I don't know." He replied, equally as loud, "He just said to go to the top." Roxas looked up and over his shoulder to the boy that he had let ride on his back.

Against Xinck's complaints, Roxas offered to help the boy if he helped them find Hades. The boy agreed, but being only 10 or 8 years old, didn't fully understand what he was helping them with. The wind whipped at the black bag over his bloody head and he kept a hand on it's side to keep it from falling. Roxas and Xinck had both agreed that it was better for him to wear a bag on the top of his head, since his exposed brain seriously freaked them.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Roxas asked him.

"Mm-mm." The boy nodded, "When I got here, they told me to go this way."

"'They'?"

"The Judges of The Dead." Xinck said. "They judge the souls and tell them which part of the Underworld they're going to."

"Yeah, that's right." The boy said, to Roxas, not Xinck. "I got lost for a while and ended up here."

"Well, that's okay." Roxas said, trying to reassure him, "We'll get you to...uh..where are we going again?"

The boy shrugged, "I don't know."

They continued on their way up the hill and they could see where it's top went above the clouds in the distance. They kept in silence, until Xinck saw the boy staring at him with his large green eyes. He stared down at him because Roxas was carrying him on his back. Xinck said, "How come you never carry me like that?" he asked Roxas.

"What? You're too big to be carried." He replied.

"I didn't say that when you were squishing me under you giant butt!"

"Okay, seriously, I wish you'd stop saying stuff about my bu-"

"You're just like me." said the boy, still staring at Xinck.

"What?" He looked at the boy.

"You're just like me. You're dead and covered in blood."

Xinck started running hands over his body to check if he had been hit somewhere. No blood. "Sorry, no blood on me. And I'm not dead, I'm..Unliving."

"What does that mean?" the boy asked.

"It means I'm not dead. Really simple."

"But you said '-Un' in front of living. That means your not alive."

"I'm alive..just not what you would consider alive."

"...That doesn't make any sense."

"It makes sense in my head. That's what counts."

"Oh!" the boy said with the amazement of a ten-year-old, "So, if it makes sense in your head, it doesn't make sense in real life?"

"Correct." Xinck nodded proudly.

"That doesn't make sense."

"Yes it does!"

"He's right, Xinck." Roxas said, "It doesn't make sense."

"Who asked you, big butt!" He hissed.

"But really, you are like me." The boy said. Xinck looked at him and really noticed him for the first time. Because he was a ghost, he was pale almost gray, but his eyes were the only things that even looked alive. They were like giant, dark neon green saucers. "I can see the blood on you." He sounded not like a ghost, but like a regular child who was talking of something that he thought everyone knew.

Xinck lowered his head, but kept his eyes on the boy, "I don't know what you mean."

"It..it's not really _on _you, but it's there. You have to really look for it in some people, but for you, I can see it. But why? Why are you covered in so much?"

He took his eyes from the boy and put them to the ground. He lowered his voice. "I don't know what you mean."

Roxas was hearing this and, for Xinck, he wanted to steer the conversation in a different direction. Before he could even think of what he was going to say, he said it and immediately felt a weight hit the inside of his stomach. "Hey." he bumped the boy's knees and felt his head turn from staring at Xinck, "How did you end up here?"

"You mean how did I die?"

Roxas hesitated, "Y..yeah."

"My mommy loves me very much." he said, not a hint of sorrow or pain in his voice, a surprise to Roxas. He talked about this very calmly.

"But, if she loved you, why did she do that?"

"She had to, I know she didn't want to, but the bad stuff made her do it."

"Bad stuff?" Roxas never really had a conversation with a 10 year old before.

"Those things from before, remember?"

"Heartless. Those shadowy things. Right?"

"Yeah, those. They got in her head and made her do it."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Now, Roxas felt even worse than when he had first stepped foot in the Underworld. He often wondered what was the point of killing Heartless, when most of them seemed innocent and just silly, but if they would do things like this, then they didn't deserve mercy.

After that, no one talked and a few minutes later after trudging up the hill, they broke through the clouds surrounding the hill and emerged in what looked like a small field of paradise. The top of the summit was round and brightly lit like a peaceful morning. There was no sun, but the sky shined blue anyway and only added to this shocking beauty that existed in this horrible place. The stone steps they had used to walk up were now surrounded by light green grass and lively flowers, unlike the flowers and trees below the clouds that sat in an eternal approaching storm. These steps led to a flat, marble walkway that lead to a large and impressive marble structure. It had a large Gazebo look to it where strong and wide marble columns, wrapped in ivy from the flora on the outside of it, held up it's open, horseshoe-style roof. The base of the structure was raised by two feet but had stairs so anyone could walk inside.

"Whoa.." Roxas and the boy tilted their heads upwards to get the full picture of what they saw, the flowers, the sky, the trees, clouds and the giant marble structure. Roxas tilted his head in Xinck's direction and saw he was looking around, but didn't seem all that impressed. To Roxas, Xinck looked a little out of place as a small, but noticeable black aura surrounded him.

"Look!" the boy said and they both jerked their heads to the inside of the gazebo, where two 10-foot-tall statues of Greek soldiers stood on either side of a large, floating circle plate of gold. The golden plate hovered several inches off the ground and a watery portal bulged out from it's center, like a bowl full of water. The portal poured out light from it's center and blue mountains, clear sky and an endless field could be seen through it.

"What is that?" Roxas stared through the portal as they started walking for it.

"Elysium, or Elysian, whatever the hell you want to call it. Where the pure and innocent dead reside in peace." Xinck said.

They walked down the path and then up the stairs into the Gazebo. The boy started to drop from Roxas's shoulders and he hit the marble floor running for the portal, he held onto the bag covering his skull as he ran. He reached the portal, and turned back to them, "Come on!" He beckoned them with his hand before jumping in himself.

"You wanna go?" Roxas asked Xinck.

"Might as well." he replied, "Kid has my bag."

Number XIII replied with a nod and they walked across the marble floor to the portal and just as they got close enough, two large spear heads blocked their way. Instinctively, they jumped back to see the two giant Greek soldiers retracting their spears and returning to their at ease position.

"Only the pure may enter the Elysium fields." said the one on the right, "To rejoice in the sun and light of Paradise, one must have virtue, righteousness, fortitude, prudence-"

"Oh, give it up!" said the one on the left, "You've been givin' this speech for how long, man! Spice it up!"

"Are you happy now? You have completely ruined the mood. You are a mood killer."

"Everything you just said was-"

"Mood killer. Mood killer. Mood killer." The right one taunted the left.

"You can be so immature sometimes!"

"Me? You are a liar! I am the serious one!" He turned to Roxas and Xinck, "I'm the serious one." then back to Left, "You're the one who tried to lure out pure souls to see if they'd bring you apples from the trees in Elysium! That's immature!"

"That's not being immature, that's called being hungry, you dick!"

"YOU! ARE! A! STATUE! Do you know what you eat! Nothing! You will eat nothing and you will like It!"

"Arrg!" The Left growled, "Oh, I hate you! I can't work like this any more, I can't work with you anymore! I quit!"

"That's what you said 100 years ago and look where you are now! On the Left!"

"Uh..excuse me.." started Roxas, but the two statues continued to argue, "Uh..Hello! Hey! HEY!" he yelled louder than than both of them, his voice echoing out of the Gazebo. Even Xinck had to rub his ears at Roxas' yelling.

"What?" The statues yelled back.

"Yeah, hey, we're trying to do something, but we were wondering if you'd let us in, you know?"

"I already said." Started Right, "That only the pure may enter."

"Well, what's wrong with us?"

"'Us'" said Left, "There's nothing wrong with 'Us'. Just him." He pointed an accusing finger at Xinck. "Only the pure may enter. And I can tell from here that he is pure, but not the pure allowed in Elysium."

"What-what is that supposed to mean?"

"Are you thick?" The Left asked, "Means he ain't coming in. You can, but he can't."

Roxas looked back to Xinck, who looked rather uninterested in what was going on. He turned back to the statues, "If he can't come in, I'm not coming in."

"Very well, then." said Right.

"No skin off our bones." said Left, "Caring isn't in the job description."

"Well, we technically have to care for our job."

"Well, like you said, I'm a statue. An anatomically incorrect statue, if I may add. I'd be more inclined to care if I had some bal-"

"Enough." commanded Right.

"Fine." Left huffed. "Balls." Right sighed and shook his head.

"Roxas." Xinck walked in front of him, "Go ahead in, I'll be fine."

"What? No, we can't get separated. What if we get lost?"

"Then, we'll find each other. Simple, right?" He tried to lighten up, but he knew it was a farce.

"That's not what I-"

"Look, I'll just turn around and go back down into Lethe Valley. I'll try to find a way around Elysium and we'll meet up later. If you don't go in, we might be missing something. Just go in and look for clues or something."

"But what if-"

"What are you so worried about? I'll be fine, besides, how many chances are you going to get to see Paradise, right?"

"Well, I..I guess-"

"That's the spirit!" Xinck rushed behind Roxas and started pushing him towards the Portal. "Remember, there's lots and lots of food in Elysium, so get your fill." They made to the Portal and Roxas stuck his foot in just as Xinck stopped pushing.

He looked back "Okay, I'll go, but, just be careful, alright?"

Xinck straightened up, puffed out his chest and saluted and with a Russian accent, said, "Of course, _Tovarisch. Dos vedanya_, Comrade."

"Uh...yeah..you, too" He jumped into the portal with a flash of light and was gone. Xinck let out a huge sigh and deflated his chest, turning his back on the portal and statues, he started walking out the Gazebo.

"Yes," said Right, "Away with you and your impurity."

"That kid is covered in blood." said Left.

"Buckets of it."

"I mean, I've heard of being bathed in the blood of the innocent, but DAMN! He is ridiculous!"

Number XIV ignored their comments and continued down the stone pathway, alone. He sighed roughly, breaking through the clouds and continuing down the now-dark hill. He could handle being alone, he'd dealt with it for a good part of his life, but one thing he didn't like was being left alone with his thoughts. No one should be left alone with his thoughts.

"'Covered in blood.'" He said to himself, "Why do they have to throw it in my face like that?"

**Ruler of The Realm**

Hades, the lord of this Underworld, sat in his throne room. He was a little tired and unenthusiastic today, mostly because he had plans to destroy the coliseum today with Hercules in it, but he had heard that the coliseum had already been destroyed by something else, so his plans for the day were ruined. But then again, he thought, he could just send a monster there to crush the rubble or take a crap on it as a last 'Fuck you, Hercules'. But then that wouldn't really do much. He groaned loudly, scratching at his long, pale blue face and calm, blue flame hair. He stood up from his throne at an enormous 10ft, pretty normal for a god, and strolled over to one of the holes in his walls that served as windows, leaving a trail of black smoke that was his clothes behind him.

He got to the window and peered out to his woeful realm, seeing ghosts and spirits soar through the air, screams of horror from below and random skeletons and corpses walking about. This is exactly why Hades wanted to take over the world, because the dead were so boring! And worst of all, they didn't do anything but complain! "Oh! Help me! Help me!" Blah Blah Blah.

Hades position of God of The Underworld, while he didn't mind the title, was a position that was thrown at his face. After He, Poseidon and Zeus beat the crap out of their parents, aunts and uncles, Hades got the short end of the stick when Zeus tricked him into taking rule of the Underworld. Hades considers this a grave injustice and swore revenge on Zeus. But he has mostly been trying to kill his son, Hercules, for the past few years and has only had a few opportunities to strike back at Zeus with petty things, like, leaving the cap off his toothpaste, putting thumbtacks on his throne, sending him anonymous hate mail, and peeing in the back part of the toilet so when he flushes pee comes out . Hades knows these are all petty and small pranks and scolds himself for not coming up with anything better, but he likes to save his bigger ideas for later. Besides, those plans were long overdue for execution and he really just wanted to clear some space in his file cabinet.

Then, he heard scuttling across his stone floor as two pairs of feet ran into his throne room. Two very small imps, a fat, pig-like pink one and a skinny, elf-like green one. They both had horns, the green one's were longer than the pink one's and they each had names, Pain(pink) and Panic(green). Their appearances reflected their names as Pain's face always looked as if some stuck 100 nails into his butt and Panic looked as if he were two seconds away from dying of fright. They were both overly fidgety and in constant fear of their master killing or torturing them. They came running for Hades and as soon as he turned around to see them, they fell/slid/dropped to their knees and bowed to His Underworldliness.

"Pain and Panic! Reporting for Duty!" They both cried out in unison.

"Uh-uh." Was Hades' reply. They did this all the time and got boring centuries ago. Hades strolled away from them and the window and hovered back to his throne where he took a seat, placing his chin in his hand. He sighed, rolling his eyes, "So, boys, what's new, huh? Anything interesting happenin' in my town?" Oddly, Hades had the voice of renowned actor James Woods, who appeared on a television show called "Family Guy". Of course, Hades didn't know anything about the two, so bringing this up is pointless.

"Uh..Yes, actually, there is." Panic said, standing up from his bow. He was twitchy, like always and his eyes seemed to be darting from left to right as if he were going into a withdrawal.

"And?" Hades waved a hand to mean 'continue'.

"W-w-Well, you see-"

"You see,-" Pain often interrupted Panic. Even though he was the more dominate of the two, he still looked almost as panicky as Panic did when talking to Hades. "Uh..word is..um that 4 people in black coats have been spotted..uh..just roaming around."

"Black coats?" Hades said. "Oh, that little Organization thingy. They still around? Thought for sure they'd be dead by now. Ha, but if they're dead, they would end up here, right? Am I right!" He asked, expecting a laugh and opening his mouth and widening his eyes for effect. Pain and Panic both fell to the floor, laughing out of fear if they didn't. Hades was known for his sense of humor, but not for actually _being _funny.

"Yeah." Hades got up once more and stroked his long blue chin and paced around the room, "So, we got ourselves some little stray nothings, eh? Any I.D.s?"

"Well," said Panic, "They say two have blond hair, another has black hair and the fourth, well..." He started getting fidgety, "Well..had a hood over his head, so no one could see."

"Mm-mm." Hades stroked his chin again. Then he laughed, "Well, I wouldn't be me if I made their trip easy. Let's see if we can't get some Heartless off their lazy asses."

Sin

One reason Xinck didn't always like being left alone with his own thoughts was because they were, for lack of a better word, fucking insane.

He had made it down the Hill, walked past the passageway where they had previously found the boy, turned the corner and headed back down the stairs of the mountain that overlooked the River Lethe. He was sure not to let it affect him like it did last time because now he knew it's affects. He stopped on the stairs and over looked his surroundings. Behind him, was a mountain. To his left, they way to Elysium. Below him, the stairs he was on. To his right, more stairs that led to a cliff and nothing else. To his front, The long River Lethe that flowed and curved through through the valley, large mountains on either side and several thick stone bridges that were randomly placed throughout the valley to connect both sides.

"_So what are you gonna do?"_ Xinck was, once again, talking to himself.

"I don't know." The real Xinck replied, "I..could try jumping down." he peeked over the edge of the stairs he was on and saw it was at least a 60ft drop.

"_I wouldn't. Looks like you might break your legs. That would hurt."_Xinck said. _"You could try scaling down the wall, but you might end up in the river. Can you swim?"_

"Yeah, but..." He looked around, he didn't want to scale down if he could avoid it, especially if he slipped and fell into the river. He considered flying down there, but then he remembered how much it hurts him to fly, so he only does it if it's completely necessary or it would look really, really cool.

A loud screech sounded through the air and Xinck's eyes looked to the sky to find it's source. Far off to his left was a large flock of Wyvern Heartless, at least 7 as far as he could see. Wyverns had the appearance of a lizard and a bat joined together with a leathery, dark salmon hide and very large talons and feet. They had wings, or flaps, where arms should be and the wings themselves were large and tattered, but still gave the beast power to fly. While having no arms and only legs, the Wyvern still gave off a muscled look.

"_Oh, well, looky there."_ said Xinck in an unenthusiastic tone, _"You've got friends coming to play with you."_

Xinck braced himself as the closest one came in for a dive, "Uh-huh. I don't need any new friends..." He jumped back along the stairs as the Wyvern came in to dive, smashing onto the spot and sending out a small shockwave. It floated back up into the air, apparently suffering no ill-effects. It just floated in the air, glaring at Xinck and waiting for him to make a move while the other Wyverns flew closer.

He stepped back a little along the stairs, both swords formed in his hands in a reverse grip. _"You picked a really shitty place to get ambushed." _Xinck said. He was right, the stairs weren't very large and Xinck probably wouldn't have enough room to attack, but that was no problem for the Wyvern, it could just float. Plus, there were more Wyvern on the way.

"Dammit." Xinck looked around a little more, he wished he had killed the two statues and forced his way into Elysium instead of dealing with this. "Oh, well, too late now." He would just have to wing it. He was good at winging it. He jumped, closing the gap between himself and the Wyvern, flipped and kicked the Heartless in it's throat. It gagged and staggered in the air as Xinck landed back on the stairs. He threw his chains to the Wyvern and they impaled themselves shallowly in it's shoulders, he pulled and hauled it's upper body down to the stairs, smashing it's neck against the stones while it's torso still hovered. Xinck jumped again, this time over it's head and onto the base of it's neck and sat, dismissing his swords and grabbing onto each of the spikes that rested on the Wyvern's shoulders. He pulled upwards, "Get up! Come on, get up!" The Wyvern was still a bit dazed from having it's head smashed into the ground, but it lazily picked itself up anyway and started floating once more. With Xinck guiding and pulling at it's shoulder horns, they took off from the cliff and straight to the valley. The flock of Wyverns were getting closer.

Xinck had fought Wyverns before, but they never seemed all that fast, probably because their targets were slow and on the ground. But now that he was actually on one, he found them to easily faster than most other winged animals. In an instant, they flew over and past the first bridge that laid across the valley and past several large statues of Hades that decorated it and as they flew, Xinck saw that the valley curved to the left along the river and continued down that way for what seemed like several miles. There were more bridges, mostly low ones, but they were too high to pay them any mind.

"_Oh, God, this is scary, this is scary, this is scary!" _Xinck chanted, _"I don't like this."_

"Oh, grow a sac, really." Xinck replied, over the sound of the wind rushing past him. The other Wyvers were catching up even faster. Apparently the one Xinck was riding was one of the slower Wyverns. Xinck kicked at the sides of the Heartless, signaling 'Faster', and the Wyvern turned it's head to Xinck and screeched, saying 'Asshole, you kicked me in the neck then stabbed me in the shoulders. How about I stab you in the legs and see how fast you can run?'. Just then, a Blue-colored Wyvern from behind screeched and tucked it's wings in and shot like a bullet and spinning like a corkscrew. It pounded into Xinck's Wyvern and the staggered through the air, the Wyvern barely able to re-situate itself.

"Oh, shit! Can you do that?" Xinck asked the Wyvern, not really expecting a reply. But the Wyvern did screech back, 'Yeah, probably. But I don't know, man, that's Greg. Everyone likes Greg.' Not hearing a reply, Xinck said, "Alright, fine." The Wyvern continued flying as Xinck held onto it's horns and lifted up his back, shifting his weight to his legs. He looked back to see the Wyvern that just attacked them directly behind him.

"_Don't do it, man, don't do it, don't do it! I know what you're gonna do! Don't!"_

Xinck turned and jumped off his wyvern and shot through the air, with his arms outstretched. _"Aagghhh! We're gonna die!" _Xinck yelled in Xinck's head. It didn't last long as Xinck made it to the Blue Wyvern and snagged one of it's horns. It screeched and wobbled through the air and Xinck hauled himself up onto it's back. He didn't sit, but called both swords and effortlessly slashed straight through it's wings and they fell like leaves to the ground. As the Wyvern screeched madly, Xinck stabbed it in the back of the neck, pulled upwards and flipped both himself and the Wyvern in the air and hurled it down below with a crash.

"You know, now that I think about it." thought Xinck's Wyvern that still flew ahead of him, "Greg was kind of a douche."

Before Xinck could free fall to far, he threw one of his chains and the blade and chain wrapped tightly around a Wyvern's foot. He yanked, pulling himself up and the Wyvern was forcefully pulled down to him, catching it off guard and screeching. He threw his other chain far and it wrapped around the spiked tail of a higher up Wyvern. He yanked on the chain to get it's attention and it looked back at him and screeched, flapping it's wings in a frenzy and speeding up, bringing Xinck along with him as he dragged along the other Wyvern. The Wyvern below had lost itself in the confusion and couldn't flap it's wings hard enough to fly higher as it dangled by it's foot below Xinck and the Higher up Wyvern was flying to shake him off and hopefully smash him into one of the statues of Hades.

A large, dark stone statue of Hades, fastened to one of the bridges came into close contact with Xinck, but he swung sideways to avoid it as he dangled through the air. All the statues of Hades were in the same position, one arm bent at an angle on the hip and the other raised triumphantly in the air. Another statue on a different bridge was coming up fast and when Xinck was close enough he pulled up his legs, landed on Hades's palm and jumped high enough to pull up the Wyvern to Hades's open mouth and impaling it's body on his sharp teeth. The chain around it's leg released and flew back to Xinck as he started swinging back and forth from the tail of the Wyvern he he was still attached to. He built up enough momentum and shot forward from underneath it, making sure to cut through it's head as he shot for the last Wyvern he could see before his original one. He landed right on it's back and with a yell, and drunk on his own brutality, he grabbed it by it's thick neck and pulled upwards, the Wyvern flapping it's wings in a panic. He could hear it's flesh tearing from itself and the final tug completely ripped it's head off. He jumped for his original Wyvern before the latter would fall out of the sky. As he sailed through the air for his ride, he saw it moving to fast, paying no attention to him and he missed it's back, but grabbed it's tail in a quick panic. The Wyvern screeched with the pulling of it's tail and as the sight of a mountain cave came into view, it flicked it's tail and Xinck shot with a yell from the Wyvern and landed on his feet, skidding across the cave floor and coming to a stop.

"Wow. I just did all of _that. _Can you believe it?" He said to himself. He turned around from the cave and looked out from it's mouth back to the valley.

"_I know. We're so awesome."_

"Who's 'we'? You got a turd in your pocket?"

"_If I have a turd in my pocket it's only because you put it there, you sick pervert."_

"I'm not a fecalpheliac!"

"_A what?"_

"Fecalpheliac. It's anyone whose obsessed with Mookie Stinks."

"_...'Mookie Stinks'? Really?"_

"Poo-Poo! Duh!"

"_Oh! Doo-doo, I get it. Yeah, that's definitely you. Definitely."_

"I'm not a fecalpheliac!" Xinck yelled, getting irritated with himself.

"_You're a depressed fecalpheliac on Prozac! Ha ha!"_

Xinck smacked himself on the head, hard enough to stop the laughter, but also hard enough for it to actually hurt him, too. "Shut up!". There was a simultaneous 'Ow!' and the voice stopped laughing. Xinck turned from the mouth of the cave and stared down into it. It was nothing special, just a regular, darkish-blue cave, no makes on the walls or anything. It was smaller than the first cave he and Roxas had gone through and also shorter, he could see a lighter, grayer area a a few yards ahead. He started walking for it.

"_You sure you wanna go down this way. I got a bad feeling about this."_

"Haven't you ever played a video game before? The only way to win is to go forward."

"_True, true, but this is no game. It's real life, with real consequences."_

"Yes, but there is the slight possibility that this _is _actually a game, or some type of story written and posted on the internet for the entertainment of others. And we're all only as real as we perceive each other to be."

"_...Xinck, you're nuttier than a Chinese Chicken Salad."_

"Occasionally. Why the hell do you think I'm talking to you? It's either this, or I can be as lonely as Adam Lambert's last shred of masculinity or as sad as Christina Aguilera trying to sing in Spanish."

"_My God! That's horrible!"_

"I know, man, I know." Xinck stuck his hands in his pockets and walked down the cave tunnel, alone.

**5 Minutes Later **

"_The Wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round, 'round and 'round, 'round and 'round, The Wheels on the bus go 'round and 'round, all through the town." _Xinck sang, while the real Xinck walked on in annoyance, _"Come on, Xinck, you know the words! "The Wheels on the bus-"_

"Shut up, you stupid son of a bitch!" His voice rang out through the cave, stopping the singing, "At least, sing something enjoyable!"

The voice huffed, then started up again _"Fat, stupid asshole better shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up, shut the fuck up, Fat stupid asshole better shut the fuck up, all through the town..." _With no warning, Xinck turned left and furiously ran his head into the cave wall over and over again.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" He chanted over and over again. He started hating this place and every dead person in it. He didn't have these problems as frequently when he was around the living, it's bad enough he was alone without Roxas here, but this whole 'Madness' thing was becoming insufferable. Not to mention the dead could see the 'blood' on him. He knew it wasn't on him physically, he knew it. But it was on his soul, it was his soul that was drenched in blood, not his body.

He stopped bashing his head on the wall. The voice was gone. No singing, no laughing. Just him, the cave and the throbbing pain on his head. He dabbed at the spot on his forehead, it shot a searing pain through to his brain and blood was already trickling down his face. It would heal, so there was no use in worrying about it. He continued on down the cave, the end of it was in sight and he could hear the sound of trickling water.

As he drew closer to the sound, he found another cave, this one was ashen gray and went horizontal to Xinck. He stepped out of the blue cave and down a small slope into the gray cave, there was a wall a few feet away from him and he looked to his left, nothing but more cave, he looked to his right, the same. There was nothing here but a small creek with pale blue water going down the passageway. It must be a little outlet for one of the major rivers, He thought, a creek or really a really deep stream. He peered into the water, it was deep and wide, about 4 feet across and just like any other river of the Underworld, souls swam through it, but he didn't see many, maybe just 2 or 3 at a time.

Finding nothing and not wanting to either left or right along the cave, Xinck walked back up the slope into the Blue cave.

"...I..I know you..." A voice.

It took a little more than a cryptic message to actually surprise Xinck and because he wasn't really in a humorous mood now, he only turned around with a neutral expression on his face back to the gray gave. There, in the river, staring straight at him, were a pair of solid round green eyes, like holographic marbles. They waded in the water, just looking at him and they repeated their words. "I know you...Yes, I do know you."

"I don't know you, spirit." He replied, "Leave me be. I'm having a _really _bad day."

"No, no, I know you." The voice became clearer and was female. Xinck looked as a pale, blue mist floated around the eyes and they lifted themselves up from the water and into the air. The mist formed around them, taking shape around the eyes and forming a head and eventually a body of mist. While the body itself remained humanoid, it remained blurry and ghost-like, but the head became very clear. The face of a woman showed, her hair was long and wavered behind her shoulders, and while her face was that of a woman in her 20's, fine features, she could have easily been a model, taking up most of the left side of her face in a diagonal line, were burn marks and her skull, dark from being burned, could be seen and as she moved her regular flesh lips, her half skeleton face moved as well. "I know you. I remember those eyes, those teeth! HOW COULD I EVER FORGET THE DEMON WHO MURDERED ME AND MASSACRED MY PEOPLE!"

His face was in a neutral expression. He knew what she was talking about, but he didn't want to give her the satisfaction and before he could stop himself, he opened his mouth, "I've killed a lot of people. You'll have to be much more specific."

Her wail of anger, hatred and sorrow blasted throughout the cave, like a terrible wind that threw Xinck's coat back some, but he stayed still. She looked at him, narrowed her eyes and before he could do anything, she had charged at him, flying at him. He lost his composure and out of fear, he gasped and tried to retreat by backpedaling, but she was too fast and she collided with him as he fell backwards to the ground. Before he hit, everything slowed and for a moment, he could see and feel everything through her eyes. When she hit him, it was like he had been hit with a cool wave, disrupting and blurring his vision. Then everything came into focus and he could feel and see everything at the moment of her death.

Everything was red, everything was hot. He was on fire, his entire body was burning. Everything came into focus, the flames around the bottom of his face were searing his flesh, he could hear her screaming from the pain. They held up their hands and they, too, were consumed by the flames. The pain took over Xinck's body even as he watched, but he could see through her eyes and he could see around her. She was on a wooden porch, in a village. The sky and clouds were literally blood crimson and on the ground level there were others, her people in the village, running and screaming, injured and bleeding. Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, young and old, all horribly mutilated, some missing limbs, some strangled with the remains of their loved ones and others just horribly killed in unspeakable ways. And the ones who were lucky enough to already be dead, littered the streets, the houses and even the roofs.

Some ran through the streets burning, some tried to escape, but in the distance a great wall of flaming shadows surrounded the village. No one could leave.

The woman wailed, not only for her own pain, but for the others who suffered through an unwarranted act of evil.

And through her eyes, Xinck saw what was standing directly in front of her, watching her, marveling at her and her pain. It was him. Xinck was watching himself watch her burn. But Xinck could barely recognize himself, he didn't even know he could look like that. They both watched Xinck staring at them with a huge, psychotic, Cheshire Cat look on his face, eyes wide with awe at his own handiwork as the reflection of the flames danced in his monochrome eyes and his mouth wide with a smile, bearing his sharp teeth. He was sighing contently, hands in his pockets not even bothering to take his eyes off the burning women.

The Spirit woman pulled out and away from Xinck and he fell to the cave floor, back to his own body. He quickly looked back to the blue cave, hoping to runaway and leave, but the cave was blocked, it was gone and left nothing but another stone wall. He looked back at her and saw her advancing on him slowly. He was backing away, gasping and she backed him into a corner, his eyes were wide and he was sweating.

"No, get back! I didn't-I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!" He wailed. He couldn't feel remorse, or regret. But now, he really didn't know.

"There were over 23,000 people in my village." She said, "And you murdered every single one. You took your time, you went slow and made sure everyone died a horrible death."

"I didn't!"

"You made a game of it!" She roared. She reached his face, he didn't move, he didn't breath or blink, "You will drown in the blood of those innocence you have slain..."

_**-This Is The New Addition-**_

The Underworld is separated into 3 main sections: Asphodel, Elysium and Tartarus. The Underworld, as a whole, changes it's landscape every so often, one reason is to reflect the shifty nature of the Lord of The Dead, and the second reason is to make it nearly impossible for any soul to leave. While the three main parts essentially stay the same, the multitude of areas surrounding and connecting them change, sometimes separately or one at a time. Quite honestly, if you had a choice as to which afterlife you were going to, Elysium would be the better choice. Asphodel is boring and Tartarus is just unbearable, literally. Elysium was more or less a very small universe within itself, composed of an empty sunshine and light filled sphere. Miniature planetoids orbit around each other and floating islands drift through the air, just below a great hole in the sky that pours light. The main 'Elysium', where every soul comes through, is the largest of these planetoids, composed of large mountains, fields of golden wheat, green grass and trees and even though this paradise was constantly in day, it's own special Aurora Borealis glided through the air, weaving in and out between the clouds. Roxas walked out onto the sunlit wheat fields that moved with the gentle wind. He had just emerged from the portal at the top of a hill that was guarded by two large stone statues, the portal lead to this paradise in the Underworld and only the pure and innocent could enter. Xinck wasn't allowed to enter, so Roxas went on ahead to pursue a small child that they had found earlier. The child had jumped through the portal to Elysium and Roxas hadn't see him since, and He needed to find him because he thought the small boy might be able to tell them where they can find a way to Hades. Walking through the golden field, Roxas craned his neck upwards to see the sky. Large planets orbited on high. A large brownish planet was the closest, it loomed over Elysium and green rivers, as green as emeralds, were visible from the ground, curving upwards along it's surface. It was almost hard to even look at without feeling so small and insignificant, like the planet was inevitably going to fall on him. Then another planet, much smaller was far off in the distance, floating by itself. It was white and pinkish and was almost unnoticeable against the white light around it.

There were at least a dozen other planets orbiting around Elysium, all just as beautiful and magnificent as the last. In the air and out in the distance, souls danced around, alone and with each other. These were the only joyful spirits Roxas had seen and quite honestly, it was a nice change of scenery. They jumped and flew through the air and they would jump so high, they could reach the other planets and floating islands. This place was beautiful, he had never seen any place like this before. Roxas was actually glad Xinck made him come in here, he just wished he could show it to him and Axel. Axel. He couldn't forget why he and Xinck had come here in the first place, he needed to find that boy, but he hadn't seen him.

As much as he wanted to, he couldn't just walk around and enjoy the sights. He had a mission and he intended to finish it, but he needed to find that boy first. He started out in a run, parting the golden field as he ran through Elysium.

* * *

He couldn't breath, covered in sweat and paralyzed by a fear he wasn't supposed to feel. They told him he couldn't feel anything, they told him he worked for a higher purpose that had no consequence. If so, then why was this happening to him now? He was on his hands and knees, trying to catch a breath. His body felt heavy, he was trembling. He looked up from the cave floor to the ghostly and burned face of his accuser.

She floated above him, staring at the top of his head. She reached down, grabbed at his hair and pulled him into the air. She could only grab at him and because he was living and she wasn't, she could not inflict any harm on him. She could only sync their souls together and make him feel the very same pain that she felt, saw and heard with her dying soul. Despite Xinck's size, she had no trouble lifting him off his feet. He kicked and groaned and grabbed at her wrist, his hair was short so it hurt even more. His eyes meet hers and he kicked upwards with his right leg, only for it to go straight through and fall back down.

She didn't laugh. She wasn't being antagonistic about it. "You can't hurt me." She leaned in closer to his cowering face, "There is no pain I can feel that overcomes the hatred I have. But you..." Her eyes narrowed, "You can feel a thousand deaths by my hand." Xinck screamed, she wailed and dove into his face, that cool watery sensation splashing all over his body. It was immediately replaced with pain, his vision blurred and reformed back into that village and a vision of himself, swords ready and a great grin plastered on his face.

Xinck was in someone else's body. He was seeing this from another man's point of view because She had seen it when it happened. He was in a man's body and the Xinck in this vision mercilessly cut a great, bloody 'X' across the man's face. The pain shot through Xinck and onto his face, he could feel the blades tearing through his and the man's skin, the blood shooting out and the taste of their own blood. Xinck slashed again, this time laughing and slashing another 'X' into the man's stomach, a large gash as long as the man's body. That burning feeling of flesh cleaved from bone was unbearable, the man and Xinck screamed and fell to the ground, unable to move, unable to breath, only to die.

The Xinck in the vision came up to the man's point of view. Xinck could see himself through the man's dying eyes. "Hey." he said, grinning slightly, "_Dos Equis_, Stay Thirsty, My friend. Get it? '_Dos Equis'_? Two X's? From the beer commercial? Because I carved two X's on you, remember? Do you guys even have TV here? Hey, you dead?" He nudged the dead man's lifeless head. "Yeah...you're dead. Oh, well! Who's next!" And with that, he leaped away for his next victim, a child.

She pulled out of his mind and he was back in his body, screaming and holding his face and stomach. There were no wounds, but they hurt just the same. She dropped him back down on his knees on the cave floor. He picked up his head, and thrust out an open palm, a black flame shone and exploded forth in a thin stream, passing straight through the spirit and blasting into the gray cave wall far behind her.

"I told you that you cannot hurt me."

"Then what the fuck are you going to do to me!" He growled, cringing with his stomach. There were no wounds, but his mind thought there were and triggered his healing. "What do you want?"

"I told you what I want!" She wailed, pointing an accusing finger at him, "I want you to pay for what you did!"

"I know what I did! I'm sorry!" He hated this. It wasn't him. He never apologized before, but he would say anything to make her go away. There was nothing he could do, he couldn't fight, he was trapped and he could barely move.

"'Sorry'?" She scoffed, "You're not sorry. You're pathetic. I thought that only a cruel, godless monster with no shred of humanity could do such horrible things. But now that I look at you, I see nothing but a scared child, a whining baby that was aborted by existence itself, that's right I know you're a Nobody. I saw into your soul and I know all about you."

"If..if you know about me, then you know about the Organization, right? Well, then, why me! Why is it that I'm the only one who gets this crap! They've all killed people! They're all accountable!"

"THEY NEVER WENT ON A KILLING SPREE JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT!" Her voice howled, shaking the cave itself, " YOU HAVE SINGLEHANDEDLY KILLED MORE THAN ALL OF THEM COMBINED!"

Her voice was too loud. He couldn't handle it, grabbing his eyes and groaning, "What about Roxas?" he whined, "He's killed, I've even seen it, but even he can get in Elysium!"

"They all have their crimes to pay, but he is an exception."

"Because of his Keyblade! That's not fair!"

"No. He is truly innocent, truly pure. He knows nothing better, having no memory of it. He does what he has to do and because of this, his sins rest with your Superior. He is forever blameless."

"That..that's not fair..."

"Fair?" She grabbed his collar, hauled him into the air, threw him against the cave wall and started dragging him along it towards the small Styx stream where she had first emerged, "Who said anything about fair? You should know all to well that life isn't fair. AND THAT THE AFTERLIFE IS NO DIFFERENT!" She threw him. He hit the adjacent wall with his shoulder, bones snapped, he slid down into the small stream. It was shallow so it barely got him wet. As the bones started to snap back into place on their own, he peered up at her, trying to look past the blood slowly collecting in his eye.

"You're just a killer, a murderer." She shook her head, "You even killed your own teammates. What were their names..Vexen and Zexion. Yes, you killed them too! You're just LIKE A DOG THAT WON"T STOP EATING!"

"It..it's not..my fault." He breathed. He wasn't crying, it's impossible for him to cry, but his face and eyes were contorted in the same fashion as a man who had just lost everything and more. "It's not my fault...Larxene, Xercivio...Xemnas...It's not my-GAH!" She had grabbed a large rock, a piece of the Underworld that she could touch, and dropped it down on his head, cracking his skull and busting bones in his neck. He wailed, screaming and grabbing at his face and falling down to the side of the stream, the rock falling onto his lap.

"And you dare blame others for your crimes..."She shook her head, like a mother ashamed of her only child. She looked at him, cringing in pain and groaning on the ground. She saw the great wound on his head that she had inflicted on him, she saw it starting to close up, blood, muscles, bone, skin and eventually his hair. "Do you think you'll live forever?"

"Aaaggh! What are you talking about?" He wailed at her. He couldn't do anything, he felt so weak. No attack he had would work on her and the only ways out of this cave were the long tunnels to his left and right, but his body wouldn't move, no matter how much he wanted it to.

"Your powers heal you from almost any wound and hit you take. Nobodies do not age, but they heal, this is because your molecules are in perfect balance, dying and reproducing in equilibrium, halting the process of aging at the exact moment you lose your heart. Essentially rendering you nigh-immortal. So tell me, do you think you will live forever?"

"Here you are." He was getting sick of this and his voice reflected it, sounding sinister as if holding back, "Torturing me, taking everything about me apart and for what? If you want revenge, then do it and get it over with!"

Her eyes widened. Her ghostly hair wavered above her, but instead of screaming her wail that blasted throughout the Underworld, she cracked a tiny smile. Then her face contorted until a half flesh/half bone smile stretched from ear to burnt ear. "Do you really think this is about revenge?"

No matter what the situation, no matter his mood or disposition, Xinck could never resist pointing out the obvious, "Well, duh, you bitch!" He was still angry and he couched up blood as his healing was finished.

Her fist punched deeply into the cave wall next to the left side of his head, deep enough so that her face was merely inches from his, but he didn't cringe or look away. He wouldn't do it, he was tired of that weakness that Larxene had toyed with so skillfully. "This is not revenge. This is not retribution. This is a foretelling of Justice. You will NOT live forever, Nobody! You are not immortal and you will receive your Just Desserts in Hell!"

"I'm already in The Underworld, you stupid fucking twat!"

She smashed her other fist into the left side of the wall next to his head and drew her face even closer to his. He couldn't feel nor smell her breath and her face was still in that large smile, as if she was holding back a great laugh. "No. Not the Underworld, oh no. This place is too good for the likes of you. The most evil souls in all existence have only True Hell to look forward to." Even though he had gotten his nerve back, he still could not move his body. She whispered his coming damnation into his ear and he knew why she was smiling, she enjoyed imagining his suffering. She was acting just like Larxene and he hated Larxene. "I look forward to the damned ripping you apart over and over, feasting on you and making you feel everything me and my people felt a thousand-fold. You will truly suffer for your sins, you abomination. Your screams will reach me here in Hades and rock me to sleep." She started backing away, laughing, chuckling to herself. "But until then, I want you to live on, Deviant boy..." She floated away, sinking lower as she drifted over the stream from which she came. "Live on and go, GO! And prove to us all, the dead and the living that you truly belong in Hell..." She sank lower and lower, slowly disappearing back into the water, still keeping her eyes on Xinck.

She was leaving, taking her paralyzing, anger-caused presence with her. The feeling was returning to his body and all of a sudden the weight of his clothes, pocket contents and in fact his entire sense came back. The weight of the situation he was in, the weight of that great emptiness inside him and all Nobodies, the weight of his clothes and the emotional baggage that weighed on the heart he had in his memories. But more importantly, the weight of the black Stygian dagger in his sleeve pressed against his bare arm. Xinck moved up from his spot, faster than he thought he could move, he jumped over Her head that was still sinking into the stream and he grabbed her ghostly hair. It was like grabbing silk and holding on tight, hoping it didn't slip through your fingers like water. He didn't think to wonder why he could grab a ghost when he knew whatever powers of Death he had wouldn't work in Hades, but he grabbed her and hauled her screaming body from the stream. He let go after slamming her down on the ground and grabbing her translucent neck.

She screamed, grabbing his wrists and trying to pry him off. He wouldn't budge and they stared at each other with cold eyes. "You can't kill me!" She yelled, showing no fear in her voice, "I'm already dead! You can't even hurt me!"

With his free hand open, he let his back knife slid out from his sleeve. He gripped it and held it over her head. In a cold voice, raspy with evil, he spoke, "Yes I can."

"You can't! But go ahead and try, prove my words! You are a dog that can't stop killing!" She started laughing, "It'll only make your screams as you're dragged to Hell more sweet to me!"

"You're wrong." His face was stern and his eyes were cut, "There is no way I'd be dragged into that pit."

"And why is that? You deserve only damnation! Give me one reason why you wouldn't burn!"

"Because." He raised the dagger directly above her nose. "I'm not evil. I'm just...complicated." He thrust the blade down, and like she was made of flesh, her face tore open and split as he dragged the blade down from her nose to the base of her neck. She wailed, her face falling open and unleashing a great sound wave, shaking the cave like a great earthquake. Her body shattered into pieces, but the sound continued, Xinck couldn't take the noise, stepping back and grabbing his head. The cave shook madly, the stream tussled and rocks fell from the ceiling. Xinck started losing his balance, looking for a place to run to but finding nothing. A large, 5 pound rock was loosened from the ceiling, it fell and smashed into his head. He hit the cave floor, right in the stream, he wasn't unconscious but he was too dazed to move his body as the current took him and moved him down the cave tunnel.

Paradise was great, fruitful trees everywhere, comfortable grassy fields to lay in and endlessly beautiful scenery. Truly, to die and come here was the greatest reward anyone could receive. But only if you were dead and for Roxas, he didn't have time to sample the scenery, or eat the fruit from the trees. But it would seem he had more than enough time to run through some fields, because all he has done, for what seems like an entire hour, was run through a damn golden field.

Nobodies are faster than humans and being able to control Light, Roxas was easily faster than the rest of them. So fast, in fact, that if he ran too fast the friction would burn off his clothes (It only took him one time to learn that running too close to the speed of light was actually more embarrassing than beneficial). But he could run fast enough so as to make others appear to be moving much slower. It was tiring, though, he continued running and running, parting a way between the golden wheat field, running past flashes of dancing spirits in the air and running for the sunlight horizon.

He had had no luck finding the boy. He thought maybe this was just a waste of time. He could be anywhere and for all he knew, he could have been one of those spirits that had flown up to another planet in the sky and Roxas would have no way of getting up there. He started to slow down, both tired and discouraged, he stopped. He bent over, breathing heavily, hands on his knees. He was sweating, no surprise, he never had to run for that long before. He caught his breath and stood up, taking in the whole of the scenery. The way the light of this place was half exposed over the horizon was just like the Twilight Town sunset. He wanted Axel and Xinck to see this. He liked watching the sun set, but it all really meant nothing if he didn't have them to share it with.

Two trees stood on slightly elevated ground just ahead of him. Two Cherry Blossom trees, wavering in the wind around them, curved towards each other, almost forming a doorway with a portal at the center and a new part of Elysium on the other side. The cherry blossom petals glowed a pale pink, like neon, they pulsated with life and almost invited him in. Before he knew it, he had walked through that portal and the sunset was gone, replaced with a clear blue sky and an endless field of flowers, all different colors like a Multicultural Cabbage Patch Kids' Convention. He stepped away from the trees, his back to them, and got a good look around him. This new area was almost the same as the old, except the sky was blue, the islands that floated around the air were more like huge boulders covered by flowers and trees and out in the distance, all around the land, was a lake. He was on land surrounded by a lake, blue mountains on the horizon and specks of light and dust drifted through the air. Yet more beautiful scenery.

"It's about bloody time you arrived." Roxas turned to his left. Leaning up against a small oak tree, Luxord smiled at him, clutching a bottle and holding it up.

"Luxord!"

"I'm drunk, how about you?" He replied. He pushed off from the tree, staggering a little and made his way over to Roxas and on instinct, Roxas started to throw out both hands to call a weapon and fight. "Uh-uh-uh." Luxord said, waving a finger at him, "I wouldn't if I were you. You see, the powers in Elysium look down on violence. We might get a very unpleasant going away party if we engage in combat." Roxas stopped, the light fading away from his hands and Luxord stopped in front of him, but Roxas remained in his battle-ready position.

"What are you doing here? We're not going back until we find Axel." Roxas said. He stared up at Luxord who had the kind of grin on his face that meant 'Ha ha, I know something that you don't.' If only Roxas knew that that was just Luxord's drinking face.

"I'm more than positive you know why I'm here." He replied. "You disobeyed an order and now my orders are to bring you back."

"I told you We're not coming back!"

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time!" Luxord snapped back, then taking another drink.

_He's drunk. _Roxas thought. _And if we can't fight, then he's just in my way._ Roxas stood normally, eying Luxord, then looking past him. He started walking away. "If you're just here to talk, I've got nothing to say. I'm busy."

"Busy doing what? Looking for that boy, I wonder?"

Roxas turned back around to face Luxord, "What? How do you-?"

"He came through here earlier. He looked rather happy to see me for some reason. Possibly because of the coat. That's how I knew he must have seen you two at some point." Seemingly out of nowhere Luxord produced a black bag, the same black bag that Roxas and Xinck had put over the boy's head to cover up his exposed brains. "Don't fret. His head healed as he entered this sacred place."

"Where is he!"

"Gone. Long gone by now, actually." He took another gulp, finishing the bottle and throwing it away to the ground, "BUT, I believe he did tell me something, something important that he wanted to tell you for getting him here and saving him from those wretched Heartless..."

It hit him like a ton of brinks. _How to find Hades, _he thought. He made a light-blue laser cut between him and Luxord, slicing through and burning the flowers and catching the Gambler off guard. "Stop playing around, Luxord! Tell me what he said so I can find Axel!"

Nearly falling over, but regaining himself, Luxord replied, "And if I don't?" A rush of wind blew past him as Roxas ran straight up to him, but Luxord didn't flinch at all, he merely stared down into Roxas's eyes.

"Then I'll make you!" He yelled right into his face. Luxord burped and it's smell traveled quickly into Roxas's, who retched and backed down and fanned the air around his nose. Luxord cleared his throat, "Terribly sorry about that." He backed away from Roxas to give him more air. "Now, understand this, my friend, since we cannot fight each other in the sacred grounds of Elysium, and you've already defeated me twice before, I suggest we find an alternative."

"A what?"

"We'll play a game, a simple game and nothing more. A card game to determine our fates." Grabbing them out of nowhere, Luxord's choice of weapon, Fair Game, appeared into his hand. "If I win, you and Xinck will willingly accompany me back to the Castle and put an end to this tiresome crusade."

Roxas wasn't stupid. He knew how well Luxord was at games of chance, mind games and just games in general. But Luxord always claimed to be a fair man, letting fate and chance move his hand. For all Roxas knew, there could be some secret Loophole in his words that would screw him over in the long run, but what choice did he have? Luxord knew something that was important to Roxas and he was sure he was never going to see that boy again. There was a 50/50 chance that he could win in a fair game with Luxord, and that was better than nothing.

"What do I get if I win?" Roxas asked, with a defiant tone.

"The gambler rolled his eyes, "If you win, I take my leave and will not bother you again and I'll tell you anything you want to know about the situation at hand."

"I want to add something; When you get back to the castle, you get everyone else, Xemnas, Saix, Xigbar, Demyx, Xaldin and The Lesser Nobodies to back off!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that." He replied, "Xemnas hasn't even touched this problem and Saix seems dead set on finding you."

"What do you mean Xemnas's hasn't even touched this problem?"

"He's been hauled off in his office since before you left. Quite frankly, I think he doesn't even have the slightest clue that you two are gone. Saix has been in charge of this operation and as for my part of the deal, all I can promise is my excursion form this rubbish. "

Roxas raised an eyebrow.

"And no, to answer your question. I can tell from your expression what you wanted to ask and I do not think that chasing after you two is a way to spend my valuable time. So do we have a deal?" He held out his hand, the age old custom to seal a binding contract. Having no other choice and believing he could win, Roxas shook.

The stream of water that drove him down the tunnel did not last long. Xinck was barely conscious and eventually whatever light filled the cave tunnel was gone, leaving him in darkness as he succumbed to the current. In Darkness, Xinck was stronger, in Darkness, Xinck felt better, but in his current state, he felt so weak and helpless that darkness did nothing for him. Even worse, in Darkness, Xinck could not see, he needed light to see through the dark like everyone else. As his head swirled and tried to regain itself, his body went limp as gravity took over, he was falling and he could no longer feel the water around him.

He fell through what seemed like an unending darkness, the air rushed past his ears. And he had to squint his eyes to keep them from tearing up. Then he felt a great pain in his back, rocks scraping against him as he fell against, what he thought was a mountain. He yelled and tried to push off from it with his feet and he did only to continue his free fall, he could feel the blood trickling down. He didn't have time nor enough will to call his swords, but as his mind reset itself, he began to feel the dangerous, rough and hidden landscape he was in. He needed to protect himself and the first thing that came to mind was a spell he had learned quite a long time. It was a protection spell he knew in lieu of learning the Reflect Defensive spells, which he sucked at. This spell only reduced any all damage you take, for example if the spell was activated and Xinck was immediately stabbed in the chest, the spell would prevent his skin from being broken and would feel like a sharp punch. It couldn't protect the inside of the nose, mouth or the eyes, so if you were stabbed in the eyes, you'd be screwed.

Xinck punched his hands together, letting them glow a deep scarlet and purple color before spreading them out in front of them. Although he couldn't see, he could tell that he had just drawn a thick, black line in front of his face because it glowed the same purple and scarlet. He only needed to think the spell and punch the line, as he did, the line shattered into nine, flapping butterfly shapes, dark in color. They would fly around and absorb some of whatever damaged he'd take. Just as the butterflies took flight around him to protect him, he hit another part of the mountain, the sharp tip of a stone. It should have pierced him, but instead it was blunt against his stomach, he rolled off it, one butterfly expanded and disappeared with the damage and he continued down into the darkness.

He would keep falling and smacking into the mountain. As he did, he should have lost one leg, half his arm, crushed ribs, internal bleeding and serious lacerations around his neck, but the butterflies kept him safe, taking much of the damaged and leaving him with just broken bones that could easily be healed. There were only nine butterflies we he called them and as his body hit the dark floor and stopped, they were gone. The spell had finished and now he just lay there, letting his bones snap back into place and letting his coat fix itself.

His breathing was heavy, it was easily louder than the small and calm pit of glowing, green water in front of him. Blood had collected in his right eye and as he lifted his head, he saw the glow of neon green water in front of him. The glow of it lifted into the air, but it wasn't enough to pierce the darkness that surrounded them both. "Only to me." He said, "This would only happen to me..." He turned over onto his back, healed arms and legs sprawled out, and his breathing settled. He looked high into this darkness and saw, what seemed like miles and miles away, was a tiny, dismissible hole with a trickle of water falling into the darkness. It was the tunnel he had just fallen through and its already dim light could not penetrate this darkness.

He heard a chuckle, a quick chuckle, like the kind you hear from a stranger that just saw you stumble. His head jerked up and he peered over his chest into more darkness and he heard a voice this time to go with the chuckle. "Ha ha! Shed No Tears! Isn't that one of the first things I told you?" She stepped from the darkness, clad in black. Xinck let his head fall back on the floor, his breathing started up again and he could only say one word, "Larxene."

She stepped from the darkness and close enough to him that he could see her face. She was in her black coat and she had a sadistic smile on her face. "My former protege..you look like shit."

"You're dead!" He managed to yell, it echoed through the dark.

"Funny thing..." She smiled more broadly and he saw her teeth were perfectly sharp, just like Xinck's.

"You..."

"Yeah." She closed her mouth, "Maybe I am Larxene, horribly disfigured after my death, or more likely I'm just a figment of your little fucked up mind. I could go either way, honestly." She waved her hand as if waving away the whole thought.

"You're dead. What do you want from me? You're dead, you're dead, YOU'RE DEAD!"

"Hey, you fucker, you're dead, too. And you died why before I did! Look at you, so weak and pathetic, you couldn't even kill me! You had to wait for Sora to do it! And you were so close to killing me, you were in your Redux and you couldn't do it, you know why? Because-"

"Xemnas stepped in! He stepped in and saved you and stopped the fight!"

"Whether he stepped in or not shouldn't have been a factor, if you wanted to kill me you should have done it, but no you didn't. And what did you do as a result? You massacred a bunch of people. All because of your cowardice." She folded her arms behind her back. She sucked in a sharp breath, "Dontcha think that might not have been the best thing to do?

He wanted to yell back. He wanted to scream at her. He hated her so much, emotions or not. Before any words could escape his mouth, a wet, ghost arm shot from the water, grabbing at his shoulder. The ghost body of a woman, a soul, moaned from the surface of the water. She was dingy gray and dark blue in color and her face was horror-stricken. She grabbed at Xinck with both hands and tried pulling him into the water, before he could retaliate, more arms from other souls grabbed at his face, neck, arms and chest. He started screaming, trying to pull away, kicking his legs and flailing his arms about as they dragged him into the water.

"Leggo!" His words were muffled as wet hands wrapped around his mouth. "Get off me! Get your slimy souls away from me!" He tried commanding them, ordering them with Power in his voice, he was desperate to use a power he already knew wouldn't work in the Underworld. His head started sinking into the water, he wanted to yell for help, but the only 'person' there was Larxene and he didn't even know if she was real or not. Even so, she wouldn't have helped him anyway. She just stood there and let him sink into the water and when his entire image was underneath, she walked over to it and knelt down. She smiled. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe you waking up everyday was your own personal Hell and punishment for what you did? Or maybe, just maybe, Time is, in fact, an illusion and all your Loneliness, all your Despair and Madness from when you were human until this very moment is part of that punishment that you have deserved since before you were even born?"

* * *

Birth by Sleep is coming out in one day! Finally, I have something to look forward to again. I think it obvious that I'm going to be taking my time, I've been waiting years for this so the least I can do is make it last a few days. And since I'll be playing Birth by Sleep, I won't be writing for a while.

-Don't you think you might be, oh, I don't know, just a tad obsessed with this thing?

No

-I mean, it IS just a game. Not a big deal.

...you blasphemous son of a bitch. I've already thought of 20 ways to kill you and make it look like an accident.

-See! That's what I'm talking about! I've never seen a HALO fan threaten to kill someone over a game!

Well, then it's obvious that Kingdom Hearts is better than HALO

-Oh, I've seen a few fans at E3 who might beg to differ.

And thats exactly why I don't do Conventions.

-You don't "do" Conventions because you don't have any money

Well, I don't get paid for writing fanfictions!

-And how many Fanfics have you written?

This is the only one I've ever written.

-And that's exactly why. No one's gonna pay to read this.

Okay, now you're just trying t hurt me. BIRTH BY SLEEP

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW


	34. Rage, The God of The Underworld Sneers!

Here we are, finally. But before I talk about this new chapter, I want to talk about Birth by Sleep. I got it the day it came out and, unfortunetly beat it in a week. I loved that week and Birth by Sleep has completely ruined me for other Video games for a while. What amazes me is how well they made the story fit, I mean in KH2 I read in the reports how (Possible Spoiler if you haven't played the game) Xehanort just appeared in Radiant Garden near death and Ansem found him and when I got to that part I was like, "Hey, I read that!" And I was really interested in what happened to Aqua, I mean, trapped in the Realm of Darkness for 11 years and just walking around must get boring. Wonder if she took a shower or something...

Before Birth by Sleep came out, I honestly thought that Vanitas would eventually turn into the Xehanort that becomes Xemnas. I really thought that because Xemnas's limit in Days was called "Alls-Vanity" and Vanitas means "Vanity or Emptiness" But apparantly they had nothing to do with each other. I was actually going to post in an early chapter that "Come on, we all know Vanitas will be Xemnas later. Right? Right?" I guess I was wrong, so very very wrong. And I'm glad I was because I was pleasantly surprised.

Now, think about this. Ventus's body has been in that Chamber for 11 years. He was about 14 or 15, right? He could be 25-26 by now, he could have grown out of his clothes, gotten very hairy and smelly, and I bet his bodily fucntions are still working. Just saying that I wouldn't want to be there to clean up that mess. Just saying...

Anyway, I don't want to spend to much time talking about the greatest addition to this series so far. (As opposed to Days. I..I..It could have been better, I'll say that.) So here's the new chapter, read and enjoy or not. Just..do somthing.

I don't own anything.

* * *

The game, that Luxord proposed, was simple. Since Roxas didn't know how to play poker or any other real card game, they would play a game that Luxord had made up on the spot. They found a nice place to set up the card game, a flat stump in Elysium next to a clear blue lake. The sat on the flower-strewn earth and Luxord began to shuffle the cards. They sat with their legs crossed, Roxas was slumped over, but kept his eyes on Luxord, who joyfully shuffled away. He let groups of his Fair Game cards flip and slip through his fingers in an expert manner that could only be accomplished by years of practice. Roxas glared at him, as if to say "Today, maybe?" and Luxord smiled at him, not even bothering to look at the cards as he shuffled. Then he put them all together, smacked them on the stump to make sure they were all lined up, and then laid them down in front of Roxas and retracted his hands.

Roxas stared at the deck of cards, unmoving. Then asked Luxord, "What?"

"Cut the deck." He gestured with a hand movement.

"Cut..?"

"Take half the deck and put the top on the bottom." Luxord said. Roxas was about to do just that, when Luxord spoke up once more, "Or, you could leave it as is by placing your finger on the top card." Roxas hesitated, thinking that maybe Luxord wanted him to cut the deck and place the cards in a new order that would only cause him to lose the game. Or maybe, he thought, maybe He wanted the deck as is and it was already set up to make him lose, therefore the best move would be to cut the deck. But he couldn't tell which. He wished Axel was here, he would've helped him make a choice.

"_Today_, Roxas." Luxord said, smiling once more. Roxas rolled his eyes and cut the deck, placing the top half of the deck on the bottom. Luxord swiftly grabbed the deck and began to pass out the cards. "For this game, we'll only need 29 cards, I took the liberty of taking out the extras before we began."

"I don't even know what game we're playing." Roxas said.

"Not entirely a negative thing, old boy. This is a game I recently developed."

"How recently?"

Luxord replied with a shrug. "I don't know. An hour or so?" He began placing the cards face down, Fourteen on Roxas' side and fourteen on Luxord's side with one card in the exact center of the two lanes. "Alright then, here's how the game works. At the right time, we each select a card from our own rows and before we flip the card and reveal it's face, we say the name of a member of The Organization who we believe is the number on the card. And whoever gets it correct wins for that round. Whomever wins the most hands, is the victor."

"Wait a minute." Roxas said, a tad confused, "We just pull cards and the highest number wins? It sounds a little...simple."

"Yes, but it's quick and it'll serve it's purpose for now."

"Okay, let me think about this." Roxas leaned forward and eyed each card, "If I called out..uh..'Saix', number Seven right?

"Correct."

"...and you called 'Marluxia', number Eleven. We each pull a card and if I get it right, I win that round?"

"Yes."

"But what if we're both wrong?"

"Then the card that is closest to the Member called wins. If I called Marluxia, The Jack, and you called Saix, and the card I pulled was Larxene, number 12, or the Queen, and you pulled Xemnas, the Ace, then I would've won the round because Eleven is closer to Twelve, than One is to Seven."

"Alright..uh..what if we both pull cards that are equally close to each other? Like, you called Xemnas and pulled a Three, Xaldin, and I called Demyx and pulled a Jack, Marluxia?"

"Oh, damn it all!" Luxord cursed, rolling his eyes and sighing. He hadn't thought of that. "Okay, uh...then whichever Member has more letters in their name is the winner in that particular situation."

"And this card in the middle?" Roxas pointed to the solitary card in the middle of the two lines of cards.

"Ah, yes, this one. The Winner Take All." Luxord leaned forward, hovering over the card. "In the event of a tie, or one of us has lost and we dare to be bold enough, we can flip the card."

"What's on it?"

"A X or a XIII. One of our numbers and whichever the card reads will be the winner, no matter how many rounds have been won."

"So, if I had lost the game completely, I can pull the card and if it reads 13, I win no matter what?" And Luxord replied with a nod. Roxas replied with a scoff, "How do I know that you didn't cheat and make the card a X anyway? Even if I win with the most hands I could still lose if you cheated."

The Gambler looked almost offended at these accusations, "Roxas, I assure you that I have done no such thing!" He feigned offense with a hand gesture to his chest, but Roxas kept his neutral expression. Luxord cleared his throat, "Roxas, you have my solemn word that I will not cheat." He held up the palm of his hand to illustrate his point.

Roxas shook his head and looked away to the cards below him, "Whatever. Let's start." His hand hovered over a card.

* * *

Mentally tortured and reminded of terrible past deeds. Fell through a jagged opening and onto a rough patch of dark earth, then dragged into a pool of glowing green water by the spirits of the dead. He has seen better days. Writhing beneath the surface of the water, Xinck struggled to breath, clasping at the ghostly hands around him. All he could see was the bright green water around him, the moaning of the dead and his gurgled screams were everywhere. He kicked, trying to push himself back up to the surface. But there was nothing he could do. What little air was left in his lungs had fled in the small air bubbles that flew for the surface that continued to get farther and farther away from him.

He threw out a wanting hand for the hole that he had been dragged through, a futile gesture. Briefly, he could see stone brick walls containing this underwater passage and several other open pathways that led away, but he could go nowhere. He could feel his muscles loosening and the blackness of asphyxiation closing in. His grip around the hand on his neck fell limp. He had no idea how his healing would work if he were underwater. He didn't care, not anymore. His eyes closed, he let his body go limp and let the water take him over. All he could think of was Roxas and how he was going to get out of here. Xinck had the keys to the Gummi Ship. His mind went blank, his breathing stopped and he just let go.

As the screaming dead, gripping his arms, body, legs and neck, dragged him further down, dark silver shadows erupted from his hands in tufts. Black fire encircled his unconscious body, scorching and severing the hold of the dead around Xinck. They howled and scattered from him, swimming away and leaving him alone. The black fire didn't stop, enveloping but not harming his body. The Umbra fire produced no bubbles as it burned. From his body, the fire unleashed his presence in a huge dark and vibrating shockwave, disrupting the water around him and producing three great screaming black skulls over his limp body. The force of the shock threw his body down a random passage where a different and rough current shot him around like a pinball. He bounced against stone walls, ricocheted and bounded down the corridor, the current throwing him to and fro until he came to a small, domed-shaped cave. The current stopped and he floated in the green-tinted water. He floated, belly up, limp and almost lifeless. A pale light shone in a small opening above him, as if his body yearned for it, he began to drift towards it slowly.

His stomach penetrated the surface of the water first, then his entire front and his head. Air rushed into his nose, filling his lungs. He breathed in like a babe at it's Birth, gasping, he shot open his eyes and thrashed about in the cool water. He swam crazily for the edge, grabbing at the dark blue colored rocky earth and rested his head. First he breathed like he had been running for hours, his eyes darted around in his skull from panic. He screamed, loud and unashamed, for what reason only he knew. He screamed for himself, Roxas, Axel, Larxene, Marluxia, Xemnas and even Xercivio. He just screamed, but those sounds of panic and terror always turned to sounds of a depraved mind. Screams turned to laughs and his face contorted to reflect his madness, half delightful and half panicked. He picked himself up and out of the water and onto dry land, letting his amusement echoed throughout this new part of the Underworld.

* * *

Only three rounds had been played and Roxas found that the game was a bit more difficult than he thought. So far, Luxord had won 2 rounds and Roxas only 1, leaving only 26 cards left to be turned over. Roxas stared at the top of each card intensely, almost hoping for X-ray vision to be one of his other powers. His eyes darted left to right, from card to card, he knew he had to think about this logically. He had only the Demyx card on his side and the Larxene card from Luxord's side. _First_, he thought,_ the Demyx card, Lexaeus card and Zexion card had already been pulled. I should've known no two numbers would be right next to each other_. He glanced at the two-card wide space on the right side of the row._ I gotta- _

"Stalling, are we?" Luxord's question interrupted his thoughts. Roxas shot an eye at him and he replied with a quaint smile.

"Fine." Roxas said. He moved his hand over to a card on the left and called, "Xigbar."

Luxord did the same, but moving to the farthest right card, "Saix." They both flipped over their respective cards. Luxord's card read "X" in the upper left and bottom right corner, hearts in the upper right and lower left corner. In the center of the card, Luxord was greeted with a picture of himself and his Fair Game cards as a background. "Not bad, I'm only three away. Can you do better, old boy?"

Roxas's card read "II" with a similar design to Luxord's card, but with a picture of Xigbar aiming up from the front of the card. Roxas smiled, grabbing both cards from the rows and and placing them closer to himself.

"Damn it all." Luxord cursed under his breath, but said aloud, "Good play, then." He looked at Roxas, and Roxas stared back.

"Why are you smiling?" Roxas asked.

"Oh, I'm smiling?" Luxord recoiled slightly, his smile fading. "Well, it seems even Nobodies have tells in games of chance, wouldn't you agree?"

"What's a tell?"

"A tell, "Luxord explained, "Is a subconscious action that physically manifests itself whenever a person lies. You cannot control a tell, they happen on their own accord."

"Okay, but is this a game of chance? I thought it was more like a guessing game."

"We're not in preschool, old sport."

"What's preschool?"

The gambler groaned and rolled his blue eyes, "Do keep up, old spice, we cannot stop the game everytim-"

"Wait, wait wait. Hold on." Roxas repeated, eyebrows raised, "Did you just call me 'old spice'?"

Luxord thought for a second, recounting his previous sentence in his head, "Possibly?"

"What's 'Old Spice'?"

"You've never seen the commercials with the bare-chested fellow? 'Look at me, now look at your husband, now back to me, back to him, _now _back to me. I'm on a horse.' You've seen that?" Roxas awkwardly shook his head no. Luxord cleared his throat, "Right. Well, we should carry on." They both reached out for a card, and although Luxord said that he wouldn't even dream of cheating, he never said that he wouldn't make it difficult. Now he wanted to trip Roxas up. He reached for a card as Roxas did the same and called, "Axel." Roxas froze.

* * *

**Mountains in Dread**

Xinck peered over the edge of a cliff, the pool of green water that he had pulled himself out of bubbled like a hot tub behind him. Over the edge of the mountains He only sees swirling black, and dingy gray clouds as this great lonely mountain rose above it. He had never heard of this part of the underworld before, this place was dark and dreadful with stale winds twisting through the air. The sky that peered above Xinck's head and that was pierced by the mountain was light gray, a bit brighter than the atmosphere below it. Far out and miles away from this dark-blue colored rock, winged beasts floated through the air, like dark, flapping ink blots against the swirling gray canvas.

In Xinck's head, he heard his own voice snort and mumble as if he had just woken up, _"Oh, oh, what's up? What'd I miss?"_

"Mm." Xinck turned away from the edge to see where to go next. "Everything, I'd bet."

"_Oh, really? Well, it must not have been too important if I fell asleep. So now what?"_

"We continue on, I guess." Xinck said. In front him was the pool he had climbed out of and the cliff formed a great, semicircle wall around it. The waters cast an eerie green-neon glow on the blue stone wall. Odd, Xinck thought, that falling into that thing lead all the way up this mountain. He was drying quickly from the water, the winds surrounding him helped the process. To his right, a ledge was present, curving around the mountain for a few feet, then disappearing from view.

"Ikuzo." He said to himself and Himself, walking for the thin ledge. He stuck his foot out along the ledge, steadied and balanced his body and cautiously palmed the stone wall face. He kept his face to the wall as he moved, placing his right foot out as carefully as possible, then moved his left foot to join up with his right. He continued this process, moving inch by inch, and eventually, a much larger opening in the mountain began to come into view. He couldn't get excited though, as the wind blew much harder, he stopped moving briefly to let it pass. He looked down, down into the swirling abyss below the mountain.

"_AAAAGGGHH! We're gonna die!"_

"Shut your gob." Xinck snapped in a hushed, menacing voice.

"_'Gob'? You're not English."_

"Then shut your damn hole." Something was definitely wrong if you had to tell yourself to shut up. The wind subsided a bit and he began to move again. Eventually, he reached the new ledge and scouted out his new surroundings. It was just a long, wide walk way, with the blue-stoned walls on either side that lead down into a dark space, centered on a point of light. The blue-stone walls shot into the air, dozens of feet high, but still open to show off the swirling gray sky that almost seemed to leak into the wall way and drifted along the walls and down the tunnel. Xinck figured that the mountain must be much larger than he originally thought since he could not see it's summit from where he was.

The wind no longer reached him, but he pulled up the hood of his coat anyhow and placed his hands in his pockets. He started walking down the way. _"Heading for the light?" Referring_ to the point of light far down the tunnel.

"Obviously." He walked in silence, the only sounds were the wind's howl and his own footsteps clapping against the stone ground. His hood moved only slightly as he took each step, his silver drawstrings tingled and bounced as he moved. After for what seemed like an eternity of silence and empty footsteps, the point of light had grown larger and the dark of the tunnel was fading some, giving way to pale golden light.

"_Whoo! I can't believe we've been doing this for how long? Three, four days now? I mean, come on, do you even remember why you're in the Underworld in the first place?"_

Xinck said nothing, but continued to walk a bit slower. _"You don't even remember do you?"_

"No, but-"

"_Then truly, there is no reason for you to be here, am I right?"_

The Deviant stopped walking, hands at his sides. He took off his left glove and rubbed his face with it in his hood. He rubbed his forehead, his temples and his cheek, then withdrew his hand. He peered at his hand, it was pale and he noticed that his nails were longer than they normally were for a boy, but he liked this fact, since bitten-back, bloody-looking nails grossed him out. Speaking of, he thought it wouldn't hurt if he cut his nails soon. Until then, he'd just bite them down a bit.

"_Stop ignoring me, dammit!"_

"What? Oh, sorry." His pointer finger in his mouth, "What're talkin' about?"

"_You don't even remember why you're in the Underworld, you moron!"_

"Stop yelling. I can hear you just fine." His voice stayed menacing despite his fingers in his mouth. "I don't know why I'm here, I'll admit that I forgot, but Roxas will tell me when I find him."

"_You ever think that if you haven't 'gone 'round the bend' you might remember things better? Because most of the time you have a very good memory. Remember when you were in the shower and out of nowhere you remembered the entire theme song to _Sonic Underground_?_"

"I'll answer your questions in the correct order. Yes I do think so and my memory is still good, but I've got all this crap going on and it kinda has a lot of my attention at the moment. And yes, I do remember the _Sonic Underground _theme, I can't help it, I just remember theme songs.

"_That is a handy skill if you're ever on a game show."_

"Whatever, I guess." Taking his hand out of his mouth, he started walking again as he slipped on his glove. _"Hey, Xinck?"_

"What, Xinck?"

"_I don't think you're evil, or a monster. Just...very unlucky."_

The real Xinck raised his head to the dismal gray swirls and sighed, placing his hands in his pockets once more. "Thanks, Xinck, but I'm sure I would've come to that if I had just talked to a mirror for a few minutes."

"_Huh. Well, I guess that just means-" _The Fallen Deviant thought and spoke at the same time, "We're both very unlucky."

* * *

Luxord had made a mistake. Calling out "Axel" as a card choice only brought him heavy loses. The game was meant to be swift and after only so many rounds, it became predictable. This was something he hoped Roxas would not catch, but Number XIII, as Axel and Xinck knew all to well, was not stupid . Luxord was losing, as Roxas had 10 cards(5 pairs) and Luxord only had 8 cards (4 pairs), leaving only 10 cards, 5 on either side in play. Plus the lone middle card which, in the end had the power to trump everything.

Ready to begin the next round, Luxord moved his hand to a card, but stopped half-way. An odd thought penetrated his mind, a thought that would seem a simple observation to some, but a cause of interest for Luxord. _"Roxas is actually winning._" Luxord had played every single resident in the castle in a card game and while the tide of the game was always up and down, the way Luxord liked it, he would always come out ahead. But he had never played Xemnas or Roxas, and he wasn't sure if it was because this poor excuse for a card game was new to both of them or maybe Roxas's will, no matter what, would not allow him to lose.

To think of this was odd, since Luxord knew he was only losing by one point, but what Saix had cleverly deduced earlier at the Castle had Luxord thinking otherwise. Saix had said that to travel from world to world by Gummi Ship was impossible since Sora had sealed and repaired the worlds, but Saix continued to explain that Roxas's will strong and unwavering and since he had a drive to locate Axel's whereabouts, the walls of the worlds, reacting to Roxas's will through the Keyblade were allowing him and Xinck to pass through.

Roxas hovered a hand over another card, ready for the next round. "Are you ready?" He asked Luxord. And cautiously eyed the Gambler. "Hey, Luxord? Are you alright?"

"Oh-What?" The Gambler snapped back to the present and looked at his still hovering hand over a card. "Oh, right. Of course. Did you call?"

"You first." Roxas said.

"_Me first, eh? Alright, then, a test to this. If the card he calls is the card he picks up, then truly fate-no, Destiny is siding with him. No matter what I do, or how many games I challenge him to, he'll win. Always." _Luxord picked a card, calling "Xemnas." A risky play since neither the Xigbar card or Xaldin card was in play.

"Saix." They both pulled. For Luxord, the number XIV shone with a picture of Xinck with his right hand over his right eye, similar to Lelouch Lamperouge. For Roxas, a picture of the Lunar Diviner shone below him.

"Oh, yeah!" Roxas excitedly grabbed at the two cards adding to his winnings.

Luxord withdrew his hand slowly. _"So it would seem his resolve truly is unyielding. I should have understood that when they bested me twice in the Corridors. This only means that this game is pointless. No matter what I do, Roxas will find a way. I suppose his kind always do. _

Roxas eyed the gambler once more, "Why are you smiling?"

Luxord's subconscious smiling turned to laughter. Roxas just watched him and waited for him to stop, but he didn't and Roxas started clearing his throat loudly to get his attention. "Ahem!" He added a cough for effect and Luxord quieted down a bit. "Are..uh, you okay?"

He sighed contently, "Oh, Roxas, my friend, I belive I just had a moment of clarity."

"What's that?"

"It's what we alcoholics refer to as a realization of great truth. Roxas, old boy, I concede."

"You what?"

"You win." He repeated.

"But what about the game and the bet and the-"

"All yours. I keep my word, I shall no longer pursue you or Xinck." He hold up his hand. Then he stood and gathered up the cards. Roxas stood as well.

He stammered, confused, "I-I-I don't get it, what-"

"Go, Roxas." Luxord said. Find Axel and bring him back." The Gambler of Fate walked around the stump they had used to play on and he peered down at Roxas, who stared back up like a child who eyed the tallest shelf in the house. "You _do _want to find Axel, yes?"

Roxas was taken aback, but remembered why he was here, why he disobeyed the Organization, why he came to the Underworld. His eyes filled with that undying resolve that wouldn't allow anything to stand in his way. "What did the boy tell you."

"Ah, yes, the little one." Luxord produced the bag that he had gotten from the boy in question, "He told me that what you two were looking for is located in The Mountains In Dread."

"Hades. Hades is there?"

"Yes, I suppose so, if that was what you were looking for."

"Alright. I'll find it." the young Nobody turned from the Gambler and walked away, only to turn back around. "Luxord."

"Yes?"

"Thank you." With that, he ran away through the fields of Elysium, leaving Luxord standing under the tree.

Unknown to Luxord, he was smiling again. "Don't mention it, my friend. For I'm sure that one day, I'll be thanking you." He raised his hand to open a Corridor, as he did, he noticed that a single card was left on the stump. The trump card that would've decided the entire game if it's face was either of theirs. Luxord flipped it over and was greeted with the melancholic face of The Key of Destiny.

"Of course it is." Luxord said.

* * *

That brilliant golden light at the end of this dark blue Crevasse finally took shape as Xinck neared it. It was a circle that hovered several inches above ground. The light it generated was a dark honey color as it swam in the center, odd shapes of fields and trees swirled in permeable light.

"Another portal to Elysium." He neared the structure and pulled down his hood to get a better look. As he did, two large figures on either side of the portal made themselves known, thrusting spears at Xinck. He didn't flinch, but when the spears stopped just less than a foot ahead of him he backed up. He looked, in an unsurprised manner, from the spear tips to the spear holders, two large statues of Greek Warriors with swords strapped to their waists.

The soldier on the right spoke first, "Oi, you there. Didn't we tell you to leave?"

"Excuse me?" Xinck asked.

"Don't play stupid, stupid." said the Warrior on the left, "You came up the other mountain not too long ago trying to get into Elysium."

"And only the Purest my enter this hallowed realm." said the Right.

"_Oh, I get it._" Xinck thought to himself, still keeping his eyes on the statues, _"One conscience, but several bodies. They must be guarding every entrance into Elysium all with the same mind, but a different body."_

"Now begone, O Fallen One!" yelled Right, thrusting his spear dramatically into the air, "Begone, or thou shalt feel the sting of my spear in thine buttocks!"

"What the—buttocks?" Left raised an eyebrow through it's helmet and frowned.

"You know, buttocks, hind quarters? Booty?"

"Ah, yes." He nodded. "You know, what I never got was-

"Listen, you two." Xinck interrupted. They turned to him, seeing he was eying the ground, they listened, "I'm not having the best of days, well, to be honest, none of my days are the best. But, my friend, actually the only friend I've ever had since I was born, is in there and I'd feel a lot better if I could see him. So could you move, please?"

"Ha ha!" Left laughed, his sword jiggling with every chuckle, "You've only had one friend since you were born? That makes you a loser! Loser! Loser!"

"I know." He didn't look up, "Can you let me in?"

"Loser! Ha ha ha! You suck! Have you ever contemplated suicide?"

"Yes, several times. I suppose I'm a loser at that too, since I failed."

"Oh, Gods, you suck forever and a day!" He laughed, slapping his knee and filling the crevasse with ruckus and noise.

"Alright, take it down a bit." Right spoke softly to Left, "It's not that funny, really. I mean look at him." he gestured for Xinck, "I mean, the little creep's soul radiates with death and despair, no wonder no one wants to be around him. Cut him some slack."

"I can only be me." Xinck silently commented, but he was sure they didn't hear him.

"Ha ha ha-Oh!" Left pretended to wipe a tear from his eye, "Oh, that was enjoyable. I needed that laugh."

"Seriously, it wasn't that funny." Right replied.

"Yeah, it was! This guy is-WAHHHH!" Blades were cutting into his stone armor and eventually his abdomen. Xinck carved and hacked with the expertise of a mole, cutting his way into the stomach of the Left Soldier. And disappearing from view. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! WHOA! Get him out!" He panicked, trying to grab at Xinck's feet as they, too, slid into his body.

"Don't worry!" Right held up his spear and stabbed at Left's abdomen, he retracted and expected blood on the spear tip. There was none and he stabbed again and again several times into Left's abdomen, chest, stomach and pelvis. Left screamed with every intrusion into his body, he bent over, holding his stomach and held out his other hand to say stop.

"Quit it, man, stop!" He wailed, his words slurred, "I'm startin' to feel kinda woozy! Ack!" A bloody grunt, Left screams echoed throughout the Crevasse. A dark gray blade pierced the side of his neck and sliced through, severing his head as it fell to the floor and his body went limp. Xinck's torso popped out of the gaping neck hole.

"Noooo!" Right screamed, aiming his spear to throw at the Deviant's head. "Die now, beast!" He let fly the spear with full force. The stone spear whizzed through the air, Xinck jumped out of the falling, limp body and into the air just as the spear struck the stone wall behind him. As he fell back down, he grabbed at the spear with both hands and spun around until he perched himself on it's top. He jumped again, using the spear as a diving board The Right Warrior stood in awe as great shades of black and white gathered on Xinck's body and blades. He curled into a ball in mid-air and dove down, spinning like the Hedgehog and unfurling chains and swords. He reached Right and pierced his helmet and cut straight down like a buzz saw. Right's body fell to the left and right in two large heaps and Xinck landed back on the ground, swords in their reverse grip. He stood up, out of his fighting stance and the let the blades fade away back into the shadows.

He wiped at his body, wiping away any rubble or dust that might have gotten on him. He turned for that shimmering portal to Elysium, walking to it, he glanced at the two beheaded and bifurcated bodies all around him. He wondered why did they both scream so much, why they seemed so worried. They were stone, and they had several bodies. When was was destroyed, they would simply go into another right? Or maybe if they were killed in one body, then their consciousness dies with it.

"Death..." He shuddered, he shivered, he grabbed at his face and sulked and laughed at the same time. He felt his face widen in a smile, his eyes widen with panic and he let loose with a screaming cackle. "No! Stop it!" He stopped, lowering his hands from his face and his head to the floor. "I have to find Roxas." Empty winds blew through the Crevasse and howled past him, freezing him slightly. He shivered, but didn't care. He walked, the closer he got to Elysium, the more it's light warmed him. He came to the front of the portal and already he could feel his darkness making a small aura around him. He immersed himself into the portal, right foot first, then his arms, then his entire body.

* * *

The problem with Elysium, the problem with Paradise is that is huge and very difficult to find your way out of. Number XIII cut through enormous fields in mere seconds traveling under 60 miles an hour. He was mostly a blur as he ran, wind and friction cut through the fields like a knife. He had to stop occasionally to cool down and catch his breath, but he never stayed in a spot for too long. But, when he had entered a gleaming forest of gold and green leaves and dotted with fruit, he did spare a few glances. It was when he noticed a single tree dotted with gleaming apples, he remembered Xinck joking about how good the food in Elysium was and that he should get his fill.

He grabbed the shiniest apple on the lowest branch. He saw his own golden reflection looking back from it's surface. He took a bite and nearly fell over when that familiar taste hit his tongue. "it's ice cream!" He didn't know why he shouted. No one was there to hear him, just the lone trees and hollow wind. It tasted just like Seasalt ice cream, cold, salty sweet and everything, but the apple was warm in his hand.

This was great. He couldn't believe it. He took bite after bite until he had nothing left but the core. All that was missing was the wooden stick dyed blue from the ice cream. Roxas held up the core to eye level, just as he saw what looked liked the Sun's continuous setting in Elysium. He looked to his left on what he thought was the Twilight Town Clock Tower, expecting to see Axel, but he wasn't there. He was still in the Underworld, in Elysium and all he had right now was Xinck.

Roxas dropped the apple core, grabbed two more apples off the tree, one for him and one for Xinck. He stuffed the fruit in his pockets, picked a direction and ran, letting the trees shake behind him from the shock. He had to find that portal he came out of and find Xinck and get to Hades. They had been here for too long, he thought, Anything bad could've happened to Axel by now.

* * *

Earlier, one of Hades' minions reported that 4 individuals in black coats had been spotted throughout the Underworld. Roxas and Xinck were two, Luxord was the third...but who's the Fourth?

"This is completely unacceptable." The hooded young man grumbled to himself. Climbing a great red rocky hill in Tartarus looking for a damn rock was well below his skill level. He _claimed _it was below his skill level but in all honesty, he just wasn't a climber. He pulled himself up and over the hill, sighing and groaning, he peered out into the great torturous realm. Black clouds hovered randomly above the endlessly rocky world, black smoke rose into the bloody red sky and orange cinders burned through the air.

The young man, from his high vantage point, could see that some of the mountains that pierced the crimson sky weren't mountains, but Titans. Chained Titans yelling and struggling against their bonds screamed for relief from their endless torment. The Titans were not alone in their pain, thousands of people were in Tartarus, thousands being punished endlessly. Any normal day, the dead would be still and loud with their pain, but today was no normal day. The young man could feel it and so could the tormented dead, someone or something of great Dark power was here in the Underworld, riling those in Tartarus. Someone's very presence caused the damned to fight back and rebel against the Furies, the demons in charge of punishing those in Tartarus. For the young man, this was a perfect opportunity to finish up his job and get the hell out of...hell. The hooded young man, looked down the opposite side of the large rocky hill he had just climbed. At the bottom, waiting to be pushed up the hill, was a very large boulder. The tormented soul who is doomed to roll the boulder up the hill was no where to be found, possibly taking part in the rioting against the furies. The Boulder of Sisyphus was just sitting there, waiting for the young man...

* * *

The Deviant walked out of the Portal and behold Elysium. Behind him was the portal,behind and above the was a large stone mountain face. To his front, to him, was nothing special. Interesting, but nothing special. To him, Elysium looked to be a small Planetoid covered in lush meadows, forests and a glistening river. The sun set far out over the Horizon, dozens of other small worlds orbited around Elysium, all a myriad of colors in the great pearl white sky.

If Xinck could see himself, he would see how out of place he looked. Despite his medium/pale cinnamon skin tone, he looked even paler than usual, the circles under his eyes darkened further and a small dark aura shone around him. To add insult to injury, immediately upon stepping on the grass in the field, the greenery began to die around him and spread out in a large and perfect circle.

"Of course you do..." He eyed the dying grass. He wondered, since he was holding all his power in, what would happen if he let go and released his presence. The dead spirits here would probably wail and scream, everything green and lively would die, the animals would become panicked and kill each other, the sky would darken and the planets would all crash into each other and throw large chunks of meteors would rain down on and decimate Paradise!

Xinck held his hand out to himself. "All of that..is me, isn't it?" He could only be himself, he thought. So was it so bad to be himself if all he was is Desolation? "Oh...I might as well.." He felt his power push in his gut. He could just let go and bring havoc to this place. He felt his power boiling through his body, itching to burst out. Just let go and destroy the happiness of others. That's all he was ever good for..just let go...

"Xinck! Hey!"

"_Pull it back in!"_ With a mere thought, his monstrous presence was pushed back inside, back into the pit of his stomach. He turned to his left and saw Roxas, running for him and laughing. "Hey." Xinck said in monotone. Roxas came to a full stop in front of Xinck and bent down, breathing madly.

"I..know...where..to.."

"Calm down. Take a breath."

Roxas swallowed hard and stood up, let out a huge sigh, "I know where to find Hades."

"Where?"

"The Mountains in Dread, I think." He placed his hands on his sides, still breathing heavily.

"Where did you hear that from?"

He hesitated. And watched Xinck for a second. "Are you alright? You look pale..pal_er_"

"I'm fine." He replied. His eyes were cut and his voice had none of the false feeling he usually put into it. It was just monotone. "Did that little kid tell you where Hades is or what?"

"Well, When I came here, I found Luxord."

"Oh."

"'Oh'? That's all you have to say?"

"Yes. What happened?"

"Oh...kay, well, we made a bet and we played a game. He said if he won, we'd have to go back to the castle, and if I won, he'd have to leave us alone and tell us where to find Hades. You see, he found that little boy first and He told Luxord what we were looking for and asked him to tell us. I know it was risky, but don't worry, he gave up! Really, he just quit and said I won."

"And you believed him?" Xinck asked.

"Yeah, but I never really had a reason to distrust Luxord. I mean, I could see if it was Xigbar or Xaldin, but I think Luxord's okay when it comes to keeping promises."

"A bet isn't exactly a promise. You can find your way out of a bet if you try hard enough."

"Well, yeah, but even if Luxord came after us anyway, what could he do? We've beaten him twice before, right?" He smiled slightly, expecting something from Xinck, but got nothing but his neutral expression, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine." He replied once more, placing his hands in his pockets.

Silence fell between them. Xinck looked at his feet, Roxas scratched at his head. "What happened right there?" Roxas pointed to the patch of dead earth that Xinck was in the middle of.

"I peed." Xinck replied. No humor in his voice.

"You...peed?"

He shrugged and replied, "Kinda."

"Ew..." He was in desperate need of a subject change. "How'd you get in here anyway? Those statues wouldn't let you in."

"I found a different way in. Another portal up in a Mountain Crevasse."

"More mountains, huh? You think they might be the mountains where Hades is?"

"Another shrug and reply, "Probably. Should we go?"

"Yeah." A quick nod and he gestured for Xinck to lead the way through the portal.

They left from the portal and emerged into that great, dark blue and dreary Crevasse in the Mountain. Roxas craned his neck skyward and saw the grim gray skies specked with dark clouds. Xinck took no notice since he had already seen it and continued to walk from the portal to the closet wall to sit. When Roxas stepped off from the portal, he almost tripped over a rock. He stumbled over it and caught himself before he fell. He laughed a bit, looking to Xinck for a comment, but he was just sitting against the wall, hand on his face. Roxas stopped his laugh and looked at what he had tripped over. A hand. A large stone hand. He followed the hand to a stone arm, the arm to a stone body cut in half and up against the opposing wall.

Roxas looked to Xinck in a shock. Roxas hadn't seen that to Xinck's right was more stone rubble and another stone body, more torn up and filled with holes and it's head was missing. "Did..you do this?" He asked.

Xinck pulled his knees up to his chest. "They wouldn't let me in. I had to find you. I forgot..."

"You forgot what?"

"Why we're in the Underworld in the first place."

"What?" Roxas moved over to Xinck and sat down next to him on the left, "How could you forget? We're looking for Axel!"

"Oh." Was all he said.

"'Oh'? That's it? Xinck, really, what's wrong? I've never seen you like this."

"I'm fine."

Roxas let out a sigh. He dropped the subject, he wasn't getting anywhere. He rubbed a hand through his hair and sighed again, looking around at the scenery. " What happened, who'd you get here anyway?"

"I...swam. There's a puddle or something down that way." He pointed to his left, far down the way which he had come. Xinck stood up quickly, brushing off the dust from his back he might have collected from sitting on the ground "I'm ready to go. I'm sick of this place. We have to find Axel."

"And finding Hades is the only way to do it!" Roxas cheered in excitement and stood. He mistook Xinck's sudden Gung Ho attitude for a change in disposition, but Xinck's face didn't change. As he got up, the weight of the apples he had taken from Elysium shifted in his pockets. "Oh, hey wait. I got something for you." He reached into both pockets and produced two of the golden apples from Elysium. He held one out to Xinck, "Here try it, see what happens." Xinck eyed the apple and saw his shining reflection on it's golden surface. His expression stayed neutral. "Come on, try it." Roxas pleaded.

Number XIV took the shining, golden apple in his hand., he held it up to his mouth to bite down, but stopped when he heard a sickening hiss sound from the fruit. He closed his mouth just as he saw the fruit steam with black smoke, it's golden surface dulled in his grip and decayed into a rotten lump of solid black mush.

"Oh..." Roxas eyed the black mush in dismay.

Xinck shuddered, and gripped the dead apple, "Of Course It Does!" He threw the rotten fruit against the far wall where it splattered and oozed against the blue stone. "Of course it does! Of course it dies!" He bellowed and twitched, covered his head with his hands and growled.

"Here."

"What?" He shouted at Roxas, throwing his hands down and shooting his mad gaze at his companion. He held out a smaller piece of his apple to Xinck and his expression waned at Roxas's sincerity.

"Open you're mouth." He said and Xinck did, Roxas popped the small apple piece in and Xinck chewed. "It tastes like Ice cream right?"

"Nu-uh." Xinck replied as he chewed and swallowed. "Tastes more like Fish."

"Fish?"

"Yeah, Pan seared Fish." He finished swallowing and licked his lips. "Those apples must taste like your favorite food. That's why you tasted Ice cream and I got Fish."

"I didn't know you liked fish." Roxas said, taking a bite out of his own apple and tasting Sea Salt Ice Cream again.

"I do." Sighing, he placed his hands in his pockets.

"You feel better?" Roxas asked, finishing his apple.

Xinck replied with a shrug, "A little."

"Guess you were just hungry, right?" At this, Xinck smirked, "Ah, see? There's a smile...sorta."

"This goes a little further than hunger pain." He sighed and shook his head, then looked at Roxas, "_Rokusasu."_

"Xinck, Let's go find those Mountains. You ready?"

"We are in the Dread Mountains." He held out his arms to gesture to the wide Crevasse that they occupied.

"How can you tell?"

"Well, let's see, it's dreadful, we're on a mountain. I just put two and two together and, bam! Dread Mountains."

"So, Hades is somewhere near here." Why Roxas put his hand to his chin as if he were thinking was an odd gesture, but it ended quickly as his face lit up in a mad smile. "Let's go!" He yelled and echoed throughout the Dread Mountain.

"Ahh!" Xinck cradled his ears, "Okay, I'm right here, no need to yell."

"Ha ha! Sorry!"

* * *

Back in The World That Never Was, the 4 members operating under Saix returned, almost simultaneously. As the Corridors of Darkness faded and hoods fell, everyone but Luxord and Saix began to chatter. Xigbar went on about his trip to Gran Pulse, and Demyx and Xaldin listened.

Saix edged Luxord to the side as the other three talked. He spoke in a calm, hushed tone. "Tell me you have them." Luxord's expression went slightly grim. He hadn't considered the backlash he would receive if he had failed, which he did.

He cleared his throat, "Well-"

"You lost. Didn't you?"

"Now, hear me out, old boy, I didn't-"

"I asked you to not fail, do anything you wanted, except fail!"

"Now, see here, old sport-"

"Do you have any idea how much our Heart Quota has gone down since Roxas left? You could've killed Xinck for all I care, but at least have gotten Roxas."

"Hey, if you would let me let a word in edge-wise, old...spice, I could explain this entire situation. Now, I will admit that I lost, and due to several extenuating circumstances, I can no longer pursue them. And further more-"

"And did you just call me 'Old Spice'? Like that guy on that Horse?" Saix's yell had breached the small space around him and Luxord and penetrated the ears of Demyx, Xigbar and Xaldin.

"Oi!" Xigbar called to X and VII in a British accent, "What's all this, then?"

"Nothing that concerns you at the moment." Saix spat, leaving Luxord and returning to his position against the giant glass window.

"Oh, alright." He replied in his normal voice, "Oh, and just so you know, I didn't find anything in Gran Pulse. Actually, I had to leave after awhile, that Cocoon place you were talking about started falling out of the sky."

"It was like a great big BOOM!" Demyx said, clapping his hands. Oddly enough, as he did, a distinctive squeak was heard from his arms. But it was ignored. "Oh, and I didn't find them either."

"Nor did I." added Xaldin, arms crossed.

"Luxord did." Saix said. "And he failed."

"It isn't entirely my fault." The Gambler said, calmness returning to him. "As I said before, Lady Luck is obviously working with them, at least Roxas anyway."

"Where were they?" Asked Xaldin.

"The Underworld."

"Then we should all go now since they're still there." He snapped his fingers and an oval shaped Corridor sprung into existence next to him."

"It would do no good." Saix said, "The Underworld changes it's landscape every now and again. It wouldn't look the same as they last time any of you were there."

"I've never been." Demyx added, raising his hand for attention and squeaking at the same time.

"It doesn't matter. Besides, they wouldn't have stayed in the same spot since Luxord meet them."

"So what are we gonna do?" Xigbar said, "Just sit here and wait and suck on our thumbs, just because the Sleazy Gambler fucked up?"

"Stick something hard and sandpapery up your arse, Xigbar, you two-bit thug." The Gambler spat back violently .

"Uh-oh." Demyx laughed and produced squeaks. Xaldin scoffed and muttered something about Imbeciles.

Xigbar scoffed, an Arrowgun shined with purples light and was gripped in Xigbar's hand. He aimed at Luxord, "Oh, you wanna go? You wanna ride this train? If you feelin' froggy, then leap!"

"Right, then!" Gray and White cards swirled in front of Luxord. He grabbed them and held them in a position near his face. "Let's go!" The two jumped, higher than any human could jump and Xigbar fired a shot, Luxord blocked and the bullets flew down and hit Demyx square in the chest.

"Gah!" He shrieked. The bullets tore through the coat and he fell backwards into Xaldin.

"Dammit it all, Demyx!" He growled, landing on his bum as Demyx laid in his lap. "Get off me, you fool! Are you conscious?"

"Oh! They shot me!" Demyx groaned, pawing at the hole in his coat. The Fighting overhead continued, yells were heard, shots were fired and air was split. Xaldin peered at Demyx's wounded chest. "You're bleeding."

"No. I'm not." Demyx said.

"Yes, you are, I can see the blood and the-why is there blue in your blood?" Xaldin moved his hand to the wound, expecting blood to hit his fingers, but it wasn't red blood, it was just red fabric, "What the hell?" Xaldin tore open a wider hole in Demyx's coat and underneath he saw a black spiderweb design over a red background, connected to blue cloth. "Demyx, why the hell are you dressed in a bloody Spider-man Costume?"

"It's almost Halloween!" He cheered, thrusting a fist into the air, and making a squeaking sound from his costume.

* * *

They were nearing the end of the long, open Crevasse in the Mountain. As they came to it's end, the clouds over head grew darker and appeared much more malevolent and active than before. Both Roxas and Xinck stayed silent as they came to a great wall and entryway lit on either sides by large blue flames. Dark Steps led up to the doorway that was filled with an impenetrable darkness. Above the doorway was a stone etching of a tall figure wearing a long robe and flames for hair. An unsettling grim was plastered on his face.

"Here it is." Xinck said and they both stopped just before the steps. "Hades should be in there."

"Are you sure?"

"As sure as I can be when I'm sick of this place."

"Don't worry. It's almost over." Roxas eyed the great doorway in front of them. He swallowed hard in his mouth. He wasn't sure what'd he do when they got in. What, just ask Hades if they can use the Magic Mirror to ask it a single question? It sounded like a simple request to Roxas and he had no intention of fighting someone who was considered a God. "You think he'll just let us use the mirror and leave?"

"He better." His voice was deep, almost angry in tone. Leaving here empty-handed was something he wasn't in the mood to deal with.

"Come on." Roxas led the way, taking the first step up to the empty doorway. Xinck wasn't far behind. They past the stairs and entered the empty doorway in darkness. It was a small space, round with a perfectly circular floor. Nothing more. It was actually a little cramped with either boy finding discomfort in the empty space.

"Well, this is fun, isn't it?" Xinck said. He stood still in the dark, staring at the wall behind Roxas as the latter started to feel around the walls for a switch or button or anything to take them to Hades. He felt the walls up and down, even kicked them a few times and got no results.

He sighed in frustration and just shrugged. "I thought you said this was the way."

"I thought it was! Stop yelling at me, I've been through a lot."

"Oh, whatever!" He stomped his foot. "You can be such a baby sometimes." He expected a quick and smart reply from Xinck, but only saw the top of his head as his face was to the floor. "What are you doing?"

"Do that again." He said.

"Do what?"

"Stomp. Stomp your foot." Roxas did it once more, stomping on the ground and looked with Xinck. The circular section of the floor, a very dark, nearly black, gray slab illuminated with a deep neon blue color. The neon blue light appeared in small sections on the slab they stood on, they were in a design similar to the markings one would see on round computer chip. But as quickly as the lights came, they faded into nothing.

"Stomping. We have to stomp." Xinck got up and started jumping up and down in the small space. Roxas just looked at him, a bit taken aback. "Come on! Jump with me!" Roxas stomped at first, but quickly began to jump as high as Xinck. They jumped in sync and as they did, the blue lights shined along the slab, circling around a blue sphere that started to glow in the center. A dull hum was heard, a final jump and a ping was heard. They landed and the slab stayed lit and began to break off from it's surrounding wall, floating upwards.

"Whoa!" Roxas lost his balance as the slab jolted upwards. Xinck grabbed his arm and steadied him as the slab shot up like an elevator. They went up a dark and narrow shaft, as narrow as the space they had previously occupied. Peering up, they say the end of their ride, the end of the shaft was coming up fast, but the platform began to slow as it neared the circular opening. Since Xinck was a bit taller, his head poked through first, then Roxas and as the platform came to a stop, they took in their new surroundings.

A large room, great and round, about the size of The Gray Area in the Castle. Except the colors were a deathly pale blue and large holes in the walls acted as Windows to peer out into the depths of the Underworld. Directly in front of Roxas and Xinck was a wide, round table or platform with a picture of a map on it's top. But, all of this was ignored as their eyes were immediately drawn to the dark figure that occupied an evil throne. Hades, God of The Underworld, dressed in a black toga held up by a black, skull-shaped pin on his shoulder. He was easily 8 feet tall, maybe more, he was thin, blue-skinned and his hair was flaming an incredibly hot blue. He had his head in his hand as it leaned on his throne's arm, a bored looked occupied his face. "Well." he said, "What _do _we have here?"

He was halfway across the room, but both Roxas and Xinck could feel his presence flow around them. It was thick, dense and oozed in every direction, as if he let his Godly existence leak out all around him just to show off. If they were regular humans, they would be forced to bow away from Hades and politely ask him to let them be in his presence. But they could handle it, they felt it, but they wouldn't let it get to them.

Hades stood from his throne, a plume of black smoke billowed from his robe and walked with him. He came closer to them, but kept his distance. He blinked at them, the stayed quiet and he gave a gesture as if to say, 'Well, here I am.' "So!" He spoke. He talked as if he were a used-car salesman: quick and unwavering. "You two Nothings have been running a muck in MY Underworld and now you just show up unannounced at my doorstep! Just rude! And, speaking of doorsteps, I'm sure it was your stupid, little Orgy that left that flaming bag of dog crap on my doorstep."

"Wait, what do you mean 'running a muck'?" Roxas asked.

Hades pointed a thin, blue finger at Xinck, who looked a bit shocked. "You. You broke some very rare stone statues, opened secret passageways that SHOULD NOT have been opened, and, guess what, just you being here made every soul in Tartarus start rebelling!"

"How's that my problem?"

"Oh, I'll tell you how that-"

"Wait!" Roxas interrupted, "Hades, I'm sure he didn't mean to do anything. We just came here to use your Magic Mirror."

To Hades, that comment was like a buzzing fly on his shoulder: It only caught his attention. A crooked smile creeped across his face. "Magic Mirror? Never heard of it, kid, better luck next time. And if that's all you got for me, you can leave. But you!" He pointed back to Xinck, "You, I have a problem with."

"I didn't do anything!" Xinck yelled back.

"I told you, just you being here CAUSES TROUBLE!"

Xinck kept his calm, arms folded, eyes cut to slits. Hades was actually flaming on his shoulders slightly. "We just came here to use your Mirror. We know you have it, just let us get in a quick question and we'll leave. Simple. You're not threatened by our being here, are you?" He said with an antagonizing tone.

"Ha! Threatened? Let me tell ya something, kiddo, one mistake you don't want to make is threatening a God. You don't want to threaten someone like me."

"And you don't want to threaten someone like me! I've been through a lot of shit today, and all I want is to ask that fucking mirror a fucking question!"

Hades backed from Xinck's face and stroked his chin. He didn't take his off the Nobody and scoffed, "I'm a God, kid, better not forget it. You either give me respect or-"

"Give me head." Xinck folded his arms.

"Wha-?" His remark cuaght the God of the Underworld off guard and his shoulders let off tufts of smoke, "You didn't just say that!"

"I did! Do something!"

"Xinck!" XIII spoke in a hushed tone, placing an arm between him and Hades, "What are you doing?"

"Roxas, just because he's a God doesn't mean he can just talk to anyone like that!"

"Well, yeah, it kinda does."

"True." Hades said.

"Well, I don't care! I say no!" The Deviant bellowed, "Every other Human in the world might let any asswipe who calls himself a God talk to them anyway they want! But I'm not like everyone else! I've always been different and that's why my life sucks!" He threw up threatening hands to the sky and all Darkness wavered into existence around him, up his arms and into his palms as his sword pair. He turned them to his reverse grip and pointed one at Hades, "All because I'm me, I suffer. Roxas," He turned to his companion, "If he has the Mirror, then just to be a douche, he won't give it up. We'll have to take it."

"No! Wait, we don't have to fight. We can't fight him! Not here!"

"You both." The words of Hades seeped into the air from his mouth. He eyed both of them, red fire burning on his shoulders and head, replacing the blue, "Come in to my Underworld and THREATEN ME! I'll never allow you to see that Mirror and I'll keep you two here forever!"

"So you do have the Mirror!" Roxas yelled back.

A great pillar of fire shot around The Lord of the Dead and vanished, leaving his skin and hair a blazing red, "You'll never see it!" He leaped for the two, hands ablaze in fire. They jumped away and into the air just as Hades turned and shot a great ball of fire for Roxas. Both Keyblades came when called and Roxas blocked the flame. Roxas spun, gathering light on both blades. The light curved and Roxas released it, like two crescent moons falling from the sky. They crashed into Hades, he buckled from the hit, but he just laughed up to Roxas.

"Ha Ha! Gotta do better than that, boy!"

A large black pool expanded underneath Hades. "How's this for better? _Kurohime. _(Black Princess)" A great black sword tip erupted into Hades, tossing him into the air. Xinck rose from the darkness, the shadows washed from his like water. Hades hit the ground, uninjured as his Godly powers prevented him from being split in half by the attack. But he did seem dazed as he was holding his head and his flames returned to blue.

Roxas fell back to the ground and charged him from the back as Xinck did from the front, blades ready to hit. The met at Hades and struck, stabbed, sliced at the God, his body reacted, but showed no visible damage. Hades grunted and yelled with each strike, until he regained himself and erupted in a blaze of a great inferno, igniting the two.

They jumped back on opposite sides of Hades's chamber, Roxas by the throne and Xinck by the window. Their coats protected them from most of the fading flames. Hades leaned over, breathing through spiked teeth, but he recovered quickly and stood facing them. He scoffed, "Didn't hurt one bit."

Roxas shot for Hades, "Give us the Mirror!" Blades out in front, Hades blocked the lightning-fast strikes with ease. He took an opening with a flaming hand and punched Roxas in his gut, sending him sliding back a bit. He recovered, ignoring the pain and charged again. Xinck came in over head, ready to hit Hades from the top.

"Whoo! It's getting' hot in here, eh?" Hades body turned red once more and his arms exploded into great walls of flame. Roxas ducked out of the way and slid past Hades, but Xinck's path was fixed and Hades directed both arms his way, engulfing him in flames. He yelled and fell to the ground in a heap. Hades rushed to and grabbed the still-burning Xinck by the neck and thrust him to eye level. Xinck stopped burning, but Hades didn't. He moved Xinck over to the large hole in the wall that served as the window to Hades's chamber and held the Nobody over it's edge above the great Abyss that surrounded the mountain. Xinck tried cutting at Hades's long, blue arms, but couldn't make a dent. He tried stabbing at his face, but the God was too quick. "Come out and play, boy!" For a second as he struggled in the God's grip, he thought Hades had just told him to come and play, but he looked at Him and saw the God smiling at him, but talking past him.

"No you don't!" Roxas came charging from behind, but Hades turned, pointing a gun-finger at him and a brief flame flashed on his finger tip. Roxas reacted, a small flame shined on his stomach, the sound of a bullet firing and Roxas fell back against the wall.

"I'm-" Xinck started.

"Shut up! Food doesn't talk!" Xinck was ready to head but Hades in his skinny blue face, but a terrible sound ripped the air behind him. Hades loosened his grip on Xinck's neck and let go, dropping him from the Chamber Window.

"Hey! No!" Roxas threw Oathkeeper for the God and it stabbed and cut through his shoulder like a Buzzsaw, but no blood was produced, only blood-like smoke. Hades winced and grabbed at his shoulder, in shock and turned for Roxas. Oathkeepr returned. "What'd you do?"

Before the smiling God of The Underworld could respond, a deafening, high-pitched scream ripped the air. The sound of roars that could only be described as Unholy followed and Roxas felt an impossible despair wash over his body, icing his veins and twisting his stomach. Hades smiled his disgusting smile and said, "I fed him to my dog."

The first thing to come to Roxas's mind was '_Impossible'_', but he heard, coming from the window was that unmistakable sound of tearing flesh. More roars, more screaming. Then no screaming and more Roars. Hades chuckled, but kept his eyes on Roxas and looked not at the window. He was still clutching his shoulder. Roxas knew about Xinck's healing, he about Xinck being able to come back to life even. But Xinck had told him that even that had limits and that he wasn't immortal. But Xinck didn't know what could kill him, so how could Roxas? And how would Xinck know to stay away from that which could could completely end his existence?

Cold sweats dripped from Roxas' brow. His body shivered, from what, he did not know. "You didn't..." His voice was shallow and unforgiving.

"Uh...yeah, I did." Hades shoulder healed and he began to casually saunter over to Roxas, "This is what happens when you disrespect a God, kid. You know, my little nonexistent friend, kids like you and _him_ do nothing but get in my way all the time. I remember, about, oh..about 10 years ago, this girl with blue hair-"

"You didn't..."

"Yeah, I did. Already said that. Anyway, this blue-haired girl just-" The God stopped in his words. He, Roxas, the entire room and possibly the entire mountain began to rubble. "Hey, kid, what the hell?"

"You didn't..." Blinding white, ethereal smoke billowed from his shoulders. His presence pushed outwards and a faded circle of light underneath sent out flat waves of white light that vanished as quickly as they came. "You didn't take him away!" Roxas raised both Oblivion and Oathkeeper above his head and crossed them into an X. The Force of power he gave off pushed Hades away, nearly pinning him against the wall. "Revel In The Light and Rei-"

"Roxas!" A voice, Xinck's voice, called from the window. The light faded, Roxas let his Keyblades down and his presence was pulled back into him. "Get the mirror, dammit! What are you waiting for!"

"Xinck..I..thought you were dead."

"Nu-uh."

"What the hell?" Hades exclaimed. "But Cerberus-"

A hand appeared at the bottom of the window. "-Is Dead. Never send an underworld puppy to play with a Hell Hound."Xinck pulled himself up and grinned evilly at the God and he stood there in the window, his waist and legs covered in blood. It wasn't his. Roxas didn't notice the blood on his friend, he only saw the odd piece of clothing strapped to his neck. It was a scarf or cape, perfectly long and as white as snow on the top and as black as an eclipse on it's bottom. It was terribly tattered as if it had been caught in something and pulled out in a haste. Xinck wore it tied in a lose knot around his neck.

"Xinck..wha-"

He got down off the window and marched for Roxas. He saw his swords were not in hand or anywhere on his person. Hades stayed quiet, twitching and boiling in rage at hearing the news of his dog. Xinck came to Roxas, his cape flowed with a mind of it's own as he stood on Roxas's left.

"What happened? Where'd that scarf come from and-?" Roxas's stopped asking questions. Xinck placed an arm over Roxas's shoulder and he said a sentence that should never be spoken so casually.

"I'm in my Redux." said the Deviant.

Hades anger finally boiled over. His fire consumed his body again, only his red face, crazed eyes and flailing limbs could be seen. "YOU'RE FIRED!" His ear-splitting screams added to his fury. He charged at them, setting everything in his path on fire. His crazed look and screams made Roxas raise his Keyblade to attack as he came closer, but Xinck stood between Hades and Roxas and covered the latter with his own body as he yelled:

"Erebosian Reign!"

A great flash of Purple and Black shot through the Chamber and dominated the blue hue of the Mountain. Everything was lost in a purple haze. Hades's chamber and much of the Mountain it was on exploded in black and purple rain. All was lost in rubble, rocks and boulders that survived the blast shot down like a meteor shower down the Mountains side. The Crevasse was obliterated, even the portal to Elysium was reduced to nothing. The blast penetrated the sky and bombarded the surface above it, large stalactites dropped from the sky and plummeted into the abyss. The Dark haze and purple waves faded, the deafening screech that sounded with the blast subsided and vanished.

Xinck let go of Roxas and they both stood up on the newly formed plateau that was once the peak of the Dread Mountain. Roxas saw the perfectly flat ground they were on, the blast had destroyed the mountain in a perfectly cut flat surface. Hades was nowhere insight.

"Whoa..." Roxas looked to Xinck, looked at his scarf or cape that flowed through the air, this way and that way on it's own with no breeze. "I can't believe you did all of _that _with just a scarf. I put on a whole suit when I do my Redux!"

"Wha-" He wasn't looking at Roxas, but far behind Roxas on the other side of the mountain, "Oh, yeah, the cape doesn't really do anything for me. My real Redux is over there. He did it." He pointed to where he was looking. Roxas was about to turn just as he heard an odd, low bestial sound, but Xinck grabbed his head and turned it back to him. "No, no, don't look at him! He's a bit shy."

"No, no, let me see! I want to see!" Roxas wrenched off Xinck's hand and turned to see his Redux looking back at him. "Wow..okay..uh..it's..it's-"

"It's a He. I checked, thoroughly."

"He's...pretty big."

"Yeah, He's up here, but he's touching the very bottom of the Underworld."

"I..I think he wants to eat me. He keeps eying me..."

"Nah, he just ate Cerberus, he's full. " Xinck snapped his fingers and his Redux smoldered into a great mass of Darkness, it lost it's form and turned into a great black plume. It shot into the sky and disappeared into nothing. Xinck's cape ripped into floating black and white strands and also faded as his Redux vanished. From his coat, Xinck produced the honey-soaked Sop that Philoctetes had given them for Cerberus, "Guess we won't be needing this anymore." He tossed it over the mountain side, then took out his Cellphone to check the time. "Let's see, we got to the Underworld at 7:00 at night and it is now...11:00 in the morning. Wow, am I sick of this place or what? Hey, check this out, I have 4 bars on my phone. I can't believe I get this much coverage in the Hades."

"4 bars?" A simple response at first, but as they left his mouth, he froze. He froze out of disbelief and his own incredible stupidity. He wondered if the other Members had even thought of this or even considered it. Instead of waiting for Axel to come back or sending out dozens of Nobodies to search for him, why didn't anyone bother to call him? "Give me that!" In an instant, he snagged Xinck's phone and scrolled furiously through the contacts.

"Hey, careful with that! I haven't paid it off yet." Xinck protested, "What are you doing?"

"Has anyone even thought of calling Axel?" Roxas yelled.

The thought of calling their missing friend caught Xinck, but his reaction was considerably more tamed than Roxas', "Wow. We are not very good at anything, are we?"

"Uh, yeah, no duh."

"This is even dumber than that time we all got trapped in that stupid van. You know, I heard that Xemnas had actually pumped some form of LSD into the water and tested it on us. I guess it wor-"

"No more.." Came the weary voice of the Lord of the Dead. Appearing ahead of them, his left arm and a huge portion of his body left in gray flames. His usually blue flamed hair was extinguished, revealing a scarred, bald blue head "Get out!" he bellowed, his breath was heavy. "Get out of My Underworld!"

"Not until we see that mirror!" Roxas yelled. He gave the phone back to Xinck. He took a step, a flash of light, and he was in Hades's face. His eyes showed no fear, staring down a God of the Underworld, "Let me use the Mirror and we'll leave." He didn't even blink as he said those words, but for just a second, Roxas saw the eyes of a God falter, looking at Xinck, then back to Roxas.

"You Nobodies..Organization bastards. You're all nothing, nothing but abortions of the Universe!" With his only hand, Hades made a hand gesture and a plume of smoke and fire erupted next to the two. The smoke cleared, the fire died and a mirror. The mirror was oval-shaped and about the size of a cupboard, it's surface was clean but dark, so was the extravagant casing around it, dark and dingy golden in color. It floated above the ground at eye level.

There it was. Just a simple mirror, nothing more. At the very least, Roxas thought it would be bigger. He approached it, Xinck joined him at his side. "Completely forgot about the whole 'calling him' thing, eh?"

"What if he lost his phone?" Roxas replied, "What if he can't even answer it? You said the mirror could answer any question it's asked, so I'd say it's a better bet than using a cellphone."

"Whatever you say."

They approached the mirror and waited for something to happen, but it didn't. Roxas tried knocking on the glass like it was a door, but got no response until Hades spoke up. "You have to wake it up."

"How?"

The God grunted, his body finally beginning to heal itself, albeit slowly. He spoke, not to them, though, "Mirror, Mirror on the air...get your ass out he-air."

A crack of lightning in the glassy surface brought back there attention. Purple mist swirled in the glass and out of it's darkness, a ghost white theater mask appeared. Hollow mouth and eyes and nothing more. The mask, the Spirit of the Mirror, spoke in monotone rhymes:

"_Methinks the ancient art of rhyme escapes even you, O Elder son of Time."_

"Oh, that is so freaky." Xinck said, arms crossed.

"Hurry up and ask your question." Hades spat.

Roxas didn't hesitate. He faced the Spirit of the Mirror, "You can answer any question, right?" The Mirror replied:

"_Indeed, I can. All answers, Have I. The Truth, never denied."_

"Then I have to know. What happened to my friend Axel?" He tensed, anxiety gripped him. He just hoped he didn't say Axel was gone forever. The Mirror spoke:

"_Axel, blazing bright, the burning one, _

_He who is held up by those undone."_

"What does that mean?"

"Why is your mirror speaking in riddles?" Xinck asked.

"It's what he does. That's why I never bother with it." Hades said. His forearm regrew.

"What does that mean?" Roxas said. The Mirror replied :

"_It means what it means. Lack of detail you abore, _

_but your Axel has been taken, nothing less, nothing more."_

"No way Axel, off _all_ people could've been taken" Xinck said.

"What do you mean 'taken'? By who?" Roxas asked again. He reached over and gripped the sides of the mirror.

"_By what, by who, by whom, I cannot say. _

_But indeed, they wish for you to pay."_

"Wish for you to pay? You mean me?"

"_Ye, and He who doth Deviate most perversely."_

"_Moi?" _Xinck gestured to himself, "What'd I do? And that didn't rhyme."

Roxas turned from the mirror to Xinck. His face was heavy with maddening confusion. "I..I don't get it. He was taken? Someone took him because of us? That doesn't make sense!" He looked to Xinck as if he had an answer, but he was just as clueless as anyone else.

"Um..okay." Xinck scratched at his head. He had to put something together that actually made sense. "Oh...alright, it's a mirror that knows and sees everything, or at least most things. But any question you ask, it gives an answer wrapped in a riddle. So,...we just have to be very specific with our...question? Does that make sense?"

"I..." He sighed greatly, "I guess it couldn't hurt to try. What question should I ask?"

"I dunno. I think you just have to make it very specific, leave no holes in you question, make him give you the answer you need."

The Spirit of the Mirror waited patiently, hovering above the flat ground. Roxas let everything he had already gotten from the mirror connect in his head. He looked the Spirit in it's eyeless face. "Was Axel...kidnapped? Was taken by force, against his will, or being held captive?"

"_To this, I applaud your tremendous courage, yet pray that my answer doth not discourage._

"_Axel, captive not of his will, but by those who doth wish great ill,_

_was taken in a bloody thrill._

_One, Two, Three, and even Four stand ready for War Galore_

_Now, One of Dark and One of Light must go, go through great plight to retrieve_

_thy friend and set All right."_

"Bu-I.." Roxas heard every word and analyzed it to the best of his ability. Xinck got every word, as well, but riddles seldom had a straight meaning. But they both understood the underlying message: Axel was kidnapped. And while Roxas stood there, dumbfounded by this realization, Xinck took it upon himself to ask the nest very important question.

The Deviant asked, "Is his Cellphone anywhere near him or his captures?"

"_Even more shocking, the Deviant doth speaks. _

_Yet, I see said device near He who thou seeks" _

"I'm taking that as a yes, you weirdo." Xinck reached into pocket to retrieve his cellphone and held it out to Roxas to take. "Make the call." Roxas just looked at the phone in Xinck's hand. In retrospect, they both felt like idiots. How did they not think of calling him earlier and avoided this entire situation. He grabbed that phone and called Axel.

"They're holding him captive. And they want us to pay." Xinck said, "We can pay whatever they want, but it would be much easier to find them and kill them."

"Shh! It's ringing." Roxas had the phone up to his ear. It ringed and ringed and 40 seconds of ringing, Roxas's chest tightened, every breath made him shake, his grip on the phone tightened. He thought he would snap it in half, and then :Silence.

Not the silence of a missed call, but the silence of a person just listening.

Roxas spoke first. "Axel?"

First an inhale, then the smallest hint of a chuckle in their throat. Roxas could feel their smile as they spoke "No." Then hushed laughter.

The face of Number XIII turned to anger. He turned around to face Xinck as he spoke into the phone to this person who dared get in his way. The face he made while he spoke was the same face Xigbar commented on so many times. It was the face of someone with Unrelenting will. He spoke into the phone, Xinck and even Hades listened. "Listen to me." He said. His voice was hollow and unforgiving, "Me and my friend are stronger than you could ever know. You have someone very important to me and if you let him go, then this can die right now. But if you don't, we're going to come after you, we will kill everyone who helped you, and when we find you, I will kill you."

Silence. No one spoke. The only sound was that of Hades's body stitching itself back together. Then, the response, "Bring it, baby." Then the monotone of the phone hanging up. Roxas closed the phone and stared at it in his hand.

"So?" Xinck asked.

Roxas tossed the phone back to Xinck. "We're go gonna find him." Roxas's expression did not change. His anger had not yet subsided.

"And?"

"And kill."

"That's what I wanted to hear."

Roxas turned back to the Magic Mirror and bowed. "Thank you." he said. Then to Hades, "Thank you for letting us use your mirror. We'll leave now. We're sorry for damaging your Underworld."

"Who's 'we'?" Xinck asked.

Hades, God of The Underworld, scowled at the two Nobodies and turned his back on them, his body healed. "Dealing with you Nobodies is more trouble than its worth. NEVER! Come back to my Underworld." An earthquake shook the the mountain. The Underworld, the entire underground of the world of Olympus Coliseum quaked, even it's own sky troubled above Hades. Roxas and Xinck even lost their balance, hitting the ground with their knees. The ground cracked, the mountains tore in half and shifted away from each other, Hades on one side, Xinck and Roxas on the other. Out of the sky, walls of stone fell and melded together, making new mountains and new cliffs all around them.

"The Underworld is changing! Just like Charon said!" Roxas shouted over the explosions of creation. The two cautiously got back up, grabbing hold of each other and looking for a way out. "What do we do?" There was no way to get off the mountain, and it was getting smaller and smaller as the Underworld shifted. Apparently, this mountain was not in this Underworld's new blueprint.

The Ground cracked and gave way under Roxas, he slipped and fell through the cracks and into darkness, yelling, his hand out for Xinck, "Rox-Ahh!" The Ground under Xinck cracked and he slipped in, coming after Roxas. The last sight he saw was Hades holding up two fingers and he snapped. Xinck's vision clouded as smoke enveloped his body.

Their screams echoed through the darkness, Roxas heard Xinck and vise versa. But their freefall through what they saw as flaming smoking vapor around them didn't last as they collided with the hard, flat ground. Roxas landed on his front and smashed his chin against the stone while Xinck landed on his side, smashing his hip. They laid there in pain, grabbing at their respective wounds while trying to look concerned for the others' well-being, but to Roxas, a busted jaw outweighed a bruised hip any day. Xinck would beg to differ.

Roxas stood up first, wobbly at first because he seemed to have smacked his kneecap. He cradled his jaw and moaned slightly with his own touch. He took a look around to see whee they were: They were on a darkened slab in the middle of what looked like a dark purple lake. The slab of land they were on was wide, with jagged appendages sticking up against the lake surrounding it. To his left and right were two jagged roads, the one on the right lead to a large cave with a locked door to it, green zigzags ran down it's center. To the left road was another cave, just as large as the first but with blue zigzags instead of green. This was the new Underworld, yet there were no Dead wandering about and the air was still and cold.

Xinck arose, slowly and grabbing at his hip like an elder man limped over to Roxas. "Well, that was fun. Kinda."

"I-OW!" Roxas started speaking, but his broken jaw stopped him.

"What's the matter, hamster got your tongue?"

"Ei ma yahr." He mumbled, hand in his jaw.

"Eat your jar? I have to be honest, that doesn't sound the lest bit appetizing."

" 'Ou nah funneh." Roxas rolled his eyes and held on to his jaw. He could feel the inside of it moving against his hand, meaning it was at least healing.

"So, where to now?" Xinck asked.

Roxas's jaw made a cracking sound and he winced with the pain it generated. He sighed, thinking of Axel and what could be happening to him right now, "Back to the ship, I guess."

"And then what?"

"I don't know. We don't have any leads and all we know is that He was kidnapped, and-"

"Mannapped."

"Fine, Mannapped, whatever. But-"

"I'm just saying 'Mannapped' sounds much manlier than Kidnapped." Roxas flashed an irritated look at his friend. But he saw that Xinck's comment said he was in his regular mood, but the expression on his face told a different story. "

Roxas let it go and continued, "Look, we know that someone took him and you'd think that they'd want a ransom, right? If they wanted a ransom, then they would've at least made demands or something."

"What makes you think they want a ransom?"

"The Mirror said they wanted us to pay, right?"

"It could mean they want us to pay with the loss of a friend or with blood."

"So someone wants to kill us? Who? What did we do?"

Xinck sighed, rubbing his hip again, "We belong to a super secret Organization. You don't get into that line of work without making an enemy or two. But you gotta think who would dare to step on Organization XIII's toes?

Roxas began counting off on his fingers, "Well, there's the Akastuki, the Gotei Thirteen, Aizen Sosuke-"

"That reminds me, I have to send a Birthday present to Ulquiorra."

Roxas continued, "...S.H.I.E.L.D. , The United States Government, The O.S.I _and_ The Guild of Calamitous Intent, Starfleet, The United Federation of Planets, The Lupertazzi Crime Family, and G.U.N. Oh, and there's The Fearsome Five, The Fiendish Five and the Band of Seven. I could go on counting, but I'd have to take off my shoe, count on my toes, and I'd need your hands. But the point is, the Organization doesn't have a lot of friends."

"True, true. But in total, we're just 9 and some of those groups have 20+ people. We might be small, but we're good enough to take on all of them, more than once, might I add. None of them would have the Balls to try and take one of us."

"Yeah, I know, but they did. Oh and the D.W.M.A. Can't forget them."

"Such a same." Xinck said, "I liked Death the Kid."

Silence came over them once more. Roxas sighed, Xinck crossed his arms. It was only when Roxas looked far behind Xinck did he see stairs, leading up to a doorway bathed in light. Roxas saw it first, then Xinck turned to see it as well. The way out of the Underworld loomed ahead of them. "Xinck." Roxas started.

"Yes?"

"We'll find Axel and we're going to find the people who took him, too. But we won't find him here."

* * *

It took them a few hours, but eventually, they found themselves back in Space in their Gummi Ship, flying in no particular direction. Roxas had put the ship on Autopilot while he tried calling Axel's cellphone once more. No answer. Xinck sat in the chair and stared out into the bleak emptiness of space, but his inability to stay in one spot for too long caused him to stretch out on the floor, then curl into a ball and rock back and forth.

They had nothing to talk of now. No clue or anything to point them in the right direction. Utterly lost, none of them had a clue as to where to even begin to look. Even though Roxas had said that they would find Axel no matter what, he knew it was easier to say than to do. At least he now knew what actually happened to Axel, he knew he was alive and that was good, great even. But even better, he had someone to blame: That Voice, "Bring it, baby." is what it said. He couldn't tell if it was male or female, but if he had to guess, it was probably male, a young male who was possibly effeminate or androgynous. Or a young woman who was masculine or also androgynous. Either way, man or woman, he would bring it, and show them 'Baby'.

Behind Roxas's chair and across from the spot where Xinck lay, space ripped itself opened and a small white portal poofed into the air and out fell Xercivio, landing on his bum and immediately standing up. He looked a little beaten up as parts of his clothes were torn, but other than that he looked fine. _"Wow, okay, no one worry about me. I'm fine, just fine."_

Xinck turned around to see his Reaper, "Xercivio." The mention of his name only brought up bad thoughts of events that transpired in the Underworld.

Roxas turned in his seat, "You're back. What happened?" The last time they had encountered Xercivio, Roxas had ordered him to keep the other lesser Nobodies off their trail. "You were supposed to keep the other Nobodies away from us."

"_I did."_

"We were attacked in the Coliseum by a Twilight Thorn, then Luxord finds me in the Underworld."

"_Do you know ow hard it is to get the attention of a Thorn when you're my height? Those guys don't listen for crap!"_

"Then what did you do while we were busy?" Xinck asked. He had moved over to his Reaper, picked him up and dropped him in his lap and stroked his head. Xercivio fought his ay out of Xinck's depraved grip and stood back up.

"_I was handling Samurais."_ He said, gesturing to Roxas, _"All of your Samurais, actually."_

"What happened?" Roxas asked.

"_Well, I've been fighting Samurais for a while, then Oaer, your Leader of the Samurais, came at me. I tried to kill him, but he's hard to kill, so in the heat of the moment, me, his Samurais and a few Reapers took off to Neverland. I was able to get away and let those guys kill each other."_

"So the Reapers you took with you are dead?" Xinck asked, Xercivio nodded, "Which ones did you take?"

"_I just took two. Samhain and Vaziel. Doesn't matter, they were idiots anyway."_

"That's a shame." Xinck shook his head, "Maybe you shouldn't have ran away. Maybe you could have helped a little?"

The little Reaper scoffed, _"Wow, it sounds like you actually have a conscience. Since when do you actually care about life?"_

"Well, I don't but-"

Xercivio crossed his arms, "Were ya thinkin' about the sanctity of life when you killed that baby during your little pitch fit?" Neither Roxas or Xercivio would ever see Xinck move that fast again. His hand was around Xercivio's neck, his back up against the window of the ship. He squeezed the little Nobody's neck in his fist.

"_Not in a jokey-jokey, Ha-Ha mood today, eh?" _Xercivio wheezed.

"You UNGRATEFUL Little He-Bitch!" Xinck howled, " You know where'd you be without me! Sulking around the Castle, unable to think, speak or do anything without an order!" Roxas backed up, shocked by the outburst. Xinck looked miserable when they found each other in Elysium, as if simply being was pure hell. Then, slowly at first, he seemed to get better, even making jokes like he always did, but now, with Xercivio in his hand, anger and hate erupted with every word. But Roxas could see more uncertainty than anger in his friend's eyes.

"I should have let Larxene kill you, but no! Stupid Xinck fucks up again, doesn't he?"

"_Alright, alright!"_ Xercivio struggled, his tiny legs and feet kicking against the air, his tiny hands wrapped around Xinck's wrist, _"We don't have to do this, let's just calm down and-" _Xinck let him go, more like he tossed him to the floor and walked away for the cockpit exit.

"Wait, Xinck," Roxas started going after him.

"I'm going to bed. No disturbances." He left out the door, slamming it shut behind him.

Xercivio lay on the ground, holding his neck and coughing slightly, _"Man, I think he might have left marks."_ He dabbed gingerly at his neck, seeing if there was blood, even though he had no veins. Roxas stood over the Reaper and stared down at the little weirdo, _"Yes, can I help you?"_

"What is going on! I'm sick of being left in the dark about all this. What is it with him?"

"_Well, let's see."_ Xercivio started, standing up and staring at his Superior, _"He's criminally insane, he's a sociopath, a loner and he's got the freakiest Dark powers anyone has ever seen, and I think he might be a bisex-"_

"I know all that! I men what was that thing you said a bout his 'pitch fit'?"

"_Oh, that, well, I'm surprised you don't know, I mean it happened just a few weeks after he joined the Organization. He killed a bunch of people."_

Roxas sighed with annoyance, "I know he's killed people before, but that's never-"

"_No, he didn't kill because he was ordered to. He did it just for the hell of it."_

The idea of Xinck killing people for no reason wasn't new to Roxas at all, but there seemed to be something Xercivio wasn't telling him. "And?"

"_And? And what? He killed about, oh, I'd say..."_

"10? 20?"

"_More."_

"50? That's not entirely bad."

"_It was much more than 50. Try over 200,000 people. Innocents, mind you and he killed them all in less than an hour."_

200,000 people died. Murdered because of Xinck. Not ordered by the Organization. He just did it. Roxas stood there, thinking about what this little nobody was saying. _"I literally saw Xinck open his own mouth on this one guy, he opened it wide like in that movie _Jaws? _Have you seen that, Lord Roxas? _Jaws?_ Roxas, _Jaws? Jaws? Jaws? _Anyway, Xinck chewed on his face for a bit, then left." _

No. Roxas couldn't believe that. And he didn't even know what _Jaws _was. He couldn't believe that Xinck would kill so many people just for the sake of killing. "You're lying."

"_...And he was like-Wait, what?"_

"You're lying." Roxas said.

"_No, I'm not, I was there. I saw the blood, the carnage and everything. Pretty brutal, actually." _

"You're Lying!" Roxas yelled. "Get out!"

"_Fine. I'll leave." _The little Reaper turned away from Roxas, then shot back, "_Murderer'sfriendsayswhat?"_

"What?" Roxas said.

"_Ha! I win." _And with that, Xercivio had gone, back into a white portal and vanished.

Roxas squeezed at the bridge of his nose, as if trying to squeeze out a solution. Axel was missing, Xinck was distraught. He could really use a rest right now. Or some ice cream. Maybe both.

* * *

The lower bowls of the Gummi Ship were designed to be easy to understand and hassle-free. The engines, landing gear, weapons and life support systems were all down here in the basement. A suspended bridge was the only walking area in the basement and below the bridge, were several enormous tubes that continued blue energy: The Engines. At the end of the suspended bridge was a small computer to maintain the engines, landing gear and other Space-vessel necessities. The computer was mostly used for troubleshooting and finding the solution to a life-threatening problem, but the main computer served this purpose.

Xercivio walked gingerly across the suspended bridge and up to the computer. If he had lips, he would be whistling a tune, but he had to do with a merry hum instead. He turned on the computer and to scroll through the Touch-screen menu. _"Oh, yeah, Xinck, I'll show you an Ungrateful he-bitch..." _He scrolled down the list of programs he could run through the computer. _"Let's see here: 'Lavatory Repulsion Protocol'? No. 'Solar Panel Absorption Test'? No. Oooh, this looks good. 'Emergency Tech-Sweep and Landing Protocol Test'. Oh. I don't know what that means, but I'm sure it's important!" _With his little hand, he hit the green button that read, 'Initiate'. Immediately, sirens blared, red lights flashed and the whole of the ship began to rumble. DANGER! DANGER! DANGER! BRACE FOR LANDING! This warning sounded throughout the ship.

"_Ha ha!" _Xercivio laughed, back flipping into a portal, _"Suck on that, Xincky!" _He disappeared.

* * *

Roxas frantically began pressing buttons on the console and tried to take control of the wheel, but nothing happened beyond sirens blaring, lights flashing and the computer voice shouting DANGER! DANGER! BRACE FOR LANDING! Roxas could see through the front view of the ship. He saw the odd, ever-changing colors of space turn into blue sky and clouds, they had entered into a world as the Ship dove out of the sky.

The door to the cockpit opened in a hurry and Xinck braced himself in the doorway. He yelled over the sound of the sirens, "What'd you do!"

"Nothing! We just started falling!" A blaring warning Beep grew faster and faster, indicating that a collision was getting closer and closer. Roxas gave up and strapped himself securely into his seat and braced himself. The beeping became louder and frantic. Xinck ran for his his seat, and barely got it locked it. Solid ground came rushing at them from the view of the window, less than 50 feet away, 40, 30, 20, 10, then Boom. Dust and debris shot into the air around the now grounded Gummi Ship. Earth, thrown upwards came crashing back down on the ship, pelting the hull.

The cockpit window shot open and Xinck rolled out first. He rolled into a field of flowers. He was alright, shaken up, but nothing on his body was broken.

Roxas came out next, coughing and trying to wipe the smoke out of the air around him to help him breath. "You alright!" He shouted and coughed. He heard him reply, but there was a ringing in his ear from the force of the crash and he assumed he said yes. The Gummi Ship now rested in the middle of a meadow of wildflowers, trees in the distance surrounded the field of flowers. Roxas took a brief look at the bulk of the ship, it looked alright at first glance and as he climbed into the Cockpit, he smacked the console. An electronic display of blue and green flashed on the screen: LANDING PROTOCOL COMPLETE. SYSTEM ANALYZES IN PROGRESS-TECH SWEEP ESTIMATION: 5 Hour(s)

Roxas scoffed and groaned at this. He tried hitting several buttons that usually generate a response, but got nothing in return. He smacked the Keyboard once more in frustration, then climbed out of the cockpit. He hit the flower-covered ground, and took in the notice of the scenery, but his attention automatically went to Xinck.

The Fallen Deviant sat on his hands and knees, his head down, his shoulders shaking. "Xinck?" Rxoas started towards Xinck and stopped beside him.

"Roxas..." He said.

"Hey," Roxas started, but stopped, he didn't know whether or not to bring it up after his spat, but he had to tell him, mostly for his own sake. "Hey, He...he told that you killed a lot people and...I don't-"

"I did. I did it. I killed them." His voice was halting. "Here. I did it here."

"What?"

Xinck turned his head to Roxas and he saw a look in Xinck's eyes that he could only describe as the worst nightmares coming to haunt you in the day. And he said something that Roxas had not expected, "I Was Born Here."

* * *

_**And Now, The Thickening of The Plot...**_

A young woman marched down a long hall. Her age was unknown, but it was obvious from her stature and youthful appearance that she was much younger than 20. she was dressed in a long, dark robe that she only wore while in this castle, underneath her robe was her true clothes, clothes ready for a fight at any minute. Despite her youth and her robe, she was carrying a full array of weapons on her person, weapons used to lay waste to anyone in her way.

Her hair was black and ivory bangs fell over her forehead. Her face was in a permanent scowl. She had a tremendous grudge on her shoulder and if you knew her situation, if you could even imagine her resolve, or have been through her life, you'd have the very same grudge and the very same scowl in your face.

She came to a grand door at the end of the hall. She didn't bother to knock, she just went right in. She came into a room, a dark room illuminated only by the lavender sky's light that poured in through the tall window on the wall to her left. In front of her, giving off her own light via a light purple and blue aura was a feminine figure behind a desk. She, too, wore a robe, but it was open, dark blue and shouldered almost veiled her skin-tight and dark blue and black outfit. Over her head was her hood, but it did not cover her 'face.' Where her face should be was, indeed, a black mask, but it acted as her face, the constantly smiling mouth moved and the neon-blue eyes blinked. A few bangs of blue hair fell over the left side of her face.

"You're back already?" asked the masked woman.

The younger woman nodded.

"Did you get it?"

The younger woman moved closer to the Masked Woman's desk while searching her own pockets. She then held out her hand and placed a jagged, metallic and square rock down on the desk. The Masked Woman lowered her head, eye level with the metal, "This is it? Seriously? You've been gone for 2 days and this is all the Unobtainium you could find! Yes, I know it's rare and "Unobtainable", but come on, after three days, I expected at least...more. I just don't think we can-"

The young woman rolled her eyes. "Baby is unloading the three Truck loads of Unobtainium I found. This is only a sample." She said.

The Masked woman sat up once more, "Oh...oh, good, good. And our other friend? Did he find what we needed?"

"He just returned from the Underworld with the Baetylus. He'll be bringing it up shortly."

"Excellent." The Masked Woman sighed, leaning back in her chair and crossing her arms over her chest, "You know, while you were gone, I got a very interesting call on my new cellphone." She pointed to the red and back striped phone near the corner of her desk.

"And?" asked the Young Woman.

The masked Woman's mask turned upward into a smile, "We'll be having some very special guests soon, I'm sure. We should get started since we already have the Ingredients and we don't want to keep them waiting when they're on or doorstep, right?"

The Young woman said nothing.

"Right..well, anyway." The Masked woman stood from her chair and walked over to her right wall, where a glass casket was embedded into the wall. "We should get our newest friend ready while we still have time." In the glass casket was a man with unnatural crimson hair and purple marks under his closed eyes. His black coat was torn in several places, but he was alive.

_**And The Plot! It Thickens!**_

_**

* * *

**_

I just gave a preview of Xinck's Redux, I'll probaby do more next chapter, well, more than likely than probably. Can't wait till next chapter since it will basically be a flashback so I'm bringing back the members that already died. And now...REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW.


	35. Deviant's Cradle

I Redid this chapter by adding more to it at the end. A lot more.

So If You've read it before, feel free to scroll down to the end and continue.

I Don't Own Anything except Xinck.

* * *

The Ship wouldn't be up and running for 5hours at the least. Roxas and Xinck would be stranded and even worse, Xinck was brought back to the very spot where he first woke as a Nobody: a Lush meadow in the middle of a green forest. And somewhere in this world, far beyond the forest, was a place where the ground was stained with blood.

"Do you remember what it's like?" Xinck asked. Roxas stood next to him.

"What's what like?"

"Turning into a Nobody. Losing your heart. I remember it so vividly." He shook his head and got to his feet. He turned to his left and he fixated on a dark patch in the meadow of flowers. The patch of dead flowers and decayed grass looked ravaged by time and death.

* * *

_**Xinck**_

I was born, but I really didn't have anything to show for it. No life, No friends, No Future. Ever since I could remember I was always a tad different. I could never figure out what it was that made people avoid me, honestly, I didn't even start noticing it until I came of age around 9 (I was an early bloomer). Although I had a family, I was alone, if anything I was the black sheep in my family and the outcast in my school. Of course when I was younger, I coped with this by gentle sarcastic humor, but as I got older, the Idea that I was so lonely was born in my mind.

And as I went on, that loneliness brought Despair. I started having mood swings, anywhere from great highs to extreme lows. Suicide ran through my head a few times, but I didn't like the idea of popping pills (I thought I'd end up getting rid of a headache instead of killing myself since I couldn't read a prescription bottle to save my life). I just had to cope with it, all by myself. More humor that I shared with myself and no one else. It was at this point that I started talking to myself occasionally.

Around the age of 11, two years after all of that lonely and sad crap, Madness was born form the two. Whenever I talked to myself, I actually heard a voice in my head laughing with me. I figured it was just the result of my Third year of puberty, but it wasn't. I couldn't stop myself sometimes from just laughing my ass off at nothing, but then I would wonder if I was really crazy or just weird, just a lonely, weird boy with the worst fucking personality traits. These three...things that sat on my shoulder made me a bit misanthropic, cruel and a bit over dramatic at times. The fact that I had a permanent scowl on my face didn't exactly make me popular, more infamous with the other children actually. No one talked to me unless it was necessary, even the teachers found me odd and a little scary. The only thing that really made me feel better was when I slept and I could dream. Dreaming took me away from all the crap I had to deal with in the day. I value sleep. I still do. But everyone has to wake up eventually.

But, all this negativity that was me never consumed me. Never. Something in me never let me fall away into the coldness of these thoughts and feelings. It let me hide from them and I was able to at least seem slightly normal. This thing in me gave me the Will to force my never ending loneliness, unrelenting despair and madness to the back burner and just go on with it, just go on with this stale thing called my life and hopefully wait for Death from natural causes. At first, I thought a Nun had laid hands on me while I wasn't looking, but this turned out to be false. I guess you could say that this is what caused my deviation from Light. Actually, I wouldn't call it a deviation, more of a mutual leaving with no hurt feelings. The Light just didn't suit me. I was alone in the light, yet I could see the ones that avoided me and they weren't alone. But in the Dark, I might be alone, call it Solitude and anyone else in there could be alone. The Light didn't suit me, but the Darkness seemed just as lonely as I was.

At age 15, the day before I was attacked by a Heartless. I had decided to go with the dark as opposed to the light. The people in the light seemed much to happy for me, the light was for those who were born lucky, not lucky to be born. Or Unlucky, in my case. The light had to many spectators, so who cheered for the Darkness? I figured that I would. Why shouldn't I? People shun and avoid the Darkness, and they avoid me just as well, so why not? Darkness was lonely, I was lonely. It couldn't have hurt to be lonely with a conceptual thing that was technically just an absence of Light. Or so I thought.

I was in my room, sitting in the dark. The TV was on, but I had it on mute. I sat there, on my bed and I made that decision to not follow darkness with an ulterior motive, but to walk with the dark, side by side, as my very first friend. I was a bit frightened at this, but I let that fear fade and when I half expected something to happen, it did. The shadows that covered the wall facing me buckled and flowed out to me in a black wisp. But as soon as it did, it shot back into the wall and the shadows settled. I sat there, on my bed, scared shitless thinking that I had just become an umbrakinetic and I stayed up half the night trying to move the shadows on my wall. But nothing happened and I figured I was just seeing things again, so I went to bed.

The next day, after school, it happened. I was walking home, there were no clouds in the sky, only sun and I was hot because I always wore black. At that moment, I was thinking about what happens when people die and why they crap their pants. I could only imagine the embarrassment the dying individual would feel as that warm, gooey feeling oozed from betwixt their cheeks. I'd hate to be the person who had to clean that up. Especially if they were constipated or had diarrhea. Not to mention-

* * *

"Please tell me this is going somewhere." Roxas said.

"Huh? Oh, yes, sure. Anyway-" Xinck started again.

* * *

What amazes me to this very day is how quickly it went and how fast it was over. I often wonder if anybody saw or if anybody cared to help me. I guess not, even though it happened in broad daylight. The sun was high above me, I was hot and sweating. My backpack strap was absorbing the sweat that came from my hand.

I heard scratching behind me and I figured it was just the grass moving with the wind. But before I noticed that the wind was not blowing, the scratching sound hastened , then a pause and rush of air behind me. And then I felt the greatest pain I had ever felt in my life. No words could describe it and no feeling could accurately pinpoint it. It was terrible enough to steal my voice and I could not scream, only let my breath stagger from my mouth. I looked to the sky, to the sun that stung my eyes and my vision became smoky, like I was trapped in a burning window and nothing but black smoke was all around me, closing in, stopping my breath. I looked down, slowly losing consciousness and I saw something that I still can only think of as an illusion. A black, clawed hand was sticking out from my chest, twitching and clutching a brilliantly shining sphere of light. It shone brighter than the sun only because my eyes were growing darker and darker and the sun had gone from view and this thing was close to me.

I felt my knees hit hard on the pavement, but the pain was nothing to me. I leaned forward, head down, I could almost touch the shining orb with my head. It was so warm I thought it might have left a burn mark on my forehead. My body shook, I cried to myself and the hand over the sphere pulled out, back inside me and out the way it came through in the back. I lost the will to hold up my own body and I began to fall forward, tears fell from my face. I though this was the end of me, I was going to die. I had talked about death and dying a lot, but it was nothing like I thought it would be. Just my luck, Death hurts more than Life. Shockingly, that wasn't the only thing going through my head as everything went dark, I also thought :_Don't crap your pants, don't crap your pants. Be a dignified corpse!_

My body hit the pavement on my stomach. My face hit on the right side and before I lost consciousness completely, I looked at what had killed me. A black creature, almost in the shape of a little monkey, but it was completely featureless with antennae like an ant and demonic yellow eyes. It had that sphere in it's hand and it twitched as it melted like ice into the ground and into nothing. I could believe it. I was dead because of something that small. It couldn't be. I thought I was stronger than that. I hoped I was stronger than that. Then, darkness covered everything. But not just my vision, but my entire body. I felt it take my body because I felt cool, an odd cool that reminded me of the night before. Then, nothing, just nothing. I was Dead and no more.

* * *

As Xinck talked on about his life before, he told Roxas he would show him where it had all happened, where he woke up, and where Larxene had found him two days later. Now, they were walking through the forest that Xinck had staggered through upon his rebirth. It was an ordinary forest, nothing special at all. It was a dark wood as the canopy of treetops blocked the light of the sun.

"That was my life." Xinck said. "And it ended just like that. I thought I was dead and all I saw was darkness, so I assumed I was going to hell."

"Why would you go to hell?" Roxas asked.

"Weather or not I believed in heaven or hell, I never really saw myself in a paradise after my death. I always thought—no, I hoped that when we die, we are reborn into a different reality and we can start over." His voice faltered, but he continued, "Every night, for as long as I could remember, I've always wanted something better for myself and I would dream for it, yearn for it. And then...I'd wake up and I'm right back where I left off. I wanted a life worth living, a life worth having. I wanted to go to sleep after loving whatever it is I did and wake up having no way of predicting what will happen. I was trapped in a rut that I'd never get out of and my only relief was sleeping and dreaming of what I wanted."

"Xinck..I.." He didn't know what to say. He walked beside Xinck in silence. "At least..you have memories."

"It's nothing worth remembering!" Xinck snapped at Roxas, stopping and turning on his heel. "Do you know what it's like? Being trapped in your own life, suffocating everyday, holding in every emotion you've ever had because you're afraid of what'll happen if you just let go? Do you!"

"I..I didn't..." His mouth was agape at Xinck's outburst. He didn't take his eyes off Roxas, his angry look nearly burning into Roxas's head. Then he turned to walk and Roxas followed behind, slowly and cautiously.

"After my heart was ripped out and I fell into darkness..."Xinck continued.

* * *

I must have been in a daze, or I was fully awake and hallucinating. I only remember bits and pieces of what happened and I can only compare it to the fall of an angel. I remember being warm for a few moments and the sound of fast air going past my ears. My eyes would open and close, and close and open. I couldn't tell what I was seeing or if I was seeing anything really. I'd see white one minute, then black the next or I'd see a warm Light or a cool Darkness. My stomach was hurting, as if it was desperately trying to keep from imploding in on itself. I might have been hungry, but the pain in my chest seemed to grab most of my nerves and I only noticed my stomach in passing.

Eventually, I no longer saw the white or the warm light, only the black and the cool darkness. I felt whatever fear I had in me shed from my body. Not only my fear, but my hate, my anger, my desperation, sadness. Everything, every emotion I had. Just gone. I thought it was because I didn't want to die right now. At least not like this. I had no idea that this was what happened when you died, but I didn't care about anything at that moment, not the future not my past, just the now. I wanted to Live! I wanted to survive! No ego in my thoughts or feelings because whatever survival instinct I had took over. It wanted me to live and those things, that baggage called emotion wasn't necessary. I wanted to Live and I could feel it!

I fell through the darkness once more. My eyes were still closed but I knew the familiar coolness that surrounded me. But this time I was falling fast, fast enough for the friction around me to warm me. I thought I was dreaming as the black space all around me rippled and ripped itself apart.

I hit something hard. The ground,more than likely. I tried to open my eyes, but as I did, darkness overtook me once more just as I got a glimpse of blue, clear blue and smoke of the same color underneath a clear floor. I was wrapped in a cocoon of darkness, like a child in a blanket and I was gone from that blue abyss.

"After that." Xinck said, "I opened my eyes, fully awake and I was lying in that field." He stopped and plopped on the dirt and moss covered ground. He leaned back up against a fallen tree and spread his legs. "I was also naked."

Roxas's face twitched as he sat down next to Xinck. "N-naked?' His lips curled into a crooked smile.

"Yeah, as naked as that day I stopped wearing clothes for an hour. Remember that?"

"Ha ha!" Despite the seriousness that Xinck was trying to convey, Roxas couldn't help but laugh and roll over while clutching his sides.

"Uh-huh, yeah. Laugh it up." Xinck said, rolling his eyes, "Anyway..."

* * *

Winds slid across my bare back and raised the small hairs all over me. My bones ached and I heard them grinding as my limbs twitched against the soft grass. I heard a voice, my voice, groaning and I opened my eyes and a gasped for breath like I was drowning. I was alive. I couldn't believe it, here I was, still breathing. I didn't move my body, but my eyes darted around my eye sockets like crazy. Tall grass and beautiful flowers like I've never seen surrounded me. Pink ones, yellow ones, purples and reds, all swaying to the push and pull of the wind.

They were just flowers, but the colors looked so vivid and bright, just looking at them move in the wind made my stomach heave, like I was on a roller coaster of colors. I turned away, turning my head the other way and I moved my arm underneath myself to get up. I struggled slightly and hit the ground again. My head, stomach and chest were killing me. I drill was pushing into my brain, my stomach was twisting itself into a rat tail and all my ribs were broken and falling point-first towards my back. At least that's what it felt like.

I was almost too scared to get up. Thinking that black thing might come back to get the rest of me. It stabbed me in the back, I passed out and woke up in this field. I didn't want to know what could happen if it came back. But I guess, thinking like that, it probably wouldn't be a good idea to just lay here.

But I didn't know where here was. I was alive, that I knew, but I didn't know where I was. I had to get up, I had to do something. Call someone! I had my cellphone in my pocket. At this moment I was glad I had a cellphone, even though all it did was take up space in my pocket since I had no friends to call. I'd call my mother, even though I knew she didn't like to be bothered at work unless it was an emergency. Well, I think being stabbed in the back and landing in a fucking field is a pretty good emergency. I reached down with my hand to my right pocket, only to touch my bare thigh.

"Holy Shit! I'm naked!" Where the first words I said. The shock of this jolted my body up. I thought I'd fell the pain of my injuries, back, chest, stomach and head, but I only felt my headache throb. My chest pain was something different, not pain or pleasure or nothing, but it was something else that I could only describe as not having enough air or losing the rhythm of taking a breath. It felt empty in there almost, like there wasn't enough to fill my chest. I associated it with my stomach pain and thought I was just hungry, but I had more pressing matters at the moment: My penis was exposed to the elements.

Naturally, I covered myself with my hands and did a full 360 to make sure no one was around to see my ass. No one was around. I was all alone. And naked. So very, very naked. Covering myself with my hands did nothing for my ass, chest or my untoned-muscular frame.

* * *

"'Untoned-muscular frame'?" Roxas asked, eyebrows raised.

Xinck rolled his eyes and sighed, repeating his phrase for the 100th time, "I'm not fat, I'm big boned."

"Riiight." He replied sarcastically.

"Roxas, when you're telling your origin story you can fudge the facts all you want. If you want, you can say that you're big ass doesn't stick out so noticeably."

"Why do you keep saying that?" Roxas snapped.

"It's not just me. Axel says so, too."

"What the—I can't believe-!"

"Anyway-" Xinck continued. "You wouldn't believe it, but I found a cloth."

* * *

It was black, long and perfectly square. I found it laying a few feet behind me. There was no tag on it so I guessed it was hand-woven. But what was strange about it was how cool it was to the touch and how it shined on it's own, like a blanket of shadows. It was large enough for me to tie it around my waist and it covered past my feet, but it wasn't large enough for me to cover my entire body. I tied it around my waist and now I was only half nudie.

"Now what?" I asked myself. I didn't respond either. I thought that was interesting, the first time I actually wanted to talk to myself, I was at a lost for words.

"You're thirsty." I said. There we go, I thought. I might be getting a little too comfortable in my situation, but I could use a drink. There was a stream or a brook several feet away and the sound of running water calmed me down a little further. Odd, to this very day, the sound of running and rushing water always calmed me. I moved through the meadow, the vibrant flowers and soft green grass parted as I went. I got to the water, the level of grass and flowers lowered. I knelt down, hitting my covered knees against the grass and I looked into the blue water.

"Oh God!" I can't believe it! This isn't my hair, my eyes or, oh my god, my teeth! I fell over, hitting my back against the grass out of shock. It took me a few seconds to get back up and slowly ease myself up to see "my" reflection. There I was, in the wavy, blue waters of the stream. I touched my face, it was mine definitely. I saw my skin, it was about the same tone as it always had been, a pale copper color. I tended to avoid sunlight. My hair was longer, still short, but very different. It was twisted, almost in very small dreadlocks, spiky dreadlocks. I even had a bang or two. Weird. Then there was my new mouth. My teeth were sharp, pointed, not like they were once regular and then filed down, but as if they grew into wide points. I was a shark. And I was afraid I'd bite off my tongue. Out of all that, my hair, my teeth and the fact that I was naked, the one thing that almost scared me were my eyes.

They used to be dark brown. But now, there were black and white. Black in the very center, then an outburst of white, a ring of black and then the rest of my eye. It was like a solar eclipse in my head. Dark circles rested underneath, as dark as eyeliner. I looked like a demon. I looked evil. What happened? Why did I look like this? Was it because of that thing that stabbed me? Why was I here?

I grabbed at my face furiously. I wanted to cry. I wasn't me any more. This wasn't me, it couldn't be. I wanted to cry, but nothing came out and there was no sad feeling in the pit of my stomach. There was nothing there. For once in my life I truly wanted to feel sorry for myself, since no one ever really took the time to do it for me. But there was nothing. I was gone and this new person sat here in my wake. He almost looked like me, the inside of his mouth tasted like mine and he was just about as big as-

* * *

"Fat." Roxas said.

"Silence!" Xinck snapped.

* * *

He almost looked like me, the inside of his mouth tasted like mine and he was just about as big as I was. I saw through this persons eyes, so I was this person. This is me. I was kinda cute, scary and evil looking, but cute. I had to laugh and I did, chuckling to myself underneath my hands still over my face. I laughed, and I moved my hands away from my face to get a good look at myself. As I did, I heard a rustle among the trees to the right of me. My head shot in that direction and I felt my expression sink. It looked like a ghost, dancing among the trees, a solid, white spirit, four limbs and a head, jumping and spinning through the air like a plastic bag caught in an updraft. It had to be just like that black thing that attacked me. It had to be. It wasn't like any animal I'd ever seen. I had to get away from it. I got up from the water, slowly so that I didn't catch it's attention. I was up and I ran for the forest of trees to my left.

I was surprised at how fast I was running. I'm big, but that doesn't mean I'm slow, but now it felt like I was running faster. I could feel the cool wind flying past me, the dark, spaced out trees around me passed in blurs. It was noon, the sun was high in the sky, yet the forest blocked out the light. Every tree was spaced far apart from each other, like columns in a hall holding up a ceiling of dark green leaves. Up ahead, not far from me, the end of the forest, the light of the exit was near. I lost myself in the dark blurs around me, I didn't see where my legs were going. My foot caught in an upturned root, I yelled, the pain shot through me and I thought my knee would have bent the wrong way and broken itself. I tripped instead and landed on my face,biting down on my tongue and hitting my eye against a rough patch of earth.

I yelled, I cried. No one heard me I'm sure. No one was around, so I wailed. My knee felt broken and I bled from my tongue. I knew this would happen. My shark teeth bit my tongue and it's blood rushed down my throat. I yelled again, wailed, screamed. I wanted help. No one was there. I was on my own, but I needed help. I picked myself up, limped really, held my hand over my eye and let my mouth hang opened a little to let the blood drain out. I placed my foot on the ground and winced from the pain, but I placed it there anyway and limped slowly for the exit of the forest. Every step. A pain shot through my body and doubled, tripled, then disappeared. Another step and the same pain. Blood dripped my mouth, from my tongue, splattered on the ground and my chest and my blanket. I think I might have had a black eye. I could see out of it, but I'm sure it was swollen.

I came out of the forest and the sunlight hit me. But I paid no attention to the light, but to the people that were in the streets, going about their business. This couldn't be right. What I saw made no sense. I stood there at the corner of a dirt road that turned to my right and continued on, but right ahead of me, on the right side of the road, were shops or stores made from wood. Some shops had signs in characters that I immediately recognized as Japanese. How the hell could I be in Japan? Not only _where _was I, but _when_, too? Every person I saw, mothers, children, and men of all sizes were in robes, feudal robes of varying dark colors, some wore sandals and others went barefoot. Some men carried swords with them, on their hips, against their backs or in their hands. Even worse, some had guns with them, long barreled, silver guns. Some men and women wore jewelery, gold or silver, or headbands, bandannas or sunglasses. I was good at history in school and this was wrong, so very wrong. Some of the shops down the street even had music blaring from black speakers hung up in the corner of the store.

I don't know if it was the shock or the amazement of what I saw, heard and smelled, or if I was just a bit relieved at finding people who can help me. At the same time, I hated myself for asking help from people I didn't even know. Especially with me being half naked. I felt my stomach churn at watching all of these people. I could hear them speaking, I heard and understood what they said, paying no attention to any language barrier. A child, holding onto his mother's arm came near, turning the corner as they walked. I hadn't been noticed. He talked to her and from what I could make out he had heard screams, my screams, coming from the forest. The mother nodded and said something I couldn't make out clearly. They walked past, down the road and out of sight.

My screams had caught the attention of that boy. If my screams scared him, I could only imagine what seeing me would do. Blood rushing from my mouth, eyes and teeth like a demon. They'll be too scared to help me. I hate them. I hate them before they can hate me. I took my hand from my eye and placed it over my mouth. My blood flowed. I felt woozy. How deep did I bite myself? I'll pass out before I can get any help. I had to put this hate aside and even though I know they might be afraid, I had to do something. I needed help. I had to find a way out of here. First get help, then figure out where I am.

The first step out of the forest not only triggered the pain of my injured leg, but also the pain I felt in my chest. That half empty pain I felt, which I thought might have been hunger, seemed to pulsate a bit, rising and falling inside me. I took another step and the pain from my leg was dulled by this feeling in my chest, but I keep walking/limping farther into view and I think someone spots me. As they see me, I hear a faint ringing in my ear and this woman sees me. She's dressed in a faded purple feudal robe, sandals and her black hair is down to her shoulders. Her eyes are dark and almond-shaped. I see her frightened look as I walk/limp by. I don't say anything. She's too afraid to even move. She just stands there, I don't even see her chest moving anymore, her hand trembling near her face. She drops to the ground. She isn't breathing. The ringing in my ears is louder. The feeling in my chest is pulsating.

My hand is still over my eye. I don't want to cause a scene, so I do my best to keep quiet about the woman who, I assume, died of fright behind me, just laying in the dirt. I keep limping forward through the street. Into a crowd of people just standing around talking, none of them offer their assistance to me. Only their silence as their conversations stop as I walk by in pain. And to my horror, some of them drop dead as I walk past them, a few women, and some men. Babies who were being carried in pouches on their mothers backs leaned forward as dead weight. They had died in their naps. All of these people, dead in the dirt, all died by the time I was far away from them, all ready near another turn in the road. I was surprised that no one put two and two together that they died after some freak walked into town.

Maybe I was just lying to myself, hoping that no one noticed me. I didn't want their help anymore. They wouldn't offer it to me anyway. This pulsing in my chest, hunger I hoped it was, had to be dealt with. I looked to my left and there was a small, outdoor, wooden booth serving food. A smell hit my nose, the smell of noodles cooking. I sniffed and turned my head to the savory smell and my legs moved automatically. A man, a large, burly man stood behind the counter at a machine. To his back, facing the front of the store, was a stainless steel stove with noodles cooking on it's top. I was too distracted by the smell to care about how a feudalistic Japanese cook could be using an electric stove to cook noodles. I didn't care. I was hungry.

I walked up to his counter, it was empty, but that apparently that didn't stop him from cooking. My leg, much to my surprise was feeling a bit better, I thought I was just becoming numb to the pain. I picked myself up to the counter and sat on a stool. I cleared my throat and spoke quietly, "E-excuse me.."

"Mmm?" The man said, keeping his back to me as he chopped vegetables.

"Can I have some food, please?" I asked.

"Alright, coming right up." He said. I didn't know if he was speaking Japanese or English or what. I didn't care. The man turned around, he was wearing a darkened white robe with an apron. His robe must have gotten dirty from his profession as a cook. His head was bald, his eyes were narrow, but as he turned to see me, his eyes widened he stood up like a jolt went through his spine.

My chest pulsed. My ears rung. The man fell forward onto the sizzling grill, eyes open, body limp and the grill cooked his head. I yelled and fell back off the stool and onto the floor, pain shot through my leg. My screams brought attention, people looked at me, stared at me and began screaming in horror as the body on the grill burst into flames, consumed the store. I got up, slowly and did my best to ignore the pain and I limped away as fast as I could to the trees across the street. The shop caught fire, lost in orange flames and black smoke rose into the air. The smell of fire, burnt noodles, vegetables and burning flesh wafted through the air.

I sat up against the tree, breathing heavily, the ringing in my ear stopped and the pulsing in my chest subsided. I watched the wooden shop burn, I watched the people look upon it in shock and awe. I watched the people look around for answers and I watched them turn to me, pointing accusing fingers at me. Men emerged from the crowd, anger plastered on their faces, hands on their swords. It was seven of them, different sizes and shapes inching for me, whispering to each to spread out and get ready.

I shook my head at them. I tried to say no, but my words were to scared to come out. I pressed myself up against the tree, thinking I'd leave an impression in the bark. They came closer and closer, there was no ringing in my ear or pulsing in my chest. I felt fear, but my heartbeat stayed steady, like it wasn't afraid of anything or like it knew nothing would happen, that I'd be fine.

But I wouldn't be fine. Not if I stayed here. Damn the pain, I didn't care if it hurt. I turned and ran back into the forest and my leg pleaded for me to stop, but I didn't. I heard the men yelling, ready to give chase, but a boom, as loud as a crack of Lightning shook the forest. I thought it was something in the noodle store exploding from the fire. I didn't hear the men yelling or chasing me, but I didn't think to look back and see.

* * *

"_Rakushinu"_ Xinck said.

"What?"

"Larxene." He replied. No longer in the forest, Xinck and Roxas walked out onto that aforementioned road where that shop had caught on fire months ago. It was a deserted little spot, neither a town nor village, more of a rest stop for weary travelers. It was a ghost town.

"Larxene was watching me." Xinck said, "She was just jumping around the forest, watching me, waiting to show herself, but all the while enjoying the show. She killed those men that would've hurt me."

"Did she get you in the forest? You know, after all that?" Roxas asked.

"No. she waited until I proved that I had what it took to be in the Organization."

"And that's when you-?"

"No, that came later. Much later."

* * *

I don't know how long I ran or even what direction I was going in. I just ran for what seemed like hours. The sun was halfway down the horizon and it cast blood into the once blue sky. I slowed down, now limping on lush grass, I kept my eyes on the sun as it set. I was nearing a cliff overlooking a shimmering sea of red that reflected the sky. A lone tree, a cherry blossom, stood to the side. I slowed down, breathing like crazy, sweating and feeling sick. My tongue stopped hurting a while ago and the bleeding had subsided, but the stains on my blanket and chest still showed. My running returned to it's limping and I went to the cliff edge.

The sea looked calm. The tide crashed up against the sharp rocks below. I was right at the edge. I watched the sun hover over the horizon. The sun stalled it's own setting, waiting to see what I'd do. I wondered how jumping off the cliff would do for me. I was alive, but this couldn't be my life, my old life was considerably better than this one. Maybe I was just ungrateful for what I had and that thing really did kill me and this was my Hell.

I lifted up my leg and let it hover over the empty air.

Hell or no Hell, I couldn't do this. I couldn't help myself, no one would help me. What other choice might I have? Just lean forward, fall and it would all be over. If I was dead, maybe I'd just wash away into the sea. If I was alive, then I'd die and everything would be over. I started leaning forward, letting the wind push me the rest of the way. I closed my eyes.

"Hey! There he is!"

My eyes shot open, I fell back onto the cliff and onto my ass. I scrambled onto my feet to face a mob. More men, dozens of them, holding kusarigama, swinging chains, brandishing swords, kunai, daggers and other weapons I've never seen before. Some had guns, shotguns, ninja stars and brass knuckles and all of them had anger and fear in their eyes.

"Kill him!" one shouted.

"Bash his head in!" shouted another. War cries were shouted and they charged for me. Their feet thundered against the ground and I had no where to go. I shouted for them to leave me, but they didn't even waver. Weapons raised in the air, ready for blood, guns being carefully aimed for my body so as not to miss.

I held up my hands to shield my head and body. I closed my eyes. Their footfalls didn't stop, their yells didn't yield. My eyes closed, I screamed for it all to stop. They got closer, I felt they rumbling of the earth under me. I screamed. They were right on me. I screamed.

My hands went heavy. Blood reached for the sky. My body moved. Gunshots echoed around me. The sound of chains whizzing through the air stopped and was replaced with the sound of cleaving flesh. My eyes were closed. All I saw was black. Screams. My screams, their screams. Wails of "Please, don't!" sounded around me. Silence. My arms were still heavy and my eyes were closed.

I shook. My entire body shook in place. My hands felt so heavy. I heard dying gurgles. I opened my eyes, I was facing the sky, the blood red sky. I lowered and I saw the blood red earth, red with blood and ripe with death. All of them, every last one of them, dismembered, bifurcated and eviscerated on the once green grass. Their blood would be soaked up by every blood. Heads with permanent looks of fear and regret lay on the ground, far from their respective bodies. Limbs, arms, legs laid sprawled out in heaps of fresh blood, like an old painting of carnage in Hell. I stepped back, shaking and jumped as my foot touched touched a man's severed leg. My hands were so heavy and I finally looked at them. I screamed again, ashamed of myself for my own cowardice and I unclenched my hands from around the two black swords in my grip. They clattered to the red ground and the fresh blood that stained them slid off into the grass. Black smoke, blacker than smoke from a fire, consumed them, wrapped around them and they were gone just like that.

I screamed, losing my will to stand and hit the ground with my knees. I was a murderer. 15 years old and I had already killed more then 30 people. I screamed and screamed again. I didn't know what to do, where I was or what I was. I was a freak. A murderous freak. I wanted to die.

"Wow. Well, look at this." Another voice. I yelled and got up to move away. I was shaking again and I started inching away from the source of the voice. A woman, blond, a young face wearing a long black coat with silver strings dangling at her sides. Her eyes were emeralds in her head. She looked around at what I had down with a look of admiration on her voice. Then she turned to me. "Hey. How's it goin'?"

"Get back!" I shouted. I found my voice. "Get back! You'll die!"

She scoffed, "Yeah, not likely." She walked over to me, stepping over body part after body part. I stopped moving away from her, or maybe she was just fast and got to me before I could move. She was right in front of me. She wasn't tall, but she wasn't short, coming up to my nose at her height.

She smiled a smile that said she knew something that I didn't. "You're looking for answers, aren't you?"

I tried to say something. I opened my mouth but nothing came out.

"I can give you a purpose. If you want."

A purpose. What purpose? Who is this woman and what does she want with me? I thought I was going to get in trouble for what I did, but she asked me if I was looking for answers. And that was important. I looked at the dead bodies around me. I felt nothing. Should I have? Killing was wrong, that was what I was told, but it didn't feel wrong or right, simply it just _was. _

"Wha..what purpose?" I managed to say.

She smirked, almost laughed too. "A purpose and a new life. A new person, a new you to take the place of the old. If you come with me, I'll tell you anything and everything that you want ti know." She said. She looked me in the eyes. "You have really nice eyes. Anyone ever tell you that?"

"N-no. What do you mean 'A new person'?"

"A New You. If you want a new life, you'll need a purpose and a name always gives purpose." She said.

"My...my name.."I thought it in my head and I saw it there in the darkness of my mind, "My name is Nic-"

"You'll need a new name if you're going to be a new person." She said. She looked at me and placed a gloved hand on my shoulder. She never took her eyes off mine. "We, you, me and everyone like us, place an 'X' in out names and anagram it, making something new from the old."

"And my name would be?"

"I think a different name for you would be best." Her hand on my shoulder, her eyes on mine. She said, "Analsex."

"Wha-excuse me?" I said dumbly.

"Analsex will be your new title, the new you." She said. Her eyes moved from mine, down to the cloth around me, the blood stains on my chest and body. The sweat made my body sticky and I was sure I didn't smell pleasant. "You smell like crap." She said. "If you come with me, I can get you something to eat and I can get you a shower. You need it. Seriously."

"I..I.." I stuttered. The promise of a meal and a bath. Did she think I was a dog? I was still trying to wrap my head around the 'Analsex'. New me or not, that couldn't be my name. Before I could protest or say anything, she turned from me, grabbing my wrist with one hand and raising her other hand out in front of her. I saw her hand twitch and 3 feet from us, I saw black smoke shoot out of nowhere, twist in the air and touch the ground, forming a pool of blackness. The pool shot up and formed an oval shaped doorway of black. "Come on." she said.

"Hey! Hey! Wait! What is that!" I shouted, trying to stop her from pulling me to it, but her grip was stronger, stronger that it should've been for a girl her size.

"Hey, hey!" she said to me, giving me back my wrist, "Calm down, damn. Could you be any louder? You're at a 10 right now, I'm gonna need you to be at 1 6, okay? Okay?"

"I'm not going in there!" I shouted back.

She sighed, shaking her head and rolling her eyes, "Look, Sex, either you can come with me, get some food, a shower and some clothes or you can stay here, wallow in self-pity, naked, hungry and smelling like shit. Your choice."

I guess I really couldn't argue. What was the worst that could've happened after everything that already happened? I'll just be left here, running through the forest, killing anyone that comes near me. I could imagine that I had a dumb look on my face as I looked at the woman. She put her hands on her hips and fixed her face to read Impatience, but willing to wait. Her face told me that she already knew I'd go along with her.

"I..ok.." I mumbled. I took my eyes away from her.

"What was that you said? Couldn't quite hear." She put her hand to her ear.

"Ok. I'll...I'll go with..."

"Great!" She said. She walked next to me, placed an arm around my shoulder and led me to that dark, radiating door.

I looked all around me. The setting yellow sun over the red water, the bloody sky and the bloody earth underneath me. The fresh corpse smell finding it's way to my nose. This woman didn't seem bothered by it at all, like she'd smelled dead bodies hundreds of times before. Who was she and where were we going? She said she'd get me food, clothes and answers to my questions later, but _now_ I needed something else to go on. A name.

"Who...who are you?" I managed to say, that dark door getting ever closer to us.

"Mmm? Oh me?" I don't know why she sounded so shocked to be asked that question. She said and speed us up to the darkness. "Oh. Just like you, more or less. Nobody, really. But, you can call me Larxene."

Larxene was this woman's name. It sounded pretty, quick and to the point, like a clap of thunder. I liked it. But why did she get a name like that and I got stuck with Analsex? She said that we, or whatever it is that we were, place an 'X' in our names as a mark of Brotherhood. The idea of Brotherhood didn't appeal to me, maybe because I was always alone, but the idea of having an X in my name sounded...cool.

My name with an X...

I thought hard and quick trying to place the X in a good position, but nothing really seemed to work when I anagramed it in my head. We entered that Dark door and I thought, I'd jump when it touched my body and I'd stop and that Larxene would just gently nudge me in. but I didn't stop walking when the shadows touched my skin. It felt cool, soothing to the touch, like sleeping in the winter with a great blanket wrapped around you. Cold and Warm at the same time. I liked it, I didn't stop moving into it and then everything went Dark and the portal closed behind us. There we were, submerged in this Dark and still walking. Instantly, any doubt or anxiety I had washed away when the light was gone.

I thought about my new name. I only had Four letters in it originally and adding the X made it five. I thought it weird that I only moved one letter to make a relativity 'nice' sounding name, but I kinda liked it. It was me, my new name.

I'll call myself Xinck and I'll think of it's meaning later.

* * *

RE: Deviant's Cradle.

* * *

For most people, when they experience something new, it is usually meet with fear and hesitation. The new is seldom brightly lit and well known, it prefers to be shrouded in mystery and that mystery frightens the people who are too weak to face it head on. That leads to ignorance, that leads to fear and eventually hatred. But what about for people who have no emotions or feelings? How do these people, who have no choice but to pull their new personalities from their old memories, cope with the fear-inducing new? Maybe they don't. Cast aside by both dark and light and thrown into nothing, maybe they willingly throw off the fear first and take the new just as they take their New Body. And with the fear gone first, the other emotions soon follow. No fear, no emotions, old memories, new body. A Nobody.

* * *

_**Larxene **_

The Portal that Larxene opened let out into a blindingly white room. As they walked out of the darkness, the newly named Xinck winced as the whiteness hit his eyes. Larxene led him out and the darkness behind them disappeared into nothing.

"Alright." She said, sighing, "Here we are." She let had had her arm around his shoulders to help him walk through the corridor, and as she took back her arm, Xinck began to feel a tinge of cold nip at his neck. Xinck's eyes adjusted to the white space and he saw that he and the woman Larxene were standing in an oddly decorated bathroom. The floor was white and metallic with pipes visible through random shapes in the metal, as if the contractor skipped over several very important steps. The walls shared the same design, but other than that, everything else was white, the toilet, the shower the sink and mirror.

"Uh..wha.." Xinck stammered, eyes darting left and right. "What is-"

"You smell." Larxene said, "You smell really bad." She had a look on her face that Xinck couldn't read. Was she happy? Tired, Indifferent or what, he didn't know. He didn't want to know. Ever since she took him away, just being around her felt odd, like every inch of his body tried to inch away from her almost as if warning him about her. She said that they were the same and he worried that if he could kill all of those people they way he did, he didn't want to know what she could do.

Larxene went over to the shower/tub and sat on the edge and turned the "H" Nozzle and hot water rushed into the white tub and steam rose. She got back up, sighed and looked at the wide-eyed, confused Xinck. "Alright, you go ahead and take a bath or shower, wash yourself and I'll get you some clothes and some food when you're done, 'kay?" Xinck didn't respond. He just stared at her, the tub, and his reflection in the mirror. "Uh..hello? You hear me?" Again, no response. She growled and sighed at the same time and spat out, "Look, Sex, I'm not gonna stay here and wash your ass for you, now get in the goddamn tub!"

The yelling shocked Xinck and he jerked his head towards the woman. Automatically, he began to slowly undo the darkness blanket around his waist.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" She said, putting up her hands, "Wait for me to leave! Damn!" She covered her eyes with one hand and felt her way to the door with the other. She pulled it open, "I'll be back in 30 minutes with some new clothes, so you better be done." She left, slamming the door behind her.

She waited, her back against the door. She closed her eyes and sighed heavily, slipping down against the door and sitting on the ground with her back arched and her head in her lap. Finally, she could relax a little, take a breather. 4 days of looking around the worlds for new members and she finally found one. Sure, he looked scared shitless and he smelled something fierce, but Larxene saw what he did. He was strong, he had power and if he acted right, did everything he was told, he'd be a perfect candidate to join up with the coup d'etat. Another sigh and she hauled herself to her feet. She stretched and sighed once more and walked down the stark-white hallway. She bent backwards, and heard a resounding pop from her spine.

"Wow, how tired am I?" She asked herself. She found herself sighing as she rounded the corner, eyes closed.

"Hey, Larxene!"

"Wah!" She screeched bashing her head against solid bone underneath skin. She fell back onto her bum from the impact and stared up to see the cocky smile of Xigbar, who was standing upside down in space. He was smiling, despite rubbing his forehead from the impact.

"Damn, girly, your head is getting harder every day." He jeered.

"Tsk." She scoffed, jumping to her feet and glaring at the man. "Xigbar, you dick, what did X-Face say about eavesdropping on people?"

Xigbar returned the scoff, "Yeah, like I'm gonna listen to number seven. Blue Man group doesn't scare me." With a flip of his body, he turned in the air and dropped onto the floor, feet first and crossed his arms. His pose, chest puffed out, arms at his sides and fists clenched only gave further proof at his overconfidence. "So, what's going on? No one's seen you around for awhile, thought you were dead."

Larxene presented herself with outstretched arms, "Well, as you can see, I'm very much alive. Now, if you excuse me, I've got stuff to do, so get the hell outta my way."

"Stuff to do, like, look for new members?"

"Oh, get off it, Xigbar!" She yelled, staring him down, "I've been busting my ass for days on this stupid assignment and I don't it's such a bad thing if I decided to take a break! You dick!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, calm down, alright, alright. I was just kidding." Larxene was taken aback at how fast Xigbar backed down. Sometimes he could be the most stubborn ass in the entire Castle, apart from Number VIII. Xigbar laughed it off and smiled once more, "It's cool, hell, I've only been to Wales in the past day or two, then I walked around Traverse Town a bit. No luck whatsoever."

Larxene crossed her arms and looked the man up and down. "Why are you telling me this?" To which he shrugged and replied, "Just thought I'd share." That smile he had plastered on his face was irritating. That same half-smile he had when He found her. That seemed so long ago, and she barely remembered what happened, where she was or why she even went with the man who smiled so evilly at her.

"Hey, Xigbar, question. What did I look like when you found me/" She asked. She didn't want to look vulnerable, so she cut her eyes and gave him half-smile.

He scoffed, " 'Bout the same as you look now, angry and bitter at the world!" He laughed, than knelt over when Larxene's knee collided with his groin. She walked away, growling to herself, then opened a new portal to the room where they stored the extra black coats.

* * *

_**Xinck **_

Sometime later, Larxene stood outside the bathroom, holding a shiny new black coat in her arms. She knocked on the door for awhile then pounded on the door when Xinck didn't answer. He didn't like her calling him 'Sex', and he didn't open the door. He did eventually, after she nearly knocked the door off it's hinges. She came in, fuming, but stopped in shock when she shielded her eyes from his nudity. She presented him with the coat and told him to come out when he had it on and she left once more.

To his surprise, as soon as he slipped the coat on, black, loose fitting pants enveloped his legs. Black socks and black ankle-high boots with a pointed toe covered his feet and black gloves covered his hands. He saw himself in the mirror, speechless, staring at his new face, new body and new clothes. He opened his mouth, he still had those sharp teeth. He got close to the mirror and looked into his eyes, they were still solar eclipses. He picked through his hair, it was still in those short, thin dreads. He took a step back and got a good look at his clothes, they fit perfectly to his body and the sleeves nearly covered his hands, like the sleeves of a straightjacket. He figured that was appropriate, since he always thought himself insane.

"Hey!" Larxene was pounding on the door again. "Get the molasses out of your ass and move! We don't have all day!"

_She's so loud. _He thought to himself. He finished fiddling with the useless silver straps hanging off the side of his collar and grabbed the door handle. Outside the bathroom, he was greeted with more whiteness in a large hallway. His eyes twitched, once again adjusting to the brightness. All he saw was white space with Larxene in her identical black coat standing there, tapping her foot with arms folded.

"You look so much better with clothes on." She commented. She grabbed his arm with one hand and opened a portal with another. "Let's go, I gotta-"

"No!" He snatched back his arm and took a step back from the blond woman, "Listen, Larxene, or whatever your name is, I came with you and you said that you'd tell me what's going on! So what the hell's going on!" As soon as he finished his words, he immediately felt stupid because his voice went up a few octaves.

Larxene's face curved into a smile, "Still in puberty, eh?"

Xinck scoffed, _"Bakayaro_, I started puberty when I was 9 and I stopped at-"

"Wait, wait, what did you call me?"

"Mm? I called you stupid."

"No, you didn't, you said 'Baka-something. What you speak Japanese now?"

"No, I-" He stopped, rolled his eyes then moved them to the floor, "My voice just does that, you know? It's deep, then high. It's not puberty, I'm more than sure. It's always done that." He noticed it was lower now, almost metallic sounding.

"Yeah, whatever." Larxene didn't care in the slightest. She gestured toward the open corridor of darkness, "So you comin' or not?"

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me where I am! And you said you'd feed me!" He noticed that his demands went down in value when he added the 'feed me' part. He didn't have a lot of time to regret his word choice, as Larxene had gone out of sight for a less than a second. She came back, fast as lightning, grabbed Xinck by his arm and swung him around in the air in a continues swirl.

"Okay, Sex!" She screamed over his yelling, "Here's the crash course! You don't exist anymore! You're a Nobody! And You've been recruited by me to join Organization XIII as it's Fourteenth Member! Your main job is to exterminate Heartless and anything else the Organization wants you to do! And our entire goal is to complete Kingdom Hearts and become whole again! Damn, how much do you weigh!"

Xinck responded, "Aaaaaagggh! Let me go!"

Larxene aimed for the portal, let go and Xinck's body shot through into the darkness and out of sight. He yells faded, Larxene stopped spinning and laughed to herself. The portal was still open and she reached into her pocket, producing a small package of thinly sliced Honey ham and tossed it onto the portal after him.

The Portal closed and Larxene took a deep breath, exhaled and wiped at her gloves, "Whoo! That should hold him over for a little bit." She smiled a half-smile.

* * *

Xinck flew through the portal and into a dark wall, face first. He hit the metal and slid down onto the, moaning and cradling his head. "Aaah, bitch!" He rubbed his head and wobbled to his knees. He was in a room, a small bedroom with no lights and the same metallic white walls he had seen in the hallway and bathroom. He could make out a door frame, white as the rest of the room, he ran to it and banged on the door. He grabbed and banged on the door, he kicked and rushed it with his elbow, but it would not open. He gave it a final kick for good measure, nothing.

"What's she going to do, keep me prisoner?" He mumbled to himself. He sighed, rubbing his head once more, "What the hell was I thinking? Walking into a giant shadow with a strange woman. Well, of course she was gonna take me prisoner. Ha! Well the jokes on her, because no one in their right mind would pay a cent to get me back!" He yelled at the closed door, hoping she was out there, listening to him. He hit the floor, head in lap and sighed deeply. "What am I doing here?" He thought. "One minute I'm on a cliff soaked in blood, the next I'm taking a shower in a white castle." He groaned and shook his head in frustration, "Stating the obvious isn't going to help."

What was it she said? He tried to remember, he found it a little hard since she threw him into a wall. What was it she called him...a 'Nobody'? She said he didn't exist, what does that mean? Of course he existed, he knew he did. He might not have had much of a life, but he did exist. He knew that much. 'Organization Thirteen' was the last thing he heard before the blood rushed to his ears and blocked all sound.

"I guess I'll find out eventually." He picked his head up to get a better look at the room. There was nothing special about the room, in fact, it looked really plain. Just a white bed with an odd-shaped headboard, a white desk against the wall. A few, small piles of clothes cluttered the floor, they looked like black pools against the dark white metal.

There was a window, wide and square, he moved to it and peered out into this new world. A dark night surrounded the window, dark red and blue mists swirled slowly through the air. He was high up, he felt almost sick peering down at the white Castle around him.

"Wow. Someone is overcompensating for something." He marveled at the grand size, pressing and smashing his face up against the cold glass window and getting a glimpse at the dark clouds that swirled around the top. A pure white Castle, standing in the center of a dark night. He saw towers, large ones, small ones, some jutting out from others, all pointing to the sky and looming over a dark landscape. He squinted his eyes and even farther in the distance was a city, like a dark blue silhouette against the darker sky. Buildings and skyscrapers jutting up from the ground, stood like trees in a forest, strong and tall, unwavering. But not green and brown because green and brown buildings would just be odd.

"Yes, that _would _be odd." He said to himself. Retreating from the window, he went back to the wall he had smashed his head against earlier. Pulling up the hood that was attached on the back of his new coat, he sat down and grabbed the packet of deli meat. He sat there, in the dark, shoveling honey ham slices into his mouth.

Sitting there in the silent darkness, he felt his chest heave again and the ringing in his ear. It felt odd, like his chest muscles were vibrating and echoing outwards. He stopped eating, placing the package down. His hunger had stopped and now he was positive it wasn't the hunger pain in his stomach that was moving around, it was his heart. His heart was vibrating and pulsing like crazy, and his ear was ringing like the sound of a dog whistle.

* * *

Open the phone, scroll down to the 'M' section in Contacts, find the number and press the Call button. Larxene stood against another white wall in another white hallway of the white castle. She placed the phone to her ear and waited for the other line to pick up. The ringing proceeded for only a minute until another voice picked up.

"You've got Marluxia." said the voice.

"Marluxia." Larxene said.

"Oh, Larxene. How're you? Haven't heard from you in a few days, we all thought and hoped you were dead."

"Oh, Ha ha, very funny, bitch. Very funny. Where are you?"

The call was breaking up slightly, and static obscured his words. "N'awlins."

"What? Where are you?" She shouted into the phone."

"N'awlins! Turn up your hearing aid!"

"Where the hell is 'N'awlins!"

"New! Orleans!" Marluxia shouted back.

"Why the hell are you in New Orleans? You're supposed to be looking for new members."

"I AM looking for new members, it just so happens that I'm looking for them in New Orleans. I can't help it if it's also Mardi Gras." Larxene rolled her eyes. She couldn't believe this guy was Superior to her. She was about to chastise him, until in the background, she heard a male's voice yelling, "Show us your tits!" And Marluxia's voice, "I'm a guy, jackass!" Then the sound of ruffling clothes, cheering and shouts, then the sound of jiggling beads descending on a neck.

"I'll bring you back some beads, Larxene." Marluxia said.

"Yeah...So, any luck?"

"No, nothing. You?"

"..." Larxene said nothing.

"Larxene?"

"Yeah, yeah I found one."

"Really? That's great. Boy or Girl?" He asked.

"Boy."

"Dammit. Now I owe Demyx money. What's the name?"

"It's-"

"No, don't tell me! I adore Surprises." More shouts and cheers and music from the background. "Uh-oh, the parade is starting again."

"What the—parade?"

"I'll be home later. Bye." They both disconnected the call at the same time and Larxene slipped the little black and yellow device back into her pocket. She moved off the wall just as a cold chill ran down her spine. She shivered and twitched in place before she shook it off. "Damn. What the hell is he doing?" She let the shadows of a Dark Corridor consume her and she left the hallway.

* * *

"They would've killed you if you hadn't killed them first." Xinck said.

"I know." He replied.

"It was self-defense."

"I was protecting yourself."

"Of course we was, you were."

"But what about those other people. They just..."

"Died." Xinck said, "There was nothing you could do about it, that doesn't make it my fault."

"Right."

"Right."

"Aw, no more ham."

"Ham is friggin' awesome."

"Agreed." Xinck said. He shook his head rapidly then ran a hand down his face, and rolled his eyes, "God, I have got to find a hobby." The ham was gone and he threw the package away, off to the side somewhere. He still sat there, on the wall, hood up. His chest still vibrated and his ears were still buzzing. It didn't hurt, but it was just irritating, he couldn't make it stop. It was the same feeling he got when all those people started dropping dead around him. He could only imagine how many people were dead now, since it had been going for a few minutes now. This castle was huge, there had to be hundreds of others, maybe thousands. They were all dead now. They had to be. Just like all the others. Shouldn't I feel something for that, he thought. People died, because of me and I don't even shed a tear. Should I? Should I try to force it? Force a tear from my eye for every body that hit the ground?

He closed his eyes. He stopped breathing. Maybe he could stop it. He put all his attention, all his focus on that single vibrating spot in his chest. It pulsed and bulged out in all directions, he could feel it. In his mind's eye, a great vast black and silver and purple and white mass swirled into an infinite hole. Waves, vibrations pulsed from the center like waves on a pond. At the very center, was an orb, not a circle, black in color and smoking with white fire.

Knockknockknock!

The image disappeared, his eyes shot open and his head jerked upright. His concentration broke and he cursed. Someone was at the door. He scoffed, standing up, thinking "Good luck getting it open."

But it did open and the whiteness of the outside poured into the dark room. "Hey, Sex, I know you're in here." Larxene stood at the door, leaning on the doorknob and blocking the exit.

Xinck got up to shout, "Are you keeping me here for a ransom? Good luck with that!" He started running for the door, but Larxene didn't move an inch.

"I'm not keeping you here as a prisoner." She said. He stopped in his tracks a few inches away from Her. He saw the look on her face, a bored, indifferent look with her hands in her pockets. "Are you okay? Sorry about throwing you."

_Now she's being nice? She even said 'sorry'. _"Then why are you keeping me in here?" He asked.

"I had to put you somewhere until I could find the right moment to introduce you to the others."

"Others? What others?"

"What, you thought we were the only ones here? I told you, this is an Organization."

"What kind of Organization?"

"XIII. Organization XIII, I've recruited you. Weren't you paying attention?"

"It's a tad hard to hear when the blood rushes to your head when you're being spun around in the air."

"Uh-huh...yeah, sorry about that." She craned her neck, looking past Xinck and into her room. In the back, she could just make out an empty package of ham. "I see you finished the ham."

"I want to leave."

"Sorry, you can't go back home, at least not now. I mean, later, you can try but-"

"I mean, I want to get out of this room."

"Look, Sex-"

"And I don't want to be called Analsex!"

"Listen! OK, look, I just need you to stay in here a little while longer, all right?"

"Why?"

"Because, look, I promise, you can come out later, but for now, I just need you to stay in here. I can't just let you roam around the castle until you've been properly introduced. So just stay here for now." She closed the door before Xinck could protest.

He growled and kicked the door, yelling "Fuck!"

* * *

_An Hour Later_

"Whoo!" Larxene exclaimed, stretching arms and back as she walked into one of the only rooms in the Castle with a television, "I am beat!" She wasn't tired, she was actually well-rested, having spent the last hour sleeping in a room called The Grey Area.

Walking into this room, she spotted two other members in her group. They were sitting on a couch, talking and letting the TV run and paying little attention to it. The oldest one, who had to be in his early twenties, had crimson red hair that he wore in spikes that swept back and upward. He had emerald eyes and the oddest little purple marks under each one. He had a smirk on his face that was no less than pure arrogance.

The other one, who was much younger and in his teens, had golden blond hair in an odd cowlick. His eyes were big and blue and he had a youthful, innocent face. Larxene saw them both, but only really noticed the bowl of chips in the lap of the younger one. She glided over to them both, took a seat and grabbed a handful of chips.

"Hey! Those are mine!" The younger boy protested.

"_Were _mine, remember to use proper context." She said, placing a chip on her tongue and giving him a wink.

The red head chuckled to, also making a grab for a handful of chips. "Hey!" The boy yelled again, trying to slap away his hand, but missing.

"Hey, man, share with you friends." The Red head said.

"Larxene's not my friend!" He said.

"Fine. Acquaintance, then."

"Nah, I don't like acquaintance." Larxene said. "I prefer Better. I'm your Better."

"And what does that make me?" He asked.

She scoffed and shrugged, "I don't know. Crap with a Key?" The red headed man chocked back a laugh and the young boy shot him a look.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. Larxene, that's not cool." He said.

"Whatever." She shrugged again, eating another chip.

"So." The Man with the red hair started again, "How'd it go for you?"

"Eh, fine, I guess." She shrugged.

"Did you...find anyone?" The younger one asked.

Once again, She shrugged, and said, "Eh." But She also added the rolling of her eyes before she said, "Yeah."

"So what? Damn, it's like pulling teeth with you." The Red head said, "They faded away didn't they, they always do."

"I never said that."

"Really?" Red looked at his younger friend and they both shrugged,

"So, what happened to him..or her?" The young one asked.

"Mmm?" Larxene looked at them both as if she had just walked in, "What happened to who?"

"THE NOBODY!" They both yelled in unison, leaning towards her in anticipation.

A blank stare for a minute, then her face lit up, "Oh, yeah! That! Yeah, I just stuck him somewhere. The North East Tower, I think. He was kinda bugging me."

"So it's a guy?"

"Uh-huh."

"What's his name?" The younger one asked.

"Um..it's...An-"

"What's this?" All heads turned to the doorway where the body of their Superior stood, arms at his side and a look of pure neutral boredom was plastered on his face. His eyes, like burning embers in his head, his hair was silver like the fog after dawn and his skin was was tanned. His voice was deep, it resonated from his throat with a monotone and every word he spoke was only a tribute to his authority. At first glance, he looked like a man no older than 35.

"Do my ears deceive me?" He said, "A new member to join our Organization has been found?"

The Red headed man and Larxene said nothing, only staring at their Superior. He was rarely ever out and about the castle and he hardly ever talked to anyone outside The Organization's meeting room. Not to mention the fact that his very presence was unsettling. The only one in the room who didn't notice this and actually answered was the boy. It was only because his presence was almost just as unsettling that he didn't notice how terrifying his Superior truly was.

"Yeah, "The Boy said, "Larxene found a new one."

"Ah, excellent." He said. He moved into the room, but stopped when he noticed that Larxene and the red-haired man had turned away their gaze from him. "What is wrong with these two? Is there something on my face?"

No one ever knew if he was trying to be funny or if he was asking a serious question. No one even knew if he had a sense of humor.

* * *

Review-


	36. Deviant's Cradle II

Took awhile, but here it is, "Deviant's Cradle II". This chapter has a fight from an earlier chapter, but it's from Xinck's point of view.

You know, last year I wrote the chapter "Something Frosty This Way Comes" It was a holiday-themed chapter and lately I've been having a few ideas for a sequel, but it's after Christmas, so it might have to wait until I'm waaayyyy done with this.

Ok, so after this chapter, there will be two other Deviant's Cradle chapters, then it's back to the main storyline of Axel's disappearance.

One last thing, I'm done with my writing schedule and now I can write anytime I want. Now my only problems are boredom and lazyness, so Yay...I guess...

I don't own anything. Except Xinck.

* * *

"Larxene." The Voice of the Superior sounded. He stood at the doorway, arms behind him, face eternally fixed into an expression of boredom, but with the eyes fixed into an expression of silent delight. "Congratulations on locating a potential new member, but unfortunately, No. VII has also located a potential new member."

"What?" Her voice sounded shocked and she shot a look at her Superior, but quickly withdrew it for fear of violent retaliation. "Wha—what do you mean?"

"It means your searching was all for nothing." A new voice, cold and unfeeling. The kind of voice that told all around it that it was holding back a tsunami's worth of rage. Behind the Superior, another man appeared in the exact same coat that the others in the room wore so well. His face, forever in a permanent scowl, was marked with a thin X shaped scar in the center of his face. His hair was long and baby blue, his eyes were an evil yellow and his eyes were pointed like a demon's. He was Number VII in the Organization.

"Saix." Larxene spat. She didn't much care for the man who handed out missions like an annoying aunt who handed out unwanted hugs and kisses. Even worse, she wore a ridiculous amount of lipstick for a woman her age, it's not like she's ever gonna find a man, especially if she insists on wearing _those _pants. Larxene scoffed at her Superior by 3 and said, "Has anyone ever told you that you'd look terrible in Lipstick?" She laughed to herself.

"Laugh now, thunder whore." Saix shot back, bringing a quiet gasp to the Young blonde boy and the red haired man.

All was quiet. Larxene stood there, taken aback by Saix's first insult to her ever.

The Superior spoke up instead. He cleared his throat, saying, "I do believe that after such a statement, some women, watching on the sidelines, have a tendency to say "Oh, Snap", but since no woman are here besides Larxene, I shall do the deed." He cleared his throat, looked at Saix and Larxene and said, "Oh, San-nap." He snapped his fingers for emphasis.

Before Larxene could reply, Saix started again. "As I was saying, I have, indeed, found a new member. His name is Bronx. He can easily destroy anything in his path. Just as strong, maybe stronger than Lexaeus. He cannot be stopped and I dare you to place your Nobody in his way."

"Just because you pumped some poor douchebag full of 'roids doesn't mean he's a good fighter." Larxene said.

"You haven't seen what he can do, Larxene. I witnessed him tearing down a mountain with his bare fists."

"Whatever, X-face, besides, the horror that my guy can cause is indescribable. Your balls will shrink so far into your abdomen at the carnage he can cause that you just might be able to become the 4th Chipmunk."

"This does peeks my interest." The Superior said.

"The..uh..Chipmunks?" The Red-haired man suggested.

"No. The two members that have been found." He replied, "Larxene boasts that her Nobody is Superior and Saix does the same. We only really need one member, so I suggest a quick fight to the Death."

"Interesting." Saix said. He didn't have to think about it for even a second, "Very well. I shall inform Bronx."

"No." The Superior said, "You and Larxene go and inform the other members in the Castle and we shall all meet in Idled Impasse." He turned to the two still sitting on the couch, "Axel." The Red-haired man perked up, "You find this 'Bronx' and Roxas," The Blond boy turned to him, "You find Larxene's find and we shall all meet in Idled Impasse."

In one, unified voice, Larxene, Saix, Axel and Roxas all turned to their Superior, No. I and Leader of Organization XIII, and said, "Yes, Superior."

"Dismissed." Xemnas said.

* * *

_**Xinck**_

I'm thinking I'll put "Stare into the Abyss and slip slowly into Madness." On my To-Do list. 'Cause I'm doing it now and so far I'm loving it. What's even cooler is every time I close my eyes all I see are faint, abstract colors dancing about in an eternally dark abyss. I wonder if everyone sees that when they close their eyes. I'll have to ask Larxene when ever she let's me out.

Once, when I was younger, I hid inside one of the closets in my house and I waited for someone to find me. No one came and I stayed in that dark space for an hour. I would've been angry or sad that no one bothered to look for me, but I later found out that no one was home. That was okay, I guess, since no one was there to look for me, but even worse, they went out for ice cream without me.

"Well Fine!" I shouted into the dark room, "Don't give m any ice cream! It'll go straight to my thighs anyway!"

Oh God, I'm insane. Shouting at nothing in the dark, what's wrong with me? Sometimes I think I just talk and say random, nonsensical things just to hear my own voice.

I wonder if my family even knows I'm gone. Do they even miss me? Hell, did anyone even notice that I hadn't come back from school? It's ironic, really. They _would _only notice that I'm gone when it's long term. Will they even call the police? Why should they? Why should they care now that I'm gone when they didn't when I was there? I can see them now, briefly shocked and only trying to look for me because it would be "The right thing to do" not because they love me or miss me. No. Those feelings would pass and they'd move on...

They don't care...

I don't care...

Maybe it's better this way.

I should have left a long time-

Knock Knock Knock.

Why the hell is Larxene interrupting my deep inner monologue? I got up, slowly, and took my time getting to the door. The knocking stopped for a second, then started up again. Why doesn't she just open the door, she did it last time.

She did say there were others in the this castle.

I got to the door. I waited a minute...another knock. It was a gentle knock, not forceful and impatient like Larxene, but actually nice.

"Who is it?" I asked through the door.

A different voice, a male voice, young too. "Open the door, please?"

Well, at least he said please. You can get very far with 'please'. I grabbed the handle and turned it. I decided not to notice that door was actually unlocked the entire time (Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!). The door opened and standing in front of me was the oddest blond swirl of hair that I have ever seen. He had blue eyes like sapphires in his head and they were as big as saucers. I could only imagine that I had the dumbest look on my face, looking at this guy who had to be 15 or 16, luckily I had my hood over my face so he couldn't see me. Instantly, my thoughts went to one of those classic Renaissance paintings of little blond cherubs with curls in their hair flying around butt-naked. Not that I was thinking about him flying around without pants...

What seemed like 10 minutes staring at his face and getting a good look at him was actually a split two seconds. I managed to say, "Wha..what happened to Larxene? Who are you?"

"She's a little busy right now. I'm Roxas." He didn't smile or give any expression of arrogance that you usually see with blondes. I bet he's an idiot, though.

Another 'X', just like Larxene. What kind of name was 'Roxas' anyway? Ha! Well, what kind of name is 'Xinck'? I guess it would have been rude not to introduce myself. I was gonna say 'Xinck' and not that other name Larxene gave me, but then I started thinking that maybe the name 'Xinck' was just too weird. It didn't sound natural like 'Roxas' or 'Larxene'. But it was MY name, and it was as good a name as any.

"I'm Xi-"

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He said. What was up with that? "You can tell everyone later, you know, if you want. After you..uh.. eliminate this one guy..." He looked down and up and around, I think he was trying to look into my hood.

"Uh..what do you mean 'Eliminate'?"

"Oh..you know...Kill."

"Kill? Why do I have to kill someone?" Surprise was my first reaction, but I couldn't shake the feeling that it was almost forced. I already killed a bunch of people and in just a few hours the shock of seeing dozens of dead bodies didn't faze me as much as it should. I was a serial killer, a mass murderer and I didn't care. I really was a monster.

"Try not to be shocked or anything." Roxas said. I think I saw him flinch while he tried looking into my hood, "Killing-er, uh-Eliminating is gonna be part of the job if you're joining."

"Do we at least get paid in this "job"?"

He replied with a shrug, "I guess, I'm not really sure."

I was going to respond, but before I could, Ruck Sack, I think that was his name, turned and raised a hand out in front of him. A portal, as dark and mysterious as the ones Larxene can make, opened and He turned back to me. "Come on." He said.

I couldn't tell if that was a suggestion or an order, but I went with him anyway, closing that door behind me.

Not long after, we came out of the black portal into another white room with metallic walls like the rest of the Castle. I made the assumption that whoever was in charge had an overall theme in mind. The only difference between this room and the room I was already in was the size and shape. It was a curved room with a tall ceiling, easily 20 feet high. To my left was a wall that was a large window that held a spectacular view of the night sky. To my right, I gasped slightly at the sight of others in the same black coats as me, Ruck Sack and Larxene. All of them were wearing their hoods and standing against the wall. Some had their hands to their sides, behind them or folded along their chests. I felt uncomfortable, like all their eyes were on me, judging me or accusing me of what I had done. It was maddening, unable to see their expressions. One of them in particular caught my attention, he stood at the center of all of them and even worse, I think he was looking in my direction. He had broad shoulders and although he was a few yards away, I could feel a crushing power radiating off him. It was like seeing a Mega Tsunami coming just for you and feeling it's presence even though it was miles away. It seemed he was doing all he could to hold back every molecule of power in his body. I had an instant dislike of him.

He was staring at me. I could tell.

"Just wait right here." Ruck Sack said. His voice brought me back from the man in the hood against the wall. He walked away, leaving me in the center of this room, while all those others watched me. They were laughing. Making jokes. I knew they were, I could tell. Ha! HA! HAHAHA! I see you! I see you too! Blah la la la la la! HA Ha! I bet I cracked an odd smile in my hood. Why wouldn't I? It _was _hilarious. At least I think it was.

Not long after I arrived, more portals appeared. Larxene came out of one and so did a man with shockingly long, blue hair and a scar on his face. They took their spots along the wall. Then, far across from me, an extra large portal opened and two men in black coats strolled out. The smaller one had blazing red hair and he looked annoyed, rolling his eyes as he exited the portal. The other one, a VERY large man with short brown hair and brown, merciless eyes to match. Through his black coat, I could see muscles that literally survived off of steroids and muscle shakes. He had the dumbest look stapled to his face.

"Stay here." The man with red hair said. And he, too, went to the wall and stood next to Ruck Sack.

Everyone quieted down and the room was silent, except for the loud mouth breathing of the large brown haired man across from me. The man with the tremendous power on his shoulders took the attention of everyone one in the room.

He spoke. His voice was terribly monotone. "Organization XIII only needs one new member. Yet we have two candidates, as such, a contest will determine who has the right to wear the coat. The winner will join us, the loser will fade away and cease to exist." He turned to the others along the wall and pointed to Larxene and the blue man, "You may have a few words with your respective candidates."

Larxene came up to me, a sincere look on her face. Needless to say, I was wary. She placed a hand on my shoulder and looked into the darkness of my hood. "Hey, how's it going?"

What kind of question is that? I have to fight to the death while a bunch of fucking weirdos stare at and judge me. Other than that, I guess I was fine. "Okay, I guess. Can't complain." I shrugged. I should be much more concerned that I was about to fight and possibly die, but I wasn't. I felt like dying wasn't the worst thing to happen to me at the moment. "He's going to kill me." I said, "How is it going to be a fight when I've never had to fight before in my life?"

"Don't worry." She said calmly, "It should all come naturally to you. Can you make your weapon come to you?"

"What?"

"Nevermind. We'll get to that later. I should've known it would be too early for you to call it at will. Anyway, you can use this instead." A sword, a large katana with a square hand guard and red handle was in her hand. It had to have been there and I just didn't notice. She handed it to me and it weighed nicely in my hand. I had ordered a Japanese katana online once, but I was thoroughly pissed when it turned out to be dulled down. I still could've practiced with it, but I was too embarrassed that people would see me, the neighbors already thought I was strange, they didn't need an excuse to call the police on me. But, and this was the part that confused me, Larxene said that fighting would come naturally to me. Lies! Lies, I say!

I took the sword anyway. Shocking how easily I went with the flow in this situation. "Why are you helping me?" I asked.

She cracked a small smile, "Because I know you can _that._" She motioned over to the large brown haired man and the blue haired man. The Blue haired man had torn off the top of his coat and started posing bare chested with the larger man. Grunting, straining their muscles and hollering. The raw testosterone in the air was frightening. "Just Kill him like you killed all those villagers, 'kay?"

"Oh...okay." Oh yeah, bring _that _up.

"Oh and one more thing." She reared up a hand and struck at my face. The sting and smacking sound made me flinch and pull away. She struck through the side of the hood, but I could still feel it.

"OW!" I yelled, "That hurt, you she-beast! What was that for?"

"Angry?" Sh asked cutely, folding her arms.

"Yeah, I'm mad!"

"Good. Now use that anger and direct it at him." She pointed to the large brown haired man, now standing alone since the blue haired man left. "Good luck." Larxene turned from me and left, back to the wall where she started talking to the man with blue hair.

"Is everyone ready?" The Man with the deep monotone voice asked. No one said anything. "Good. Begin."

I didn't think "Begin" actually meant "Begin", but it did. The brown haired man roared with the fury of a mad cow. I fist pumped with both arms, then took the Right one and threw it into the hard metal ground. The metal curved and troubled around his fist, he pulled upward and a great silver Ax with a handle as long as he was tall came out. The blade was wide, jagged and pointed the tip of the handle. The Man banged the butt of the ax on the ground and stood at attention, staring daggers at me.

"Oh, what the fuck!" No way he can make _that _come out of nowhere! I had no time to think about how making an ax appear out of nowhere was possible, but after everything I'd seen in the past day I might have to rethink my definition of possible. Desperately, I gripped the katana in my hand, raising it above my head in my right hand and straightening out my left, gesturing and baiting for him to come to me. (I saw it in a movie once. I thought it made me look cool).

The screaming giant came for me, swinging his ax wildly. I stood my ground, taking a chance and waiting for the best time to move and strike. He was close to me, close enough to strike. He raised his ax above his head and brought it down, blade aimed for my head.

"_Move! Now!" _I rolled out of the way to the right, letting the ax smash and become wedge into the floor. The man started tugging away at his weapon, all the while yelling at me.

"RAAAAHH! RAAAGGGHH!" He screamed at me, either nonsensical things or I was just to distracted to make out what he was saying. He was open. Now was my chance. I raised the katana over my head, aimed for his arm and jumped. Everything was in slow motion, it was only me, him, my sword and his arm. My thoughts were everywhere. _"This is it! Me or him! Live or Die! Ham or Turkey! What is that smell! Ding Dong Diddly Doo!" _I brought the sword down against his arm, my feet his the ground and the blade broke off against his arm. I stood there, in shock as half of the blade hit the ground with a clatter.

"DAMMIT, LARXENE!" I dropped the remainder of the sword, turned and ran. The man laughed, finally pulling his ax out of the ground.

"HAHA HA! Little boy can't cut it, can he!" He brandished his ax, spinning it around and stomping it , "Get Ready! Bronx is gonna-" I didn't make out that last bit because I was panicking, but I think he said he'd do something unsanitary to my dead body.

I ran around that room, the man named Bronx chasing me, striking the ground behind me with his ax. He was getting closer, I ran, I jumped and just barely dodged out of the way. I looked to the wall, to Larxene. She had no expression on her face, just a look of nothing as she watched me run. The Blue haired man had a smirk on his face. I heard laughing from one of the people in their hoods, laughing at me, no doubt.

I only slowed for half a second as my eyes became fixed on the visage of the the man with the deep voice. I shouldn't have looked, because as soon as I did, I slowed and the man named Bronx grabbed me from behind, gripping the back of my neck with his giant meaty hands. He choked me from behind, hauled me up to yell at me.

"Oh, Little man can't breath. Well let me help you!" He threw me like a rock, I screamed and smashed front-first against against the hard metal wall. I felt all the air in me rush from my body. Blood shot from my mouth and splattered the wall. I slid down, in a daze, gasping for breath, twitching.

"_Get Up! Fight, dammit!"_

Voices in my head, screaming at me. The Will to survive, to fight, to live. Maybe I should just stay there and let him kill me. End it. I had my eyes closed. I heard his footsteps coming closer to me. I started breathing again, but I wouldn't move.

"_Darkness...Fear Not...Death.."_

Mumbo Jumbo. Was I scared? Should I be? My heart wasn't racing. I wasn't scared. I was never scared. I already died when that thing stabbed me and I was still here. Maybe Death wasn't the worst thing that could happen. Maybe Death wasn't the end of everything. So why be scared of dying? Why fear anything if nothing lasts forever? No Death. No Heaven everlasting. No Hell eternal. Only Darkness after Death, after _my _Death.

I opened my eyes. I placed my arm under me and slowly pushed myself up, coughing. I already said, before I died, that I would support true Darkness now, so why wait until I die again to get it?

"_Master your Divine Darkness..."_

I stood. My back popped. I turned to see Bronx come for me, but the blunt end of his ax caught me in the side, cracking my ribs with a sickening crack. More blood exploded from my mouth and my body fell to the ground in a heap before Bronx.

I took the hit, my ribs cracked, but it didn't knock me out. The pain was nothing, it was there, but easily ignorable. Honestly, it tickled a little bit. I started giggling quietly as blood trickled from my mouth. Bronx stood over me and reached down, grabbing at the neck of my coat, he hauled me up to look at him face-to-face. I was laughing to myself, my body going limp in his grip. I don't think he heard me laughing. I could see the bloodthirsty look in his eyes mixed with unmistakable stupidity. The smell of his breath was unbearable.

"Tell me your name." He grunted.

"W-what?" I chuckled.

He grunted, licked his lips. "I like knowing the names of the people I kill."

HAHA! That tickling in my ribs was dying down, but that terrible vibrating in my chest, that same vibration that brought the ringing in my ear, was wild and resounded throughout my entire body! It tickled like crazy and I loved it! I laughed hard and I looked Bronx right in his poo-poo brown eyes and said. "You...can call me your killer."

That stupid look on his face pissed me off. "Uhh..that...would me you killed me."

"Now you're getting it!" I shouted. I moved away, I don't know how, but I got out of his grip and the next moment I was behind him. My body was vibrating with that feeling in my chest. Black smoke rose around me. This was great! I was loving this! Kill him! I wanted to kill him! I raised both my hands out and the cool, black smoke spread to my palms like fire in a forest.

"_Master your Divine Darkness...take your gift...fear not and lay waste to anyone in your way!"_

Mumbo Jumbo or not, but there was something in me that desperately needed freedom. That black smoke at my palms completely took over my hands. The smoke solidified and it's weight become known in both hands.

Two swords, jagged, short, dark gray, and no hand guard. My swords. Mine! I spun them around in my hands and they were perfect, perfect for me and what I wanted to do! These were the same swords that fell into my hands just before Larxene found me and I killed all those people. I didn't know how they were mine but they felt right in my hands.

A dark shiver went down my spine and I eyed Bronx through my hood. "Oh, yes..."

He scoffed. "So? Just 'cuz you git swords don't mean you won't die!" He roared and charged. So typical. He came for me, ax at his side. My body moved on it's own, moving faster than Bronx could keep up with. I cut at his left leg and dashed behind him. Blood from the wound trailed behind me on my blades. Bronx screamed, falling to his knee.

Another opening.

I jumped again, right onto his back. I raised both blades and drove them into his shoulders, coating them in fresh blood. "Aaaggh!" Bronx screamed. He stood up and thrashed about trying to throw me off. He dropped his ax and tried to grab at me, but I stayed on until I pulled straight down, tearing through his bloody back skin and coat until I got to his waist and jumped off, letting him scream wildly and flail about, madly trying to reach and care for the long wounds on his back.

"RAAAGGGHH!" Bronx screamed and yelled, falling to his knee and breathing hard. I was a little surprised that he didn't pass out from the wounds. "That's not fair!" He screamed at me. "That's cheating!"

"How am I cheating?" I asked through my hood.

"You're fat! You're not supposed to be fast!"

"I'm not fat!" How dare he call me fat! "I'm just...a little large, that's all!" Okay, that's it. You die now! A spark of creativity, I dropped my swords and they faded into smoke, I ran for Bronx's fallen Ax and lifted it up with ease despite it's size. I ran for Bronx and bashed the flat side of the ax against his face, a sickening crack followed. I bashed him again and he staggered back in an awful daze.

And the final Act! I stabbed the butt of the Ax into the ground, easily piercing the metal with my own strength. I angled it so the point of the blade was aimed for Bronx's face and with a small gesture of my hands, I felt a tug in my gut and my blades reappeared in my hands.

"Motherfucker, I'm gon' kill you!" Those were the last words Bronx would say. Swords in hand, I stepped back and tossed both blades at him and like a yo-yo the blades shot into his shoulders while the handles stayed in my hands connected only by dark chains. I heard gasps behind me from those in the black coats. But what was even better were the screams from Bronx who tried to claw at the blades in each of his shoulders.

"Waagggh!" He screamed. I pulled and he screamed. Closer and closer he came to the blade of his ax, screaming as I pulled him. One great tug! The sound of blade piercing flesh and bone, the sound of last breaths escaping lungs as a man's neck and head were shattered on impact. The man named Bronx stood there limply, dying. The blade of his own ax lodged securely in his maw.

I retracted my blades just by thinking about and the chains disappeared from sight. I marveled with a grin at my first real kill. Morality be damned, I liked this.

"Welcome to the Organization, No. XIV." That deep voice. I turned to see the hooded man, who I took to be the boss of all of them.

"Show us your face!" A man with an English accent yelled from the group.

"Come on! Let's see! Tell us your name!" Another voice, young and melodious.

I might as well. I'll be working with these people now, I guess. I don't know for how long, but I'll be fucked and screwed at the same time if I'm known as 'Analsex' for the rest of my life. I grabbed at my hood and, at first, pulled slowly. What if they thought I was creepy because of the teeth thing? Should I care? Probably, but I just don't. Why was I worried about my teeth anyway? It's not like I ever smiled, really. I pulled at my hood, revealing my face to the blinding whiteness of this castle. "My name is Xinck." I told them.

"What the hell! That's not the name I gave you!" I turned to hear the shrill voice of Larxene, pointing an accusing finger at me.

"It's better than the name you gave me! You tried to call me Analsex!"

She stopped yelling at me long enough to be overcome by stomach-grabbing laughter. But the Boss with the deep voice had something to say apparently. "Larxene. You cannot name members Analsex. It was already established that it was uproariously hilarious the first time, and less the second. Now it is only worth a mild chuckle or two. The name Xinck has given himself will do fine." The Boss walked away from the group and headed towards me. I felt my knees weaken a little as he drew closer. I thought I might blackout before long. I felt like a small child there, looking up at him as he stood in front of me. He placed a strong hand on my shoulder, I staggered and the vibrating in chest stopped, and I lost my natural high.

The boss raised his hands as he stood next to me and threw back his hood. Silver mane, tanned skin and eyes like pure golden fire. A strong face, he could have easily been a model. He looked no older than 30. He eyed me, then the rest of his group. "Let us all welcome our newest comrade."

* * *

The Organization has had more than one Fourteenth member in the past and none of them had ever lasted more than a few days or, at most, a week and a half, either they faded away due to natural causes, died in battle, or pissed off the wrong senior member. Even when the Organization had two times as many members, the Fourteenth member was always the first to go. Needless to say, Xinck wasn't expected to last long. But, as per custom in the group, he was to be given all of the need-to-know- information that was required if he was going to be in The Organization. What was odd was that the Superior himself was telling him the ins and outs of the group.

Xinck didn't like being so near to the Superior as they walked from Addled Impasse to The Alter of Naught. Actually, he _couldn't _be so near to the Superior at his current level, which was worlds below Him at the moment. Xemnas, the Superior, was one of two members in the Organization who was required to hold in his presence at all times while in the Castle. Xemnas could easily crush and end everyone if he didn't.

But Xinck, who was still getting used to his new existence, had to be on his guard, he had to concentrate on every footstep he made, every breath he took so that he didn't blackout from the Superiors suppressed presence.

"Xinck." Xemnas said, walking a few steps ahead of the neophyte, "Can it be assumed that you remember your true name?"

Xinck had a bead of sweat on the side of his face. He had to force the words out of his mouth and loudly as he had his face to the floor, "M-my name?"

"Do you remember your true name?"

"Y-yes. I added an X because Larxene had an X in her name. She said it was what people like us do."

"The X is a mark of brotherhood. But truly, it represents the 'X-Factor', the unknown variable. Unknown, Anonymity and Nonexistence are the three forces we as _Homo Nihilis _must bare."

Xinck sniggered to himself. "You said Homo."

"What is funny about Homo?" Xemnas stopped and turned to look at Xinck, who shrank down and averted his gaze.

"Nothing. Uh...what does _Homo Nihilis _mean?"

"It is the scientific term for what you, me and everyone in Organization XIII is. The more common term is 'Nobody'. We are all Nobodies, Xinck. As are you."

"I've heard that before, but what does it mean? I mean, I know that I didn't have much of a social life or friends, but I don't think I would've called myself a Nobody."

"Not that type of Nobody. Nobody, as in, you don't exist, or at least you shouldn't."

Walking out of Proof of Existence and onto Naught's Approach, Xemnas stopped as he took a look over the edge of his enormous white giant in the otherwise dark world. Xinck stood behind him, casually backing away and regaining his strength as he did. "Oh. Homo." Xemnas said. "I get it now. Good one." He turned and saw Xinck, his back against the opposite wall. "Why are you over there?"

"Just trying to catch my breath." He said.

"Are you afraid of me?"

Xinck said nothing. Shocked at the question and unsure how to answer, he wanted to look away, but dared not to, instead, he looked past Xemnas and into the night sky.

Xemnas continued. "It matters not. You nor I have a heart to feel such a thing as fear, hate, anger, envy. Emotions and feelings are beyond those of us who lack hearts."

"If I don't have a heart, how am I breathing or standing now?" Xinck asked defensively.

"You breath, you stand, you exist, though you should not all because you have the Will to do so. Strong will can get you anywhere. Your Will is what saved you from being nothing more than a mindless Heartless and it is what gives you a terrifying presence.

"My presence? What's that?"

A small grin appeared across Xemnas's face. "When you summoned your weapons in a flurry of your elemental darkness, your presence manifested and everyone watching you felt it. Your presence, your will affecting everything that exists around you gives off Death. People, normal people, die around you."

"_People die around me..._"Xinck thought. He was walking death. The buzzing in his ear, the vibrating in his chest. It was his will, his presence, wanting everyone around him to die. But one question...

"Why aren't you dead?" Defiance in his tone as he looked Xemnas right in his eyes. "Why isn't anyone else in this Organization dead?"

Another laugh. Xemnas walked to Xinck and the latter stood his ground, but noticeably twitched. "Xinck, your presence can't hurt me or anyone else in this Castle. Nobodies aren't affected by the presence of other Nobodies because we don't exist and presences only effect things that do exist...which is most things. Instead, when we release our presence around others like us they only feel a push coming down on them like pressure."

"If this is true, then how come I feel your presence right now? Maybe I'm not a Nobody."

"You are. I can tell. My presence manifests as the entire Realm of Nothingness coming down and crushing you into Nonexistence. Because we as Nobodies exist in this Realm, Nobodies can feel it as well. It is something I must hold back at all times or risk killing all of you in a brutal fashion. And you can't have an Organization with only one person, you know."

Xemnas gave another wry smile. He walked on, towards the passage that would lead to Ruin and Creation's Passage and then to the Alter of Naught. He was halfway into the passage when he turned around to see Xinck still against the wall. "Coming?"

* * *

The Superior would take the Young Nobody on a brief tour of the Castle, explaining what it was the Organization actually does, how they do it and what exactly his job and training would require. He gave Xinck a brief summary of the Heartless, the Nobodies, the nature of the Heart and Light and Darkness. Xinck did nothing more than listen and ask an occasional question or two and eventually the tour ended in the Castle, in another long white hallway in front of a large white door, Xemnas's Office.

Xemnas had actually become bored with the whole 'tour' idea, but he did his best not to let on. "...and so, that concludes your brief, yet surprisingly long and overdrawn, introduction to Organization XIII." Xemnas came to his door, opened it, slipped in and poked his head out and looked at Xinck. "Xinck, welcome to Organization XIII, I'm sure we're all looking forward to working with you and yada yada. See you soon and goodnight." He closed the door, leaving Xinck outside.

Xinck stood there, silent, looking left to right. "Where am I supposed to go?" He asked through the door. No response. He said 'goodnight', like, going to bed, right? Xinck didn't have a bed. He knocked on the door. No answer. He knocked again and it opened and the Superior stuck his head out to eye the young nobody.

"Are you still here?"

Xinck shrugged, "Where am I supposed to go?"

"Your room, sleep, it doesn't matter to me. No one is going to be a parent to you."

"I don't have a room."

"Just open a Corridor of Darkness and pick a room."

"I don't know how to do that. Larxene didn't give you a room?"

"No—well, not really. I think it was her room."

Xemnas closed his eyes, from either irritation or contemplation. He stepped out of his office and closed the door behind him. "A little tidbit of information for you, my young friend. I've just paid more attention to you than I have to most of the others in this Castle."

"I-I'm sorry." Xinck shrugged.

"No you're not." Casually, Xemnas grabbed the hood of Xinck's coat and pulled him up like a lioness pulls on the neck skin of her cub. Xinck was a few feet off the ground, to his shock, Xemnas could lift his 200+ lbs. frame with ease. With his free hand, Xemnas created a Corridor of Darkness and effortless tossed Xinck inside the Darkness. Before he closed the corridor, Xemnas heard a loud thump and Xinck screaming "Ow!"

"Goodnight." Xemnas said, closing his office door. He walked across the office to the far wall, which was a window with black curtains, and he sat at his large desk.

"'Goodnight'?" Saix, the man with the pointed ears and blue hair asked, going over files in the file cabinets along the adjacent wall. "How odd of you."

"I was only being friendly to our newest recruit."

"You aren't friendly. Ever. "

"That just isn't true."

"Oh, really?" Saix said, "Remember Xibre (Ze-Bear)? He was here for a week and a half and you blew his head off."

"Mmm. I can't recall him." Xemnas said, pretending to write up a new report.

"So, how is our newest addition?" Saix asked.

"His elemental power of Darkness interests me."

Saix scoffed, "He won't last. Darkness always rots away everything from the inside. Even if he doesn't have a heart, he'll fade away."

"Maybe, maybe not. Either way, I'd like to see about Xinck and his powers and abilities. Schedule him for a physical with Vexen."

* * *

"Alright, all! I am now taking bets!" Luxord shouted, walking into The Grey Area, the Organization's Lounge room. It was filled with a few members, sitting around the small coffee table. Luxord, No. X in the group was a well-known gambler, a charmer and was one of the only people in the group who was liked by all. He wore his white-blond hair short, blue eyes and several earrings in his ear. He always seemed to have a smirk on his face, as if he knew a bold and dark secret in the world that no one else knew. "I talked to Lexaeus earlier and he said He'd bet 250 Munny for the new lad to last 5 days."

"Ha! Lexaeus bet that! Fine, I'll take a piece." Xigbar said, No. II. Despite his high rank and authority he held, he rarely lorded it over anyone. He preferred working in the field, getting his hands dirty. The eyepatch and scar on his face proved his abilities to fight, but his smirk of pride and arrogance only said 'Hey, I'm an antagonist. I'm gonna shoot you now.'

Zexion shook his head and sighed. "Every new member..." The second youngest member in the group after Roxas, Zexion, No. VI, was the Organization's head Mystic. Always reading, always with a book in hand, Zexion studied all subjects no matter how taboo. Despite his almost constant sad appearance, he wasn't gloomy, despite his youth, he was very mature. "You're all dumb asses. Betting on a fellow member. It's deplorable. We only have just a little over a dozen members and you're already betting on their demise? Such a shame..."

"Yank the stick out of your ass, Zexy." Xigbar jeered." We're just going by the track record of the other 14th members. I'm telling you, that number's cursed."

"Wow!" Demyx, No. IX, chimed in. "I hope my number's never up. What'll you guys do without me?"

"Move on." Zexion said, not taking his eyes off his book.

"Drink and forget." said Luxord, taking a seat.

"Bury you in the Pet Cemetery, bring you back and collect the money you owe me." Xigbar said.

"Aww..." Demyx groaned, strumming his giant, blue sitar. Demyx was young, musically talented and, reluctantly, the Organization's Recon man/punching bag. He wasn't a fighter, but knew how to hold his own if he needed to. He was good natured, which raised a question: Why is he in the Organization? "You guys don't appreciate me. You all are definitely gonna miss me when I'm gone."

"Good bye." Zexion said.

"Nice to see you, old sport." Luxord said.

"Don't let the door hit you on the ass on your way out." Xigbar said.

"Change the subject!" Demyx shouted.

* * *

As it turns out, Xemnas had randomly thrown Xinck into a room, not even caring which room it was. Xinck's face had smashed into a large pillar in a foyer-size room with two floors. He took this as being his room. Of course he didn't get much sleep that night, one reason because he didn't have a bed, the second reason because he had just had a huge existential Atomic Bomb dropped on him. Here he was, all body, all memories and soul, but no Heart. To him, it made no sense at all.

"You are a Nobody."

"You have no emotions, no morals."

"You do not truly exist."

Those were the words of his new Superior, Xemnas.

How do you not exist? How does one go about even thinking of that state if one has no mind to think about it in the first place? A riddle wrapped in an enigma stored in another riddle and boxed in a mystery...box. That's what Xinck thought, anyway. To be honest, he didn't feel that much different than when he "had a heart" or whatever they called it. Maybe because he never took the chances, took the risks involved in having a heart.

He sighed. "Oh well. Too late now."

Take the risks of having a heart, having a life worth living.

Was it so cruel of him, so bad, so evil to have found something exciting and worth living for by taking the lives of others? Right and wrong, good and evil. He had learned all that when he was young. Ordinary morality was for ordinary people, he longed for something extraordinary, so he ignored the bland morality that was good and bad. It was only now that he could act on this philosophy of moral ambiguity. Killing Bronx didn't feel wrong, it didn't right, but for Xinck it felt...almost relieving. Almost like he could make some else hurt just as bad as he does. He didn't know about actually "feeling" anything, but...

He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "None of this makes sense."

* * *

_The Next Day..._

It took some time, but Larxene eventually found Xinck wondering about the Castle the next morning. He hadn't slept, but he didn't feel tired at all. He thought it was still night out when he finally left his room to wander, but Larxene told him otherwise.

"What do you mean it's 7'o'clock in the morning?"

"Seven in the morning means Seven in the morning. Duh." Larxene said, Xinck walking beside her. "How else am I supposed to say it, mm?

"It doesn't make sense is all I'm saying."

"This world stays dark, 24/7. But, I've heard that there is a sun, it just doesn't show up often."

"Stupid, lazy sun." Xinck said.

"So, what did Mansex say to you last night?"

"Who's Mansex?"

"Xemnas's name rearranged." She said, "It's just this old inside joke we've had going around for awhile."

"It's not that funny,"

"No. No it is not. There is absolutely nothing funny about the word 'Mansex'." A moment's pause. The sound of their footsteps on the hard metal floor. They walked in silence. Larxene cleared her throat. Xinck scratched his neck. More silence.

"You can laugh about it later." Larxene said.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll do that." He replied awkwardly. "So what am I doing today? Do I get to kill another person?"

"Listen, Sex, I-"

"Xinck. It's Xinck."

"Yeah, whatever. I hate to burst your bubble, but eliminating or killing people is only a small part of the job, so we'll get to that later. I'm supposed to take you to Saix in the Gray Area so you can get acquainted with the other dumbasses you'll be working with. But first I'm gonna take you to see Marluxia."

"Funny name."

"This coming from a guy named Xinck."

Marluxia was the Organization's No. XI. The phrase "Prima Donna" was the lazy way of describing the fashionable, the beautiful and ever Graceful Assassin. He had a strong, muscular build, hair, feathered and as pink as the cherry blossoms he ruled and his face put the word pretty to a suicidal shame. His appearance often fooled people into thinking he wasn't a threat, but truthfully he was currently the 3rd strongest Nobody in the Castle. Rank had nothing to do with power.

Marluxia did enjoy making grand first impressions, but Larxene found his entire method stupid and unnecessary. Marluxia started by singing and slowly descending down a staircase, flower petals falling out of nowhere and blowing in the faces of Larxene and Xinck. Marluxia paid them no mind! He sang about his own vanity and beauty, about how 'pretty' was just pretty but 'perfect' was Marluxia.

"_I have your hearts and you have my pity! Pretty is nice, but still, it's just pretty! Perfect, my dears, is meeee..."_ He held his final note with a smile, coming down the stairs with the grace of a seasoned stripper on a pole. H came down, ending with a snooty grunt and a pose, letting his hair move about in the air, petals still falling effortlessly around him.

"What a pretty lady." Xinck said, unimpressed.

"He's a guy." Larxene said.

"What a pretty guy."

No. XI walked up to his two subordinates, a fake Nobody half smile on his face. "Hello." He said to Xinck, "I am Marluxia, number Eleven."His voice was monotone, yet breathy.

"Xinck. Number Fourteen, I guess."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Xinck." He was taller than Xinck, rising above his head a few inches. "I've heard a great deal about you."

"Oh..like what?" Xinck found himself looking left and right. Larxene was surprisingly quiet.

"You're quite the fighter, quite the killer. Larxene seems to think you will make a grand addition to our little group of misfits."

Larxene scoffed. "I didn't say that!"

Marluxia rolled his eyes at the woman, "Are you satisfied now? You're making my first impression seem like a lie! I was just trying to build up his confidence."

"Confidence? First impression? Oh, whatever! As if the 25 year old Metrosexual singing Bette Midler didn't scar him already!"

"YOU!" Marluxia bellowed, "Just cannot appreciate talent when it stares you right in the face, you uncultured harpie!"

"Harpie?"

"Yes! Harpie! I've seen your feet, how DARE you call those cold, clawed talons feet! They're as sharp as your kunai!"

"Oh! You know what else is sharp? Your split ends! Dye your hair like a normal person's and quite wearing so much hair spray!"

"I don't use hairspray! It's all natural, girlie." He tauntingly flipped his hair.

"Bullshit! You use so much hair spray that I don't light any matches because I know you'll burst into flames! Oh, wait! You already burst into flames!"

Marluxia's face widened in a gasp, "You bitch! Penis-curling she-beast!"

Larxene's eye twitched, she called to Xinck and opened a Corridor of Darkness, "Here. Go to the Gray Area and wait for us there. We'll catch up later."

"Uh...ok." Xinck inched toward the opened Darkness and it closed behind him. When he left, tensions lowered.

"So, what do you think?" Larxene asked, her voice lowered, her eyes darting to the space where Xinck left.

Eleven flipped his hair and placed a hand on his chin. "He does have potential. He has a strong presence. Could you feel it?"

"Could I feel it? Dude, I found him and I've been around him more than anyone. Of course I can feel it."

"Murderous intent. His will dictates Death. He's got Darkness in him, no doubt. The Superior could have an interest in him, but..."

"But?"

"This could go either way. We'll keep an eye on him. He'll grow and get stronger, but there is that chance that his Darkness could be useful to us. Or destroy him from the inside out. Darkness isn't controlled, not even by the Organization, so I doubt he could control."

"He did a fine job channeling it into a weapon."

"Yes, that's the small chance that he won't be destroyed by it. We'll keep an eye on him, try to keep him close."

"What do you mean "we'll keep an eye on him'.?"

"_You_'ll keep an eye on him."

"Oh! Come on! Isn't it enough that I found him!" She moaned.

"We all have to make sacrifices, Larxene. Especially if we are to take over."

She scoffed, "And what kind of sacrifices have you made?"

Marluxia thought for a second. "Ok, how about this, you keep up with Xinck, I'll use less hairspray in my hair. Agreed?"

The woman rolled her eyes, crossed her arms and looked away. "Fine. Agreed." She hated that she couldn't have gotten a better deal. Marluxia opened a Corridor and they both walked for the darkness.

Marluxia asked, "You don't really think I use too much hairspray, do you?"

"You do. You're the sole reason for the hole in the ozone layer."

* * *

Review!


	37. Deviant's Cradle III

This came out sooner than thought, right? Well, enjoy it's over 40 pages.

Did you see the previews for Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Vol. 2? Did you see the preview for Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance?

Well...I know what _I _now have to look forward to...

Anyway, Read and Enjoy, or not, it's not like I'm getting paid or anything.

I don't own anything.

* * *

**Xinck_ — Journal 1_**

Saix, Number II, I think, is the guy who hands outs everyone's missions for the day. He is, without a doubt, the most serious person I have ever met. It's like someone stuck a stick of unimaginable length up his arse. Either way, I think he could just as easily kill me as look at me. I don't think I want to risk getting on his bad side, not at the moment anyway. He said I should keep a journal to chronicle my days in the Organization, for what reason I haven't a clue, but it sounded interesting.

Alright, so I've been in this Organization for a few days and, since yesterday, have been given a crash course in what it is I'm supposed to be doing. Other worlds, collecting hearts, Heartless, etc, etc. of course, because I'm still new I haven't done anything yet and I'm still just training. Larxene was the one who was supposed to be training me in fighting, but she said, and I quote, "I'll only tell you the basics of everything you need to know, but other than that, you're on your own. Now put some pants on, you freak." That was this morning and later that afternoon, she didn't show up for our session, so Marluxia trained me instead.

I had been here for about three days, but I had only met a few members so far. Xemnas, the No. I and leader. He's...It's hard to explain because I'm new at this whole "Powers and Abilities" thing, but from what I feel from when I'm around him, it's like he's super powerful for no reason, as if all the power in the world is inside of him. Personality-wise, I can't read him, it's like he'll be authoritative, sadistic, emotionless and disinterested all at the same time.

I met Saix shortly after I first met Marluxia. You remember me telling you about the eternal stick that is forever fixed betwixt his cheeks, right? If not, just look up on the page.

Larxene is the one who found me and, more or less, rescued me. It's like she's either taking her time trying to train me or is just not interested. I mean, if the goal of the entire Organization is to get their hearts back, then shouldn't she want to make sure I know what I'm doing to help? I've seen her be mean, loud, and very belligerent over anything, even me and Marluxia. But she has been nice too, like she'll be nice and helpful to me one minute, then yelling and insulting the next. I wish she'd make up her mind. I don't know anyone else in the Organization, so either I'm by myself or stuck with Larxene or Marluxia.

Marluxia, from my first impression, is obviously a very vain person obsessed with his appearance. I can't say that I like his hair, but it could only work for him and no one else. He's beautiful. I can say that and not sound weird, right? Right? Despite his obviously beautiful appearance, he speaks very calmly, like he expects everyone at every moment of the day to admire and appreciate his looks. I was all set to just write Marluxia off as annoying, but that was until he said that _I _had "The Look" He said my symmetrical face, dark features, clear skin and nice cheekbones were perfect for modeling and that I'd have to let him show me some nice exfoliating cremes.

Well...it _is _only natural that beauty recognizes beauty...

After the short training session, Marluxia told me that I had been scheduled for a physical with a man named Vexen. Great, another weird name. Marluxia left in a hurry and I guess he didn't know that I didn't know how to use those dark portals like everyone else, something that the Superior criticized me for when he found me wondering about the castle. Apparently, I was late for my physical.

* * *

Xemnas guided Xinck through a grand door in the Castle. Xinck still found it difficult being around Xemnas without feeling like he was about to fall and hit the floor, but Larxene told him the stronger he got the more he'd be able to be around Xemnas when his presence was kept in check. Xinck shivered, not liking the idea of being around this man longer than he had to.

"This way to Vexen." Xemnas said, he stood aside against a door and gestured for Xinck to go in, but he didn't.

"Why do I need a physical?" He asked, looking at Xemnas's hair as opposed to his eyes.

"Are you questioning me?" He asked, sternly.

"Uh..n-no, I was just thinking that-"

"For your information" He interrupted, "Being inducted into the Organization doesn't mean you are a full-fledged member. You do not have a throne, a gravestone, a codename nor a subordinate-class Nobody. We like to make sure that our members aren't going to just fade away at random before we give all that out. Much less paperwork."

"Uh...ok."

"The Physical will test your abilities, physique, physical and mental health. I hope you aren't afraid of needles."

"Once." Xinck started at random, "I use to have this fear of having a needle going into the hole at the end of my peni-"

"That is disgusting!" Xemnas interrupted before a terrible image invaded his head. He kept the door open and motioned once again for Xinck to enter. "Go in and wait for Vexen. He's expecting you." Xinck looked through the doorway and peeked inside the laboratory. It was a huge, fairly cold room with a dark white/gray ceiling that seemed to go on forever. Huge tower columns, cylinders and rectangles shot up from the ground and ceiling at random at connected to other parts and levels of the lab, some of them crackling and buzzing with energy. On the floor, thin blue lines faded blue and white while zigzagging in fixed motions all through the lab. Monitors were everywhere, displaying nothing but data streams and random, possibly useless, information. Far away from the door, in the back, sealed away in giant tubes filled with a green liquid, were human bodies, hairless, emotionless an unconscious. They floated there in the green liquid, wires and tubes attached to their navels. Their eyes were open, while dead, they stared at Xinck.

"Oh, that is just too creepy." said Xinck, backing slowly away.

"Have fun." Xemnas placed a hand on Xinck's back, shoved the young man inside and quickly shut the door behind him. No. XIV stumbled into the lab, waving his hands around to restore balance. Xemnas pushed him too hard as he could not get his footing. He stumbled, then fell and tumled through the lab before balance was restored with his face smacking against the hard floor.

Before he could recover and pick himself up, lights, seemingly out of nowhere, shined ahead of Xinck on a particular spot. The young Nobody turned his head up to see a giant, floating head staring down at him. It was a large, green, bald head with hollow eyes filled with yellow flames. It screamed at Xinck in a booming voice.

"**I AM VEXEN! THE GREAT! THE TERRIBLE! THE...um...FORGETFUL!**" Cold, blue ice crystals the width of trees made a circle around Xinck and the giant head, trapping him inside.

Xinck shot up from the floor, backing up until he was up against the ice. He looked upon the face, eyes wide in terror.

"Uh..uh..." He stammered, "H-hello."

"**YOU DARE SAY "HELLO" TO ME? VEXEN! THE TERRIBLY FORGETFUL!" **The yellow flames in his eyes flared up, nearly leaping out of his head.

Xinck could only look upon the face, unable to speak and nearly unable to breath.

"**THE CHILLY ACADEMIC DESIRES AN ANSWE-**Did you soil yourself?" Xinck's screaming came to an abrupt halt at the mention of soiled pants and the sudden vanishing of the giant, floating green head. The lights faded and out of nowhere another figure came forward.

"I sincerely hope you didn't urinate on yourself. It's a terrible first impression, not to mention it's rude to relieve yourself in the presence of a superior." The figure said, walking closer as the smoke cleared. He was an older man in his 40s, maybe 50s with long dirty blond hair. Two long, thick bangs framed the sides of his thin face. He had two great big bug eyes, both emerald green.

"I am Vexen." He said, as if addressing a servant. Xinck slid down from the ice and onto the floor, breathing heavily and just staring at the man. "Hello?" Vexen said. No answer. "Can you speak? Tell me your name." He received no answer and he sighed, gripping the bridge of his noise. "Great. _Another _genius."

After some coaxing with a stick, Vexen eventually got Xinck off the floor and out of shock. Vexen explained that he only did that for theatrics and that he had recently watch _The Wizard of Oz_ on a bootleg DVD. Xinck asked why was it bootlegged when the movie had been out for decades. Vexen replied it was an excellent bargain, especially since it turned out it wasn't such a great copy because half of it was white and black and the other half was in color.

"Uh-huh." Xinck plainly replied.

Vexen led Xinck to a different room from the main lab area. It almost looked like a regular doctor's office, albeit much colder, bluer and larger. Actually. Vexen offered Xinck to sit on the table while he produced a clipboard and some papers.

"Alright then." Vexen said, gripping the board and scribbling down notes, "Let's get things done. I want to get this over with as quick as possible, I _do_ have other things to do, like vivisecting test subjects."

"Vivisecting? They're still alive, won't that hurt?" Xinck asked.

Vexen chuckled and smiled. "Oh yes. I play a little guessing game where I fill different syringes with different levels of an anesthetic. Some subjects get the required dose to nullify sensation, others, haha...aren't as lucky." He flashed an odd, half-smile at Xinck, as if looking at him as a possible test subject. "So anyway, let us begin. Imagine this as a simple doctor's visit. You have been to the doctor haven't you?"

Xinck nodded.

"Excellent. Alright, first question, Have you any allergies?"

"No."

Vexen scribbled something on his paper. "Question 2, Do you know your blood type?"

Xinck nodded. "O Positive. The universal donor, or the universal whore, as I call it."

"Ha, cheeky." Vexen replied with a wry chuckle. "Question 3..."

Vexen continued asking Xinck medically relevant questions concerning his physical health. After which, Vexen drew a blood sample, then tested Xinck's reflexes. "Alright, now hold still. This won't hurt." Vexen bent down by Xinck's left knee cap and tapped it with his reflex hammer. No reaction. "Mm. That's odd." He said. He tapped the right and there was no reaction. "What is wrong with you? Are your nerves shot in your legs or something?"

"No. I don't know why they aren't moving."

Vexen sighed and stood back up, popping his back. "Very well. How odd, you are. Let's check your throat." Vexen produced a tongue suppressor from his coat. "Say 'Ah.'" And Xinck opened his mouth wide, wider, then even wider until the upper roof of his mouth was a good 7 seven inches from his lower jaw, showing off his pointed teeth.

"Fascinating." Vexen marveled at the shark mouth before him. "How did those come about, might I ask?"

Xinck shrugged and said, "Ai ya knoau." Which meant "I don't know".

"Interesting. You are an odd child, indeed." Vexen readied the tongue suppressor. When he placed it on Xinck's tongue, his foot shot into Vexen's shin. "OW! Son of a whore!" He screamed, backing away and cradling his leg. "What was that for?"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to! It was just a reflex!"

"I touch your tongue and your legs react! What is that?"

The physical exam eventually went on. Xinck had an X-rays, a CAT scan and, just for the hell of it, ran on a treadmill for a few minutes. The physical exam eventually ended and from a quick scan of the results, Vexen determined that Xinck was perfectly healthy, even by Nobody standards. Then came the mental part of the exam. "Alright, Xinck, we're halfway done. Now I'm going to administer several psychological tests to determine your mental prowess. The first is a Rorschach test. I'll show you some various ink blots and you tell me what you see. Understand."

"Uh-huh." Xinck replied, uninterested. They were both now sitting at a desk on opposite sides. Vexen pulled out a random card from the stack in his hands and presented it to Xinck. The black ink blot ambiguous in shape, but had the vague outline of flowers.

"Tell me, Xinck, what do you see?"

Xinck looked at the ink blot and his mind wandered. He didn't know if it was a random thought or just his mind reacting to its first psycho-test. His mind twisted the black ink on the white paper into people shapes, small people shapes. It was Xinck, human and he was in all of his classes, Kindergarten to High School. Seeing all of those people everyday for 8 hours and hearing them laugh, seeing them smile and have fun, all the while cutting him out and looking down on him made him remember the murderous thoughts he had for the other children around him. He couldn't help it. He knew it was insane and everyday he fought back the urge to grab every idiot around him by the neck and smash their eye against the corner of a table.

"Pretty flowers." Xinck said.

"Interesting..."Vexen put the card down and held up another one. Before he held it up for Xinck to see, he turned it around to get an idea of what Xinck could say. The ink blot was a vague picture of a bug or bird. He held it up for Xinck, "What do you see?"

Originally, Xinck saw clouds. But like always, that changed and the ink turned into the shape of his Father's hands angrily wrapped around his neck trying to kill him. Xinck snorted. "A pony." He answered.

Vexen just stared at the young Nobody's apathetic look. "M'kay." Was all he said. The mental exam continued, not only with ink blots, but other psychological evaluations to determine possibly mental illness, defects or abnormalities. Vexen learned a lot from evaluating Xinck's mental health, things that brought depressing thoughts into his head. Eventually, unable to stand being around him any longer, Vexen ended the tests.

"I believe that's enough for the day." The elder Nobody said.

"Mmm? That's it? We're done already?"

"What do you mean 'done already'? We've been doing this for four hours!" The scientist scoffed and yelled.

"Yeah, "Xinck said, a serene look on his face, "But what I'll mostly remember is the laughter."

"What the-..." The Chilly Academic just eyed the young man and shook his head. He grabbed the new files and reports he made on Xinck and walked away. "I'll trust you to see yourself out." His oice began to echo as he became further and further away.

"Uh..could you help me out?" Xinck yelled to the man, "I don't know how to use those portals!" Still walking away, Vexen snapped his fingers and a Corridor opened up for Xinck.

* * *

_**Vexen's Log No. 665-X**_

I know that it has been a few weeks since my last log entry, but I felt a sort of obligation to report the most recent of events that have occurred in the Castle.

I bought a new fog machine. I wasn't sure why I needed one, but the salesman was VERY convincing. Now I'm suffering from Buyer's Remorse.

But that isn't nearly as interesting as the newest member to our group.

As you know, the Numbers of the Organization were much larger in it's earlier days, even nearing XXX, but due to the brief encounter with the now annihilated Akatsuki, we lost a good portion. Luckily, our numbers never fell below Eight and the members that occupy the IX-XII seats are much too powerful to die and fade away. I imagine they'll be around for quite some time. And of course the Keybearing No. XIII isn't going anywhere or the entire Organization would be sent back a few years. But for some reason, the XIV seat has always been..,well, cursed. Since the addition of Roxas, the Fourteenth position has been occupied by three Nobodies, all deceased. Two of them were much too garden variety to last long in our group, but the other one, whose name escapes me at the moment, did seem promising. Not too promising now because he's dead. The Superior blasted his head off for some reason. Anyway, just a few days ago, we got a new No. XIV by the name of Xinck. Today I was to give him a mental and physical examination. Physically, he's fine, healthiest person I've ever seen really, but mentally...well...Please excuse me for being blunt, but he is the most fucked up, most depressing kid I have ever known. Way worse than Zexion in his younger days.

I gave him several Psyche tests and gave him a few questionnaires and almost every answer made me want to put myself out of my misery. Slit my wrists, bludgeon myself with a bat or shoot myself. Sadly, I found no knife, no bat and my gun was being repaired. It almost seems that he delights in his own mad despair, I say this because his eyes showed no lies whenever he answered and he even smiled evilly for me. Truly, he is an unpleasant child.

Nonetheless, I see no real future for him. He has the power of elemental Darkness and I'm sure it will only consume him as it does most things. The Superior seemed adamant in receiving the results of his blood tests, his physical and mental exams as well. I suppose I should deliver them to him in person. Perhaps he sees something in Xinck that I don't. Time will only tell...

-Vexen, The Chilly Academic.

* * *

Xemnas held the report that Vexen placed on his desk. He didn't bother reading it since Vexen was standing right in front of him. "So what do you make of him?"

"Y-you're not going to read the report?" Vexen asked meekly.

Xemnas sighed, "Vexen I started this Organization to Lead not to Read. You're the scientist, so please, enlighten me on our newest member's "Health"."

Vexen cleared his throat. He was meek in the presence of Xemnas. Vexen had no problem exerting his rank on the members below him, but not only was Xemnas 3 spots ahead of him, Vexen was the weakest member in the Organization. The weakest being in the presence of the strongest. This was something that Vexen desperately wanted to amend. "Well." He started, "Physically, Xinck is in excellent health, although I find it odd that he has fangs for teeth. That could be hazardous to his tongue. One slip and he could chop it right off."

"He can heal, correct?"

"Well, my tests also showed that all common Nobody abilities are present: Healing factor, Enhanced strength, Endurance, speed, agility, durability, all the common things. One abnormality he has is that his skin is a bit thicker than normal, so he is very durable."

"Is that all Physically?"

"No, actually there was _another _abnormality in Xinck."

"And it is..."

"His blood, Superior, It's...not normal."

"None of us are normal, Vexen."

"It's more than that. You see, Xinck told me that his blood type was O positive."

"Ah, yes, the Universal Whore. Continue, please."

"Usually when a human loses their heart and becomes a Nobody, their blood type stays the same because Nobodies are all body. But Xinck's blood has completely changed into a new type." Vexen rummaged around in his pocket and produced a vial of dark red blood. "As you know, the combination of A and or B antigens determine what type of blood you have, either A, B, AB, or O. But Xinck's antigens can be both A and B, either at the same time or no and he can even have multiple combinations of the two " He placed the vial on Xemnas's desk. "Not only that, but their behavior is...odd."

"Odd? How do you mean?" Xemnas grabbed the vial and swished the red blood around like an excellent glass of aged red wine.

"I'm not sure, but I knew that you wanted to examine his blood for yourself."

Xemnas pocketed the vial and placed both hands on his face in a contemplative way. "What else have you for me?"

"Superior, I believe his mental state is something to be worried about."

"Oh?" Xemnas was only half listening. His thoughts had wandered to the vile of blood in his pocket, but Vexen continued to speak.

"By all definition, Xinck is a Deviant in every dangerous sense of the word. My tests showed that he actually has a 172 I.Q., but his mind is completely unstable." Vexen began to rummage through the files he had to review what he had on Xinck, "He's a sociopath, he has Asperger's Syndrome, Bipolar disorder, slight schizophrenia, Anitsocial personality disorder, slight Melancholia, and Megalomania. He's...he's..."

"Nuttier than Chinese Chicken Salad?" Xemnas suggested.

"Yes! Exactly! Some how, his insanity, no his mind is like controlled Chaos. Like, his head is a dirty room, filled with dirty clothes all over the place, but he knows where everything is. I'd guess that because his mind shuffles so often that mind control would have no effect on him." Vexen straightened up, a bead of sweat strolled down his face, "Superior, all I see for him his trouble. All the data I've collected only points to his fading away."

"So what does the Good Doctor suggest we do then?"

The scientist sighed, "I think it is inevitable that Xinck's darkness will only implode in on himself, so if we are to make use of him, we best do it quickly, Superior."

The blood vial came out of his pocket again and the Superior viewed it in the palm of his hand. "Oh, I intend to." He said.

* * *

"Come on, Xinck, get your ass up!" Larxene yelled abusively. Training Xinck was just not in her. He wasn't used to fighting for his life like this, dodging knives and bolts of lightning. "If you can dodge a bullet, you can dodge lightning! Xigbar!"

"Who?" Xinck yelled, picking himself up.

"Yo!" A man's gruff voice called from the other end of the room. Xinck saw a man with an eyepatch, silver and black hair tied back into a long ponytail. He had a silver and purple contraption in his hand. "Hey!" He waved at Xinck.

"Uh...Hi" Xinck waved.

"Fire!"Larxene screamed and Xigbar let fly a bullet stream barrage from his laser gun. Xinck screamed and ran in the opposite direction, jumping and dodging bullet after bullet.

"Hey, guy, I'm Xigbar!" The man called out, "I know this is a terrible time for intros, but, you know, hey, welcome to the program, as they say.!"

"Very nice to meet you!" He screamed his reply. Both his swords were in hand and as he ran he manged

Larxene groaned, stomping her foot in frustration. He wasn't supposed to _not _get hit. "If you can dodge a bullet, then you can dodge some lightning at the same time!" She aimed an open palm at her protege and pale lightning gathered at her fingertips. She effortlessly released bolts of lightning at Xinck who barely dodged them.

"Waagh!" He screamed, lightning on his heels, "Larxene! Stop it! Please!"

"Quit bitching and run, bitch!"

"Don't worry, kid, you're doin' fine!" Xigbar yelled, reloading and continuing his assault. He was taking it easy on him, not warping his bullets so that they curve toward him. Xigbar wasn't sure if his healing factor had kicked in yet and he didn't want to bruise the new guy. Not yet anyway.

Xinck slipped, Xigbar hit him in arm and he fell. "Gotcha now!" Larxene screamed and sent jolt after jolt into Xinck's body. Lightning shot out and around No. XIV, his body twitched, his eyes bulged and he screamed.

"Well, I believe my work here is done." Xigbar said, his gun leaving him in a flurry of purple light. He came over to Larxene and held out his hand, "My payment?"

The woman scoffed, stopped electrocuting Xinck and reached into her pocket. She pulled out a baggie filled with marijuana, "Here, enjoy yourself." She said, thrusting the bag into his hands.

He scoffed, "You know I will." A Corridor wrapped itself around Xigbar and he left. Larxene came over to Xinck, sprawled out on the floor and still twitching. She sighed and looked at the charred body of her protege, "So, what have we learned today, Xinck?"

"Uh..oowahh..mmmy...body..ow." He mumbled.

"Uh-huh. Today we learned that when there is lightning about, watch out for bullets."

"Oooh..oohwahhh..."

* * *

_Later_

"So how's your kid doing with his training?" Axel asked. The Eight member of the Organization sat in the Kitchen with Larxene. Axel was spoon feeding himself a bowl of green jello while Larxene nursed a glass of Liquor.

"Eh." She replied with little enthusiasm, "He's doing alright, I guess. He's been here for almost a week and I finally taught him how to dodge. I guess tomorrow I'll ask Saix to get someone to teach him some basic magic."

"Good, good. How's his fighting?"

"Interesting. Me and Marluxia hadn't really touched on it since it seemed like he at least knows the basics of his own weapons. Oh!" She nearly chocked on her drink with laughter, she held a loose hand to her lips, "Oh my god, do you know what his Joke Weapon is?"

"What is it?"

"A Yo-Yo! Two of them! When he got 'em, they smacked him in his eye!" She laughed, nearly spilling her drink on the table. Axel didn't find it too funny, shoveling more Jello into his mouth.

"Any idea where he is now?" Axel asked.

"What? Oh, you know he didn't know how to open and close Corridors so I gave him a map of the Castle and told him to come and find me and that he could only get around by teleporting."

"Are you sure that's safe? I mean, he could accidentally end up somewhere he's not supposed."

Another scoff, "I don't care. At least it's keeping him occupied and out of my hair."

"What if he gets in trouble? They'll blame it on you, right?"

"Oh, come on! Just because I found him doesn't mean I have to be around him every minute of the day! I found him, I fed him, I clothed him-"

"You know he's not a dog, right?"

"You know what I mean, you dick." She smirked oddly.

"Hey, skanky, I'm just saying that Saix is more likely to blame you than Xinck if he gets into someplace he's not supposed to be, you know, since you _did _find him."

Larxene flashed Axel a look and Axel cut his eyes and smirked in return, then coolly added, "Got it memorized?"

The woman rolled her eyes, "So what about you? How's your little teat-sucker, hmm?"

"Hey!" Axel protested, "He's doing fine, better than yours anyway. He finished all his training last week and already started on solo missions. _And_, to add insult to injury, he's already gotten his Redux. He just has to name it."

"Oh, his Redux, oh..." She gave a distinguishing nod. Even she knew it wasn't easy to obtain a Redux. "So, what's he turn into, a fairy? Ha!" Before Axel could respond with a comeback, both their heads turned to the air to the ceiling left of Axel. Darkness swirled in midair and shaped into an oval. Xinck came falling out of the Corridor yelling, bashing his jaw on the corner of the hard kitchen table as he made his way to the floor.

"Oh, look, Axel. See? The problem resolved itself." Larxene commented, paying her subordinate little mind. Axel rolled his eyes in response.

Xinck struggled to place his hand on the table, gripping his face with his other hand. He pulled himself up, stumbled then spoke, "O-okay, Larxene. I-I found you." He stammered.

"Uh-huh." She said. "And what have we learned?"

"I can teleport anywhere I want now?"

"Yes, and...?"

Xinck shrugged, unsure of how to answer.

"Now when I ask you to go to the store, you can't complain about the long walk back, right?"

"I..I guess..."

"Oh, god." Axel laughed, "You send him on errands?"

"Well, Axel." She snapped, "I need things!"

Axel only laughed harder, much to Larxene's annoyance. Xinck just stood there, his attention now on a loose thread on his coat. Axel stopped laughing long enough to introduce himself, "Hey, I'm Axel, No. 8. Got it memorized?"

Xinck turned to him and replied. "It's four letters and a number, yeah I think I got it. I'm Xinck."

"Ha ha, good one."

Another man came walking into the kitchen. "Hello, hello, all. And how are we this fine day?" Luxord asked, going to the refrigerator. He pulled out a chocolate pudding cup and took a seat across the table from Axel, but before addressing him or Larxene, he took notice of Xinck, "Oh. Well, it's the new fellow." He stood up and offered his hand and a smile, "Luxord, No. X. How do you do?"

Luxord was the only member in the entire group who was liked by all, having no trouble smiling and offering conversation to pretty much everyone. Xinck wasn't used to shaking people's hands, but did so anyway. "Xinck, Fourteen."

"Oh, so how are you enjoying your new profession, if I may ask?"

"It's alright, I guess," He shrugged with his reply, "I like your accent. English, right?"

"Yes, yes it is." He flashed a look at both Larxene and Axel, "See? _He _likes it." He looked to Larxene and her glass of liquor, "Isn't it a tad bit early for that?"

"You're one to talk, Mr. Peppermint Schnapps at 6 A.M." She replied, taking a drink.

"What I do in the privacy of the loo is my business and no one else's."

"Speaking of bathrooms." Xinck started, "I noticed that-"

"You speak when spoken to!" Larxene snapped and struck him across the face. Everyone else fell silent. Xinck cringed and cradled his bruised cheek. Inside of him, his chest vibrated, his ears rang and his presence acted on its own. Depending on the situation, this could be taken as a threat.

Larxene drunkenly scoffed, "I wish you would try something. I'll use your freaky teeth to rake up the leaves around the Castle!"

Axel leaned over to Luxord to whisper, "We don't have trees around here do we?"

"None that I've seen." Luxord replied, "She's speaking that sweet, sweet drunk language."

"Now come on!" Larxene wobbled up from her chair and opened a Corridor. "We have a training thing. S'go!" Before Xinck could reply, Larxene kicked him in the rear into the Corridor and she followed suit.

"Aw, poor lad."

"Poor lad? Are you serious?" Axel said, swallowing more Jello and talking with his mouth, "Did you feel his presence. He wants to kill everyone!"

"Oh!" Luxord cringed, seeing the gooey green Jello in Axel's mouth, "Swallow you food, mate!"

"Sorry."

"I'm just saying that dealing with the raging, temperamental tempest that is Larxene is no easy task. I'm sure he hasn't had a chance to get to anyone else in the group and, as a consequence, always drifts back to Larxene no matter how bad she treats him."

"You mean she's beat on him before?"

"Several times." Luxord reached into his pocket and produced his cellphone, "Just the other day, Xigbar sent me a picture of Her beating him into a corner." He held the phone up to Axel and the picture was of Xinck curled up into a corner as Larxne was kicking him savagely in the chest.

"Dude. Not cool."

"Indeed, not cool." Luxord slipped the phone back into his coat.

"But, come on, you have to admit that the guy is just a bit...off, right? I mean he just seems a little creepy."

Luxord shook his head, "You can't always judge a book by it's cover, my friend. Perhaps we should try to get to know him first, eh?"

"Nah." Axel shook his head. He finished off the rest of his Jello. "I think I'll just stick to magazines. The dude is just way too out there for me. How about you, why don't you try to get to know him?"

"Oh, I'm much too busy. Oktober Fest is soon and I'm taking time off." Luxord raised his Jello for a toast and Axel obliged him. "It would seem that this entire subject was all for naught then, eh?"

"It would seem so."

"Oh! Maybe you can introduce Roxas to him?"

"Oh, no." Axel shook his head repeatedly, "No, no, no, no."

* * *

**Xinck**

I've been here for about a week now, gotten to know some of the members and finished with the basics in fighting. Well, actually Marluxia and Larxene didn't really touch on my swords, they said I looked like I knew what I was doing with them when they saw me fight. I had some time to myself and I started playing around with them and I decided to give them a name; Thanatos, after the God of Death. I named them that for two reasons. One, when I had a heart, I had a fascination with death. Don't know why. And two, I went out on a tutorial mission with Marluxia about Recon and Heartless extermination and I killed every Heartless...and a bystander. I killed him so effortlessly, the blade just flew from the hilt and the next thing I knew, my chain was reeling his dead body towards me. Marluxia helped me get rid of the body after he complained that I can't go around killing people on a whim.

Okay, okay, okay, I almost forgot, I found out that because I'm a Nobody, I get superpowers! Bitchin', right? Right. Okay, so I'm strong and really fast. I can heal, apparently, and I'm durable. I think that's why Xigbar shot me and I only felt a little shock, or why when Larxene shocked me I didn't die. Other than that, Larxene told me that I'm supposed to get other abilities that are just for me, so there's that to look forward to.

I think of it like this: There are Fourteen people in this castle including m and I've met Numbers, I, II, IV, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII ( I don't know the numbers of the the guy with the eyepatch or the guy with the swirly blonde hair). So that means I haven't met numbers III, V, VI, and XIII. You don't think they're hiding from me, do you? Eh, probably.

Alright..um...that's all I have to say for now, Journal...so I guess I'll just cap my pen and slip you underneath my bed. Oh! I almost forgot, I finally know how to do Corridors and just the other day I took a "Little Trip" to Bed Bath and Beyond and "acquired" a Kind-size bed. I mean, come on, give a 15 year old the power to be anywhere at anytime, well of course he's gonna misuse it. That's just common sense.

* * *

_**Xemnas Reports-**Entry 227_

I've had some free time lately and in that time I have taken up a small side project. I have taken an infamous drug known to the public as "LSD", also known as Blotter Acid, Blotter Cube, Boomers, Blue Acid, and my personal favorite, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". I have taken this drug and studied it's effects, then did several molecular tweakings of my own and, hilariously, I now have no idea what it does. So, as a result, I "acquired" several "willing" human test subjects and gave them each a sample of the modified drug in it's clear, liquid form.

The results were..._less _than what I expected. One subject, a woman, I think, by the name of Rosie O' Donnell, began to savagely beat her head against a steel chair. A man, name of Tom Cruise, began clawing his eyes out all the while denying homosexual allegations. Frankie Muniz's head simply exploded and Jimmy Fallon began coitus on the headless body then started eating it.

I had to put them all down like dogs.

Obviously, the human testing didn't go well. I'm failing to see the use for this Modified Drug. But the thought of Nobody testing has been in mind recently. And the drug _is _as clear as water. I suppose I could test it on my subordinates.

Note to self: Remind Saix not to drink the water.

* * *

**_Unseen, Now Forgoten..._**

"Fascinating! Simply fascinating!" Xemnas exclaimed uncharacteristically. He was in his own private laboratory. It was smaller and much less extravagant than Vexen's but it had all the necessities and equipment: lab table, microscopes, vials, chemicals and all the like. This was Xemnas's private lab and the only way to gain access to it was if you were with Xemnas and currently, Xigbar was the one keeping the Superior company. He wasn't doing anything, just resting sitting at the counter adjacent to Xemnas as he inhaled the smoke from his marijuana cigarette.

"_Do you love me, Mary Jane?_" Xigbar sang to himself, "_Don't you play no games Y-y-y-yeeeeaaahhh!"_

"Xigbar, take a look a this." Xemnas said. He was sitting at the lab table, a microscope under his eye. "Vexen was correct when he-"

"I'm Rick James, bitch." Xigbar said.

"Excuse me?" Xemnas shot a look at Xigbar, considering releasing his presence to remind Xigbar of his place.

"It's from _Chappelle's Show_. I miss that show. I'm so high right now."

"I wish you wouldn't smoke in here."

"You're not the boss of me!" Xigbar snapped.

"Yes, I am."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot. Sorry."

Xemnas sighed and rolled his eyes. The only reason he allowed Xigbar to be in his current state was because he secretly found Xigbar's pot-headed antics amusing. "Just take a look at this." He ordered and Xigbar sauntered over to the microscope to take a look. He peeked through the whole with his good eye and held his weed daintily in between his thumb and pointer.

"Okay, what am I looking at? Goop?"

"Blood." Xemnas corrected. "The blood of the Fourteenth."

"What's so special about it? Smoke weed. Huh? What's so special about it?" Xigbar took his eye away from the microscope.

"Did you notice how the Red Blood cells followed each other around in differentiating patterns over time?"

"I was trying to, but they were moving too fast, so I just looked at the spiky black dots around them. I'm so high right now." Xigbar started swaying back and forth on his heels.

"Those are his White Blood Cells. They're black, yet perfectly healthy." Xemnas moved back to the device and looked at the sample of blood. "I cannot match any other blood type to these cells. Xinck has an entirely unique blood type: Blood Type D-. I believe that even his blood is connected to Darkness. Vexen was right, he is Deviant in more than one sense of the word."

"I am so high right now."

"Yes, yes, I heard you the first time. Do you know what this means?"

"You know I don't." Xigbar said. Taking a seat next to Xemnas, and finishing his smoke.

"We can use Xinck's blood in the Replica Program." Xemnas got up once more and wandered over to the cabinet where he kept his chemical samples. He opened it and every shelf was filled with multiple vials filled with periodic elements in their liquid forms, excluding the ones that were much too dangerous to keep in liquid form. Xemnas bent down to the very bottom shelf and pulled at it's handle, revealing an empty, dark space. He reached in and pulled out a red box and brought it back to the table with Xigbar.

"What's in there, I'm so high right now?" Xigbar asked.

Xemnas opened the box and revealed a very small vial, so small it was comparable to a large thimble. In it, was a swirling black and white liquid with noticeably large red dots swirling in the still liquid. The liquid appeared to be swirling with it's black and white contents, but that was only it's natural appearance. It was still and calm and the red dots floated lazily in it.

" 'S'that?" Xigbar slurred.

"Sciatium."

"Gesundheit."

"That's what I said: Sciatium, In liquid form." Sciatium was the periodic element that was Darkness , currently unknown to a large portion of people in the universe. Xehanort and Ansem the Wise had managed to uncover the method of producing this element, but it was too dangerous and time consuming to do so. Darkness in it's solid, elemental state, was nothing but Gaseous darkness (it's most common form) solidified and, more or less, had the same properties. But they found that darkness in it's liquid form, for some reason, had the potential to become a very unpredictable catalyst, producing strange and occasionally random effects on the subject exposed to it. Unfortunately liquid Sciatium isn't an abundant substance and is even rare in the Dark Realm and Ansem the Wise proposed that the only way it could have been initially created was during the beginning of the Universe where there was enough heat and free energy to keep it in a liquid state. The thought of liquified darkness was intriguing enough that Xehanort and Ansem eventually created a machine that could turn Solid Darkness into Liquid, but the machine was only able to do this over the course of 9 years and only in small doses, thus the liquid in the vial is the result of the first run of that machine.

"Did you just explain all that to me or did I just remember it?"

"Both, I suppose. You are high, after all." Xemnas answered. Xemnas uncorked the vial and pulled out an eye dropper. He sucked up just a minute sample of the dark liquid into the squirter and leaned it underneath the microscope. He placed three drops of the Sciatium into Xinck's blood. He returned the remainder of the liquid back into the vial, recorked it and set it on the table. He placed his eye over the eyepeice of the microscope. Just as he did, he saw the black and white liquid spew over the blood cells and settle just for a moment. Then the spiky, black White Blood Cells began to attack and destroy the large Red dots in Sciatium and eventually they were no more and the white part of the Sciatium eventually darkened.

"I was correct, Xigbar. His blood is connected to Darkness and as a result, we now have Pure Liquid Sciatium." Xemnas pulled from the microscope and he smiled, thinking of every new possibility that had revealed itself."

"What do you mean pure? I'm so high right now."

"I mean that this Sciatium." He motioned to the vial on the counter, "Was Impure and not as potent as Pure Sciatium, thus the appearance of those Red substances. But when I introduced it to Xinck's Negative D blood, the black White Blood Cells destroyed the impurities as if they were diseases in the body and making the element pure."

"Okay." Xigbar started, "I'm SO high right now. So you have a way to get pure liquid darkness by combining Sciatium with Xinck's blood. But you only have that one little vial, what are you gonna-"

"Wrong again, pothead." Xemnas snapped, "I have four more vials of Sciatium. Years ago when Ansem and I began the process to convert Solid Darkness to liquid, we used enough darkness, hard to obtain darkness, might I add, to fill five vials. Of course Ansem was banished to the Realm of Nothingness by the time the process was completed and it wasn't until we began the Replica Project did the idea of using Sciatium come to mind." Xemnas moved his hands into a pyramid of contemplation. "Now it only remains when to use it."

"I'm losing my high now." Was Xigbar's reply.

"Oh, god, Finally." Xemnas said.

* * *

"Come for me! Now!" Xaldin, Number III in the Organization howled over the wailing winds around him. Three lances in hand, three floating about him in the wind. Today it was his job to spar with Xinck.

Why Larxene requested for Xinck to spar with someone of such a high level compared to Xinck was something Xinck kept running through his head over and over again yet could not find an answer. Xinck, at his current level, was a more than adequate fighter with his swords and element, born with these skills at the moment of his Unbirth. His training with the Organization had upped those skills. But Xaldin, even as a human, had had years and years of fighter experience, weapons training and a perfect body and build as a result.

He was expected to go easy on the younger Nobody, but 'easy' with Xaldin is still Hard. So very, very hard and bloody. In a flurry of shadows in the air, Xinck made his sword pair appear.

"If you dare go easy on me, I'll hurt you even worse." Xaldin calmly stated.

"Yeah, whatever, you talk way too much." Xinck blurted out. Immediately after the words left his mouth, he regretted it. Violent winds ripped at his back as Xaldin filled the void in space behind him. Xinck cursed and jumped back, ignoring the pain. He ran at Xaldin, ignoring the winds coming from behind.

"Wind! Guard me!" Xaldin yelled, his hand raised. Whipping winds whirled around him in a sphere, Xinck was too close and the winds struck him in the front, sending him back, howling. "Idiot. First lesson!" Xaldin reared back, all six lances pointed at Xinck, he thrusts and impales the Nobody in six areas on his body: Three in his gut, two in his thighs and one in his chest. "First lesson is Defense is the Best Offense!" He raised his lances and Xinck all at once and flung him across Addled Impasse to the floor.

He landed on his side, in a heap, coughing and bleeding, swords still clutched in hands _"...It's not so bad...it's not so bad...it's not so bad..."_He kept chanting to himself. He jammed his let sword into the ground and pushed himself up. His foot slipped out from under him because of the blood and he feel to the floor again.

"Ha." Xaldin laughed, "Funny."

"Side-burned Freak!" Xinck spat.

"Sticks and stones, Xinck, sticks and stones."

"Then I'll beat you with sticks and stones!" He leaped from his bloody spot and fell from the sky to Xaldin, sword ready to cleave his head.

"Much too predictable." At Xaldin's leisure, he raised a hand to the sky around Xinck, "Whirl!" The winds obeyed and heavy gusts formed a small twister. The winds lifted Xinck into the air, pushed him, pulled him and threw him around all at Xaldin's command.

"Ha ha ha! Round 'n round and around he goes, where he stops not even Nobodies know!"

"Fuck you!" Xinck shrieked in a high voice over the winds that carried him.

"Ha ha! Down, then!" Xaldin threw his hand for the ground and the winds responded, pushing with all their might for the ground. Xinck was smashed into the metal of the floor, dislocating his shoulder and busting his arm bone. He wailed in place, thrashing about from the pain, the bone slowly putting itself back together.

Placing a hand over his mouth to cover his yawn, Xaldin expressed his boredom, "I grow tired of this. I'm getting hungry and I'm sure my baked potato is done cooking by now." The wind shield around Xaldin began to die down.

Xinck laughed a savage, evil laugh, "If you're so hungry.." darkness began smoking off his shoulder and arms and stood up and ran at Xaldin, rearing back and readying his fist for a punch, "Then eat this, fat head!" It was the best insult he could think of at the moment. Xaldin was only slightly caught off guard, able to recall his wind shield to block anything Xinck had. Xinck thrust his fist just before reaching the shield and above his head a great, black hole opened, generating an enormous black arm and fist that bludgeoned Xaldin head to waist. The lancer yelled, half from shock and half from pain as the fist retreated into the darkness. His lances twirled about in the air, unsure of what action to take. Xaldin's lip was bleeding. Xinck stood there, just as shocked as Xaldin, unclear at what he had just done.

It didn't take long for Xaldin to recover. "Huh. You made me bleed. Well done." He grabbed his lance and shot over to the confused Nobody, a deadly green aura consumed his body. "Wear the face of Despair!" Lances whipped around him, he slashed and cut and stabbed at Xinck, impaling and slicing at his body. All six lances connected and the Lancer spun them around his neck, dancing and picking Xinck up from the ground with each slash.

"Aaagh!" He screamed with every hit. He fell to the floor, down but not out. Xaldin leaped into the air, lances falling under his feet as he rode them like a surfer on air currents. As he flew around the room, his lances engorged and glowed. Xinck recovered and tossed his sword and chain for the last lance in the line and snagged it, pulling himself into the air.

"Bad idea!" Xaldin howled and his lances twitched and flung Xinck off, out of the air and against the wall.

Xaldin's giant lance contraption turned to Xinck and it's tip opened up in three directions, like a mouth that split into three jaws. Highly condensed air gathered at the very center. Xaldin, standing at the top of his lance, shouted, "Fire!" And the wind was released and bombarded Xinck and the walls around him. His screams were muffled by the sound of the wind that tore at his flesh, and his clothes.

Xaldin jumped from his machine, his lances returned to normal and the winds died down. Xinck's torn and scarred body fell limply to the floor. He was still conscious. He wanted to cry. All he could do was moan and cringe. It hurt too much to move. His vision was blurry because of the blood in his eyes. He sobbed, not knowing what to do, unable to speak.

Xaldin, hands behind his back walked past Xinck on his way out of the room. He stopped momentarily to say. "Oh, yes, by the way. I'm Xaldin, No.3. Very nice to meet you and I look forward to working with you." He walked away, paying no mind to his injured comrade.

"H-help..me..I..can't.."Was all he could muster to say. No one was around. No one would help him. He was alone. Again. He had to get by on his own, he knew that. Inch by inch, he moved his battered, bloody body underneath to pick himself up. He was hutched over and still spilling tons of blood from his wounds. Why he wasn't healing yet, he didn't know. He got up, holding onto his sides, trying to keep the blood in. every step he took was hell to him. Blood clouded his vision, he couldn't see and his arms sent out searing pain anytime he tried to move them to wipe at the blood.

He took a breath and leaned against one of the cold, metal walls. His eyes were closed. The blood stung too much to open them. He felt a presence. "Who's there?" he was frozen in place, too cautious, too worried to move. A soft hand rested on his shoulder. He felt no pain. "Larxene?"

"Shhh."She quieted him. Larxene looked him over, examining his words. "Look at you. I didn't think you'd win fighting Xaldin, but I didn't think he'd over do it." She sighed, rolling her eyes.

"I'm not healing. I don't know why."

"I noticed. Come on." She gently guided him off the wall.

"I can't see."

"I got you." She raised her hand to his eyes and wiped away the excess blood, the same way a mother would wipe away the tears of her child. Xinck opened his eyes and saw her face. There was no smile of joy, or scowl of anger, just her face and there was nothing to it. "Come on." She said. "Let's go get a towel." A Corridor of Darkness wrapped around them both and the next minute they were in one of the Castle's bathrooms. Larxene went to a cupboard and found freshly pressed towels. She took one and went to the sink where she ran hot water over it.

"Alright, hold still." She said. She took the towel out of the water and went to his shoulder and dabbed.

"Ah!" He winced, feeling the hot water on his in his wound.

"It's alright. It's okay." She said, she kept dabbing up the blood and when she was done, the wound began to sow itself up. She went back to the sink, ran hot water over the towel, dabbed up the blood around his wounds and repeated until all the blood on his limbs and torso were gone. Then she moved to his face, the cuts had healed, but she wiped off the blood anyway.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" He asked.

* * *

**Xinck**

I was really injured today, worse than ever before. Larxene helped me to the bathroom and cleaned my wounds as they healed. I asked her why she was being so nice to me and she didn't answer. I never asked again. She was being nice to me. No one's ever been nice to me, not like that. I don't know how to take it. I followed her around for the rest of the day. We made fun of the other members I had met so far. She made fun of me, too, so I made a joke about her. She didn't take it well. I told her she looked like Pikachu with a vagina. She didn't laugh. She stabbed me in the neck, right in the jugular. I passed out on the floor in my own blood. She walked away, laughing to herself. Why does she do this? It's like she just takes pleasure in causing me pain. Fucking Sadist.

I woke up on a lab table. My neck was in a nice, tight bandage. Xemnas was there, washing his hands of my blood. He said he was making his rounds and he found me bleeding all over his new, favorite carpet in the Castle. He said that while I was out, he took another sample of my blood to check for Super-AIDS. It was an obvious lie, but I didn't bother arguing or calling him out. It's just blood.

He said I was free to go and that I should heal naturally in a few minutes. I don't know whats wrong with me, but I went to find Larxene. I was angry, but there really wasn't anything I could do. I hate her. I could fight her, but I'd lose. I'm not strong enough. I'm weak. I hate myself. I hate her, too.

I found her in the kitchen. She gave me an "Apology cake". What the hell is wrong with her? What's wrong with me for taking it? She said she was just caught up in the moment. I told her that wasn't an excuse to stab me. I'm so weak. She said she was sorry.

I hate myself. Why'd I believe her? She's just going to hurt me again. Why do I stay with her? I'm so weak. I hate myself.

* * *

Standing in a dark hall deep within the Castle That Never Was, Saix, the Organization's second in command, stood in silence. His right foot was casually placed up against the wall, his head was lowered and his arms at his sides. You could almost say he was sleeping, eyes closed and his breathing was lowered. Kingdom Heats, the great gathering of all the Hearts the Organization had collected so far, was small now, but grew larger every day. Saix had to hold back his power, absorbing moonlight was natural to him as breathing.

Then he heard knocking on the corner adjacent to him, followed by a voice, "The Crow caws at midnight."

"What the—what?" Saix came off the wall.

"The Crow caws at midnight."

"That makes no sense." Saix said.

Axel came around the corner, arms folded, "That was the phrase we agreed on to be our special code."

"I'm starting to regret that,"

"Yeah, well, you came up with it. So what'd you call me for?"

"It's about our new member."

"The creepy kid Xinck, what about him?"

"I want you to keep an eye on him."

"Oh, crap! I knew something like this was going to happen." Axel cursed, and scratched at the back of his head. "You know why? Because it always happens to me!"

"Calm yourself, Axel. This is a necessary thing." Saix took from the wall. And walked as he talked, as if even mentioning his Superior's name would reveal their plot, "Xemnas has taken an interest in Xinck's Umbrakinetic abilities. That is why he ordered a physical for Xinck, possibly to find his use in the Replica Project. If Xemnas is trying to use Xinck, then I want you to keep an eye on him and I'll find out what Xemnas is planning."

"And how do you suggest I go about doing this...craptacular task you have given me?" Axel added a smile to his sarcastic comment.

Saix sighed. He didn't like it when Axel used sarcasm, not on him anyway, "Use Roxas. I'll pull some strings and try to get Xinck's first real mission with Roxas, and through him, you can get to Xinck. "

Axel nervously scratched at his head again, "I don't know if I can use Roxas like that..."

"It is a must. Sora's Nobody is the Light. Xinck is the Darkness. Do not opposites attract?"

"Man, it's just elements. Don't you think we're all a but more than that?"

Saix turned to Axel, his face twisting into a smile, "Only one way to find out."

* * *

_Next Day..._

The Gray Area, in the morning, was filled with the members who were either taking their time getting prepared for their missions or just didn't feel like leaving yet. Saix stood at the far end of the room, ready to hand out daily missions, Xigbar and Demyx sat around the coffee table drinking coffee and having light conversation. Vexen was in the left corner, going over calculations and various figures in his head. A large man stood around the are where Xigbar and Demyx were, arms crossed with a shard, stone face. His hair was auburn, spiky and coarse. He looked as if he could easily bench everyone in the room and then some.

Xinck walked in, hood up, but everyone knew who it was before he came in. He saw Larxene sitting alone on a couch reading a book. He came up to her, ready to go, but as he got closer to her, she said. "Go over there to Saix." She played with her hair as she spoke, not looking up from her book, "You're not my fucking problem this morning." She pointed over to Saix.

Taken aback by this, Xinck stammered a reply. "Wha-but, yesterday, you-"

"You!" She snapped sternly, she pointed over to Saix, "Over there!"

Xinck stood there, shocked, disappointed, but not surprised. Apparently Nobodies were just like humans. He scoffed a reply. "Fine. Don't have to be so rude about it." He was starting to get irritated with her attitude. He said nothing more and made his way to Saix. On his way, he passed the large, auburn haired man who kept his arms folded and his face as hard and unfolding as stone. Xinck said nothing, glanced at him for a second, then continued for Saix.

"Good morning, Xinck." Saix greeted Xinck the same way that he greeted everyone every single morning.

"_Ohayo, _Saix." Xinck replied in Japanese. As soon as he did, he quickly grasped his mouth through his hood, shocked at his own words.

"What did you say?"

"I have no idea." Xinck replied truthfully, "I...uh..fell asleep with my TV playing a Japanese cartoon. Must have just stick with me, you know?"

Saix ignored it and held up his clipboard and scanned the papers for Xinck's name."Oh, yes, and speaking of your television, I am warning you about going to outside worlds and stealing items." Saix found Xinck's name on the next page, "We don't mind you going off and taking small items, but if it's an object of any significant interest then it is to be reported and checked with Inventory. Understand?"

Xinck was fiddling with with the mysteries of the loose thread on his coat sleeve, barely paying Saix any mind, "Uh-huh, yes, of course."

"Anyway, Larxene has requested that you learn at least some basic magic today. To assist you with this, Zexion will be accompanying you to Twilight Town."

"Zexy-who?" Xinck asked, head limp to the side.

"That would be me." A voice from behind. A young man, a bit shorter than Xinck stood before them. He had blue eyes and long dark and silver hair pushed forward partially covering the top of his face on the right. He introduced himself, "Good Morning. I am Zexion, No.6." He was polite, but his face revealed little emotion. He couldn't have been older than 20, maybe 21.

"Good Morning." Xinck nodded.

"I trust that you have prepared yourself for our assignment today, yes?"

"Uh..." Fourteen's eyes darted around in his skull, then at Saix.

"Just go." Saix ordered, opening a portal beside him.

"Oh." Zexion said, "Before we go, would you mind wearing this?" No.6 held in his hand a small, dull metallic green ring with a carved image of two serpents locking tails and a pentagram in the center. A tiny lock was imposed on the pentagram.

"Oh, oh, well, Zexion, I'm very flattered," Xinck stammered, " but I'm not looking to be tied down with marriage. Ever."

Zexion snorted, almost laughing, but with disdain, "This is no wedding band. You're presence is deadly to humans and right now our assignment requires going undetected. This ring can suppress your presence until your power has matured enough to control it." He handed the ring out to Xinck. He was right, while in the Castle it was alright to let your presence out every now and again, but Xinck had it out constantly, unable to keep it down at will.

"Okay, okay." Xinck took the ring, placing it on his finger, the pentagram glowed green and the serpents hissed slightly. Immediately, Xinck felt the vibration in his chest cease slightly, ringing around inside him. "Oooh, tingly."

* * *

In the Sandlot in the middle of Twilight Town, a quiet little burg between night and day, the Nos. 6 & 14 stood alone.

"We shouldn't stay here long." Zexion stated, "This is around the time that the citizen's of this world are usually asleep and I don't want to risk waking them up." Zexion scanned the rooftops around him to make sure no one was around. Not a soul in sight. He turned around to his companion. "Now, tell me, do you know any—Xinck?" He wasn't there. Zexion did a 360, looking around for his companion. "Where did he...?"

Over on the other side of the Sandlot, against the wall was Xinck, crouched down, his back to his superior. "What are you doing? Xinck?" Zexion got no reply. He walked over to the crouching young man and peeked over his shoulder. "What _are _you doing?"

No. XIV gave a simple reply, " Squishin' ants." Below him was a small ant pile and ant after ant was crawling out of the mouth in search of food. And one by one as they came out, Xinck squished them unmercifully with his pointer and middle finger.

"Wha-What the-?" Zexion, in a shock, had never seen such a thing. Just "squishin' ants" for no real reason? Even in his youth he never resorted to such obvious antisocial behavior. It made no sense to him, really. As a child he always kept an air of civility about him and in this one act of his charge "squishin' ants", he momentarily lost it all. "Get your ass up and stop playing with ants!" He yelled, catching himself too late.

"Shhh." Xinck replied, not turning around, "Zexion, _do _stifle yourself. We are in a residential area."

"_Unacceptable..." _Zexion thought, fists clenched, _"Unforgivable!"_ With a flick of his wrist, Zexion produced his signature book, The Book of Retribution, his lexicon in his hands. He flipped open it's pages, found a spell and spoke it aloud, _"Ra'tiel!"_ His voice echoed.

Glowing orange erupted beneath Xinck and a great fiery pillar of lava burst from below, not scratching the ground itself, but hurling the young, yelling Nobody into the air.

He grunted, not really harmed as he landed on the ground on his amazed than harmed, really. His backside was smoking and yet he looked at Zexion with awe and surprise. Jaw-dropping surprise. "You...how did you."

"Magic, Xinck." Zexion began, closing his book, "Is more than a simple slight-of-hand by your average street magician. In the field, it can mean the difference between life and fading away."

Zexion as the teacher and Xinck as the student. No.6 demonstrated several spells for his subordinate:Fire Spells, Blizzard spells, etc. Xinck hung on every word, deeply interested in the concept of magic. And then, it was time to try it out himself.

"Now, we're going to start off with the most basic of spells: Fire." Zexion stated, his subordinate standing next to him. "It's simple. All you need is a physical increase of heat and the spell will amplify and project it. Like so." Zexion raised his right hand, pointed outward and snapped his fingers, generating a small, but adequate increase in heat. As a result, a medium-sized burst of orange fire shot forth from his hand, soared through the air for 10 feet, then fell to the ground and died. "See? Simple. The Fire spell is Basic magic, but it can go up to levels two and three, Fira and Firaga. There are also several variations of Fire Spells that are beyond the Basic Level. Because I've studied magic for years, I can cast spells up to level 199 out of 500."

Xinck nodded, "Can I try?"

"Yes, off course. Remember, Fire spells require thinking about hot thoughts and a physical increase in heat. So don't forget to snap."

"Right." Xinck held out a hand and readied his fingers to snap. _"Hot thoughts. Hot Thoughts. Red Hots, Flamin' Hot Cheetos, Tamales, burnt Pizza. Fire!"_ A snap of his fingers and nothing happened at first. Then, No.14 was consumed in flames. Yelling, screaming and flailing his hands about, he ran around the sandlot as Zexion chased after.

"Stop, Drop and Roll, Fool! Stop, Drop and Roll!"

After Zexion stomped out Xinck's flames and his skin healed up nicely, Zexion continued the lesson. "Okay. For your first time using magic you didn't do a bad job. I remember when I first trained Demyx in magic he didn't even know how to snap his fingers. Couldn't get a flame going, being a water elemental and all."

"He's a musician. How does he not know how to snap?"

"I've kept myself up many a night trying to find out the "Why" of Demyx and it is truly a futile gesture. Now let's continue..." The lesson continued and much sooner than thought, Xinck become able to fire up to four Fire spells, three Firas and two Firagas. He showed much skill in sorcery.

"That man with the red hair, Axel, I think. He can use fire, can't he?" Xinck asked after firing another blast.

"Yes." Zexion answered. "All members of the Organization have the ability to naturally manipulate an element. Yours is darkness, correct?" Xinck nodded, "Try firing a continues dark force, please."

Xinck started to ask why, then figured that there truly was no harm in it. He raised a hand to the air and opened his palm to the sky. Xinck realized that using his innate abilities was simple and that all he needed to do was visualize what he wanted to happen and let his darkness flow from his chest and out from his body, in this case his hand. A dark flame appeared in his palm, he twitched his fingers and a highly-dense black turret shot from his hand and pierced the twilit sky above.

"Keep going." Zexion ordered. And He did, the blast did not waver for 3 full minutes.

"That's enough, very good." Zexion said and Xinck ended the blast, letting his hand fall limp to his side. "How do you feel?"

"Fine, I suppose." He added a shrug."

"Now, fire two Firagas." Zexion ordered. Xinck complied: he snapped his fingers and thought EXTREMEMLY hot thoughts and one huge fire ball shot from his hand and exploded on the ground far from him. He felt weak slightly, his breathing becoming louder. He fired another and when it exploded, he bent over and nearly went to the ground in a heap.

"_Cura."_Zexion spoke his spell and summoned a yellow and green bellflower over Xinck's head and healed his fatigue. "Notice how when you used your own element you went on for almost three minutes, but when you used fire magic you nearly blacked out. This is because manipulating your own element takes very little energy away from you. Of course for magic and powers that aren't yours, tons of energy is consumed, so you must be careful, be prepared and know your limits." Zexion closed his book, sighed and flipped his hair. "The lesson is complete for the day, Xinck. If you wish to pursue higher knowledge in anything we've discussed then I'm afraid you'll have to do so on your own time. Shall we RTC?" A Corridor opened itself next to Zexion.

Fourteen picked himself up and brushed off the dirt on the front of his coat. "Wait a minute!" He called, "I have a question."

Zexion sighed, shaking his head, "Yes, Xinck. My hair always looks like this."

"No, not that."

"No, you cannot keep the ring."

"Not that! I wanted to know what your element was."

No.6 stopped in his tracks and thought of the question for only a second. He answered, " 'If time is not real, then the dividing line between this world and eternity, between suffering and bliss, between good and evil, is also an Illusion.'-Herman Hesse"

"Speaking in rhymes and riddles. How scholarly of you. Could I have a straight answer?"

"Illusion, Xinck. My elemental power is Illusion."

"That's not really an element." Xinck said. "How could that possibly work anyway?"

" 'How could it work?'" Zexion repeated to himself. He stepped into the Corridor and turned back to Xinck. "Answer me this, Xinck. Are you sure you were really on fire?"

"What? No! You didn't!"

" 'Is not this whole world an Illusion? And yet it fools everybody.'" With those words, Zexion left into the Darkness.

* * *

_**Zexion**_

I've been in this Organization since it's inception. I've witnessed member after member come and go. The Fourteenth members in particular are the ones who seem to go the most. Xinck is, without a doubt, one of the strongest so far. He seems to have a natural take for the supernatural, seeing as he so easily grasped the concept of magic. His natural dark powers are coming along so well, he'll make an excellent addition to our group. His scent didn't tell me much, other than that he smells minty and that he ate a Hot Pocket for breakfast.

Although, I will say this. Something about him is a bit troubling. Its as if he's hiding something. Or, if not hiding, something is very desperate to get out. Being around Xinck makes me wonder how things would be different if we had kept some of the other 14th members instead of Xinck.

* * *

Lexaeus is the Organization's No. V. He wore spiky, auburn hair and his face was in a permanent scowl. His elemental power over the earth, huge build and innate super strength made him the undisputed strongest member in the Organization, in terms of physical strength anyway. He was a natural born warrior and as stalwart as the earth he moved.

But today he was handed the role of teacher.

A Corridor of Darkness opened up in the Sandlot and Lexaeus lead the way, Xinck at his heels.

"So..." Xinck was looking for the best topic to talk about. "...like any music?"

Lexaeus said nothing, keeping his stone face focused on the are around them.

"No? Not a music person, eh? Let's see...how about...food? Like any good food?"

More silence from Number 5.

"How about sliced bread? Are you a fan of the phenomenon that is sliced bread?"

Apparently, Lexaeus could take no more. "Do you know what a Redux is?"

"Uh...no. I'm guessing from the X it's a member that I haven't met yet."

"The Redux is your most powerful arsenal. It incorporates your elemental power, your will and your very essence." Lexaeus led Xinck over to the benches at the edge of the Sandlot. They both sat and Lexaeus continued. "When you look inside yourself, look deep into the void inside yourself, you'll find the means to approach this power naturally."

"Does everybody have a Redux?" Xinck asked.

"Only Nobodies. As Nobodies, we are, in a way, superhuman, but less than human at the same time. Our will is what makes us have a Redux. We push our Redux from within ourselves by our will. It is a powerful force derived from our very essence and personality."

"Like our weapons?"

"Yes, but it is so much more."

"How do I get one?"

"You must look inside yourself when you are ready, mature and much stronger to contain it's power. Think of it like this, two people playing a game of tug-o-war. You are on one side, your Redux on the other. You and your Redux must stay in perfect balance in terms of energy consumption. If your Redux takes too much of your energy, it'll turn on you and end you."

"Fall in the mud." Xinck said.

"Excuse me?"

"You used tug-o-war as an analogy. So I assumed that falling in the mud after being pulled so much would mean you die."

"Ah...yes..of course."

"Alright, so are you here to help me start learning how to get my Redux?"

"No."

The first thing that came to mind for Xinck to reply with was, 'So what use are you?' But thought better of it considering Lexaeus's raw power. Lexaeus continued with:

"But I am only here as an introduction to the subject." Lexaeus stood to his full height, easily dwarfing Xinck. No.V reached into his pockets and produced a blue pamphlet entitled.

"Rules of Redux

Your Redux and You.

By:

Zexion, The Cloaked Schemer, Esq."

"Zexion wrote a pamphlet explaining every detail, custom and rule concerning Redux." He handed the small, 15-page pamphlet to Xinck, who flipped through it's pages then casually stuffed it into his pocket.

* * *

**Xinck**

It's been awhile since I've had some time to write, but oh, do I have some things to tell you. First, I finally met every member. As it turns out, Xigbar is No. II and Saix is No. VII. Why is Saix Number 7 and Second-in-Commad? I bet that pissed off Xigbar.

I'm finished with my training with Marluxia and I went on my first mission with the Number XIII, who, it turns out I have already met. It's Roxas. The little guy with freaky blonde hair. We went to some world where we had to steal a sword in a stone and bring it back to the Organization's vault. It wasn't hard, actually. I've had harder training missions to be honest. But what is really exciting is what happened later. I am finally a fully-fledged member of Organization XIII (they decided not to change the name due to already having business cards printed). I have a title and I get to make my own subordinate-class Nobodies. I have to actually get a few Dusks and _do _stuff, but I'll get to it later. My title is:

"The Fallen Deviant"

I don't really care for the "Fallen" part, but I like the "Deviant". It sounds...sexy. Yeah, sexy. I'm sexy.

IN OTHER AMAZING XINCK NEWS! Zexion was right when he said that I'd have to learn more magic on my own. I found the Library and took out 12 books on the subject of the various magics in the worlds. I was always a fast reader, plus as a Nobody I learn faster so I finished reading all of those books in a day...plus, I did a lot of skimming. A LOT of skimming.

Anyway, one thing I learned was that there exists natural magical fields around every world, almost the same as the magnetic field around the earth and that different spells, incantations, rituals and objects can manipulate these fields to various effects. And different cultures EVRERYWHERE have different ways to use these fields. There's Chinese magic, Celtic magic, African magic, Indian magic (red dot and feather) and I even started the basics in Alchemy (which isn't magic by the way, but if you saw it you wouldn't be able to tell the difference). I think I can say that my magic level is way above Basic now, except I still need to apply it.

IN OTHER AMAZING XINCK NEWS! I glanced at that Rules of Redux pamphlet Lexaeus gave me. I glanced at it then lost it. I'm sure it'll turn up eventually.

Mmmmmm...I guess while I'm writing I should list some of the other things I can do.

Omni-linguistic-I found out I had this power when I was watching Telemundo and there was nothing else on. For thirty minutes I watched soap operas, having no idea what was going on. Then, after thirty minutes, I started understanding every word they said, like my ears were tuning into a different radio station. So now I am well versed in Spanish. Then I "acquired" some Rosetta Stone language kits and, well, let's just say I know my way around 9 other languages.

Powerful Mouth-I can eat anything! HAHAHAHA!

Super-hearing-I can hear...most things! HAHAHAHA!

Necrokinesis-Okay,now I think this might have just been a fluke, but I think I can bring back dead people...well, at least hamsters at the moment. I killed Demyx's hamster on accident, but I was able to bring it back. It's hard to explain now, but if I get better at it I'll have to write it down in here.

Oh! and I also can...no..wait, that wasn't me, that's Marluxia. Oh, but I can-no...that's Larxene. Huh..well, I thought I would've had a longer list. Oh well!

* * *

In the perpetual night of The World That Never Was, a shining body descended from the clouds in a burst of Holy Light, dispersing the clouds out in all directions. The body fell, it's foot pointed towards the roof of a building, it's silver shining wings folded outwards as it fell.

The 13th member of the Organization, Roxas, in the form of his Redux hit the roof and folded his giant wings behind him. His breathing was heavy. He had to get used to flapping his wings. His black-gloved hands straightened his dark gold tie and wiped at whatever dirt might have collected on his night-black suit.

Clapping was heard behind him. "Alright, Roxas, doing good." His friend and former mentor, Axel, No.8, congratulated him, walking towards him, "Let's see, you got the wings, the suit and now all you need is a name."

"A name? Why?"

"Every Redux should have a name. Makes it more powerful. Almost everyone names it in a different language. It's kinda the norm, you know?"

"Oh..well, how'd you name yours?"

Axel smirked, then laughed, thinking about how 'original' he was. "Dude, I named mine in English. Do you know what everyone else in the Organization did? They just went to Google Translate and put some weird phrase into the translator. True story." Roxas started laughing mildly, even though he had no idea what the words 'Translate' or 'Google' meant.

"So, what should we name mine?" He asked.

Axel placed a hand to his chin and looked Roxas over. "Well, the wings are a dead give away, so it has to have Angel in the name. And we want to be original and I don't think anyone else named their Redux in Latin, which I got a B- in High School."

"What's Latin?"

"A dead language." Axel scratched at his head, running through every Latin phrase he could think of for his friend. "Let's see..._Luce _means Light and Angel is _Angelus. _Mmmm...How about 'Lucifer'?"

" 'Lucifer'? What's that?"

"The Devil..."

"I don't want to be the Devil!" Roxas shouted, shocked.

"Let me finish. It's an old name for The Devil, like..uh..Abaddon or Old Nick (A/N:Hintity Hint Hint). But it actually means "Bringer of Light."

"Oh..like my element, right?"

"Exactly!" Axel exclaimed. "Now..we need something tough in the name somewhere, you know to counterbalance the Angel part."

Roxas thought for a second, "How about 'Destruction'?"

"Now you're thinkin' big!"

As Axel and Roxas pondered over the naming of a new Redux, Larxene, eying them from afar, teleported back to the Castle.

* * *

_**Larxene **_

Having a heart is much too painful and annoying AS HELL. If you ask me, being a Nobody is a lot easier. I can be the best me I can be just the way I am now. I guess that's why I see so much potential in Xinck. And that is a VERY good thing. I mean, when compared to Marluxia, I'm the weaker of the two and our plan to take over the Organization when we get to Castle Oblivion is going to work, we'll take over the Organization and Marluxia will be in charge. Marluxia is powerful. Xemnas is powerful. Therefore, I need more power, duh. That's where Xinck comes in. I'm sure everyone thinks that Xinck's darkness will just implode in on himself, but oh, no. He's much to strong for that. His powers wouldn't allow that. I'll keep Xinck close to me, I'll make sure he reaches his potential and in return I'll reach my potential. So when the day comes where Marluxia is head of the Organization, I'll have a way to become head of the Organization.

I'll get Xinck to his full potential the same way Mother got me to mine...

Sigh. My mother...the hateful bitch. Constant ridicule. The never-ending tension. The eternal extra-curricular activities, Gymnastics, Piano, Martial Arts training, Acrobatics, Knife-Throwing competitions and dozens of other things I can't even remember the names for! AND LOOK WHERE IT GOT ME NOW! THANKS A LOT, MOM! NOW I GET TO USE ALL MY SKILLS TO ACT OUT EVERY VIOLENT TENDENCY I HAD FOR YOU ON OTHERS!

And I know just the next step, the right move in making him reach his potential. Axel thinks his protege is such hot shit because he has the Keyblade _and _a Redux. Well, we'll see how bright that Light shines when I give the Darkness the power of Redux. I'll give it to Xinck, whether he likes it or not and even if it kills him. Or me.

Sigh. My mother...that hateful bitch...

* * *

**Xinck **

Larxene is pissing me off. I can't take her crap anymore. We got into a fist fight today in the kitchen. I WOULD HAVE WON! But she kneed me and I fell to the floor where she proceeded to beat me in front of the others. She's always doing that! We could be sitting around just talking or making fun of one of the other members, then we start to fight and she starts hitting me! I'm sick of it! It's like I'm just a toy to her, she's always "playing" with me. She'll be nice to be around one minute, then bitchy the next! I don't need this. I think I'd rather be alone than with someone like that...

* * *

Saix was in his room, at his computer inputting data when it happened.

Lexaeus and Zexion were conversing with Vexen in his lab when it happened.

Marluxia was in his room doing his two-hour beauty regimen when it happened.

Xigbar had just gotten the best hand of the game with Xaldin and Luxord when it happened.

Demyx had just found the squashed body of his hamster when it happened.

Xemnas was in his office and eating when it happened.

Axel and Roxas were still outside in the Dark City. They had finally decided on a name for Roxas' Redux when it happened.

"I don't know..." Roxas argued, "I'm still not sure about the 'Lucifer' part."

"Believe me it'll all tie together." Axel said, " I mean, think about it _Archangelus Exitium Et Creatio _looselymeans 'Archangel of Destruction and Creation'. You don't care at all about the Destruction part?

Roxas shrugged and smirked. He used a new word he had learned from Axel a few days ago. "It's sounds...uh..cool?"

He's always good for a nice laugh, Axel thought "Yeah. It does."

The Castle That Never Was stood high in the distance. It grew dark. The shining light from the small, heart shaped moon that bathed the white castle in it's glow grew dark. Living shadows, moving blackness radiated from the Castle and tormented screams filled the air.

_AAGGHHHHHHH!_

"What the hell?" Axel turned to see the darkened Castle in the distance. "What happened?"

"You think someone's hurt?" Roxas asked. He had dismissed his Redux and was once again wearing his black coat.

"I don't know. But we're about to find out. Let's go." Axel snapped his fingers and a dark Corridor opened it's mouth and the two Nobodies ran inside.

_AAGGGHHHHHH!_

In Addled Impasse, dangerous tremors were born and shook the very foundation of the Castle.

"Come on, Xinck!" Larxene yelled orders, not encouragement, "You can do it! Don't let this kill you! If you die, I am so kicking your ass!"

Xinck was arching his back, howling at the sky, screaming at the ceiling. The pain was truly unbearable, as if that empty void inside was tearing at him, eating him and swallowing him from the inside out. His face had become contorted and demonic, his eyes like black glass and his mouth as wide as it could get. His shadow was tearing at the air around him, thick wisps of darkness shot violently and exploded from his body. His black eyes turned to Larxene, but the screaming continued. It wasn't just him who was screaming.

"WHY DID YOU DO THIS TO ME?" He cried. He got no answer, it was getting worse. The pain was ripping him apart. "WHY-AAGGHHH!"

"Come on! Hold it in! Make it submit! Hold it down!" She yelled at him. A black explosion erupted from Xinck's body, impacting Larxene and pushed her back against the wall.

"What the hell is going on?" Larxene turned to see Marluxia standing next to her. He had his hands up, covering his face to protect against the harsh energy given off by Xinck.

"I'm giving him his Redux!" Larxene shouted her reply.

Marluxia gasped at what she had done. "You idiot! You didn't! You can't force his Redux! He could kill himself! And even worse, me! And to a lesser extent, the rest of you!"

"No! He won't!" Larxene turned to Marluxia, smiling, "He can do it! Just give him some time!"

"Larxene!" Another voice. Xigbar's. The Freeshooter came up to both of them, his hair writhing in the wind, "What the hell did you do? Did you finally piss him off!"

"No!" Marluxia answered, "She forced his Redux!"

"What? Are you trying to kill me? And to a lesser extent, the rest of you?" Xigbar yelled back at Larxene. Xigbar regained himself in the chaos long enough to summon one of his guns and aim it at Xinck's head, "We can't risk it! We'll just have to put him down like a Dog!"

"No you don't!" Larxene roundhouse kicked Xigbar's hand, the gun flew over across the floor and out of range.

"Ow! My trigger finger!" Xigbar grabbed and cradled his hand in his lap, "You hit my motherfucking finger!"

"No one's gonna hurt him!" She yelled. She stared daggers at Xigbar and Marluxia and to the other members that were starting to appear around them. Everyone was there, minus Xemnas, talking amongst themselves, but Axel, Roxas and Saix were the only ones to come up.

"Larxene, explain yourself." Saix demanded, his hair whipping about his head.

"She's forcing his Redux!" Xigbar answered over Xinck's wailing, "And she hurt my hand!"

"She's What?" Saix's eyes stared menacingly at the woman, but she did not waver or squirm away. "Why?"

"Because if he's going to be in our group he needs to learn Redux!"

"You cannot force it on him! He'll die and take us all with him!"

"I can't move my fingers, dammit!" Xigbar shouted.

"No he won't! Just wait and watch!"

"LARXENE!" Xinck shouted, a myriad of voices behind his own. "AAAGGHH!" Like he was punched in his front by a giant, he was flung halfway across the room, his back smashing against the entirely glass window.

"Axel." Roxas tapped his friend on his shoulder. "What's he mean "Force his Redux"? Is that what we did?"

"No, no." He answered, shaking his head much more than he needed to. "You see, you're supposed to learn your Redux by yourself and learn how to use it all on your own. This can take some time depending on who you are."

"But, I learned mine in only a few days."

"Well, I guess that means you're smart. But Xinck over there..."Axel glanced over the suffering Nobody pinned against the glass wall, "Xinck is just unlucky. Your Redux is all about you, it's just you, and having someone else come in and interfere with that process is dangerous. Forcing your Redux is like throwing a 4 year old into a cage with a bear cub. It's dangerous and if He doesn't take control, then he'll explode in a fury of his own element and probably kill all of us."

"_Explode?"_Roxas didn't want to think of that. He looked on to see Xinck, screaming, his face changing between sad and scared and pain. He turned to look at the other members that watched on, doing nothing.

"HELP ME!"

No one moved.

"We have to help him." Roxas said, he started to walk for him, but Axel held him back.

"No! You can't! No one can help him! You'll just make it worse."

"But..but look at him!"

"You can't do anything! He has to learn to stand on his own two legs."

"_Stand on his own two legs..."_

Through all the chaos and pain, Axel's words were the only things he heard.

On the outside, chaos erupted from every pore on Xinck's body, dark energy ripped and repaired his body all at once. But on the inside, it was worse. Inside himself, he was falling into a never-ending white abyss, all the while living shadows fly in and out of his body, pushing him this way and that. He didn't scream, there was no point. His body turned down to the very bottom of the abyss inside him and looking straight up at him was a monster, a demon. Three pairs of eyes and an open maw with an innumerable amount of clean white teeth. Only it's mouth and eyes were visible, it's enormous hand was cradling what appeared to be it's head and it's multiple eyes showed boredom, not hunger.

Every shadow smashing into his body was another form of himself and who he was. Who he was now and who he use to be.

The first shadow bombarded his stomach, he gasped as it settled inside and shouted. It was his **Anger**.

I will Kill ALL OF YOU! We go in, we kill! We Go and Kill! No more talk! We Kill! Soon, my Dog of War, but we have to do it my way! Losers! Losers!

"What the hell is his problem?" Xinck asked, but already knew the answer. **Anger **left out of his back. **Sadness **and **Despair **were soon to replace.

I just don't know why the color yellow makes me sad. It's just...just so...No one likes me. They think I'm weird, but I can only be me!

**Madness **stopped by for a visit.

Excuse me? Yes, well, I have always believed that whatever doesn't kill you, makes you stranger. Ha ha...ha ha...ha ha ha! HAHAHAHA! I have sex with dogs, man!

His **Hatred.**

Let's see here, I hate you, and I hate you. Oh and I definitely hate you. I don't even know you and I hate your guts. I hope rats eat your kids. I hope all the bad things in life happen to you and no one else but you!

His fascination with **Death **wasn't far behind.

You know as well as I do that everything dies. You, me, those asshole roommates of yours and even this Universe. Yes and even God. God will die, too. I'll make sure of that. We will reap it all.

So many of these aspects of himself invaded his body for a chance to be heard, dozens of them, even some that he didn't even know he had. Why have anger or hate or sadness when he couldn't feel them anymore? Maybe it was from his memories, his old memories of when he was miserable as a human. But they didn't matter anymore, how could they? He couldn't feel anything anymore.

The monster at the end of the tunnel now looked only at Xinck. From it's multiple eyes, one more shadow came into Xinck. It's voice was that of the monster, the demon that stared at him with interest. It's voice was not harsh, nor cruel or evil in anyway. It was clear and resounding with three voices mixing together into one.

It was his **Darkness**.

Feel no Fear. This Divine Darkness is yours. It always has been and shall be for all time. Be greater, our Prodigy, simply be greater.

The monster moved it's giant maw to Xinck and swallowed him whole. In that Darkness, Xinck took control. He opened his own mouth and on his command, the whole of the beast imploded on itself and was pulled into Xinck's mouth. Everything went dark.

"See? Look! I told you!" Larxene yelled over the the noise that was becoming fainter and fainter. "I told all of you bitches! Yeah!" She ran over to No. XIV.

The tremors subsided. The shadows receded into Xinck's body. His face returned to normal and his eyes returned to black and white. He stopped screaming and he fell to his knees, eyes closed, his breathing was heavy.

"Xinck! Xinck! Hey!" Larxene, bending down and slapping him across the face, she hit him much harder than was necessary. She was smiling, giddy with excitement. She truly thought herself the greatest teacher. "Wake up! Come on! I knew you could do it!"

One eye opened, then closed and twitched. Larxene's smile penetrated into his mind and he saw her, looking at him like he was her plaything. _"She hurt me again. I knew she would. Why? Why do I bother with her? She's terrible. She's worse than me. She's evil._

_Kill her! _

_No, I can't._

_Yes you can!_

_No...I.._

_Shut up! All your life you've waited for something like this! Something worth living for, worth waking for! This what you wanted, your dream! Don't let her ruin it! Open your eyes and fight, goddammit! _

His eyes opened, darkness in them. Larxene smiled and stood up, holding out a hand to help him up. He growled silently, his black-burning hand raised for Larxene's and she readied to grab it.

The first words to come out of his mouth, he shouted, "_Ebenholz!" _A great, thick blast of black fired from his palm, bashing into Larxene and blasting her across the room. She collided with the opposite wall and fell to the ground.

"Dude!" Xigbar explained.

"I _do _say!" Luxord yelled in shock.

"Uh-oh. He's gonna get it now." Demyx said.

Xinck leapt to his face, wisps of solid black darkness evaporating off his body and flowing from his eyes, "You bitch! You fucking die!"

Larxene had fallen to her knee, she shot her head up and stared daggers at her now former protege, "What the fuck is your problem?"

"You! You're my problem! You hurt me! I'm not your fucking toy!"

"I give you your Redux and help you control your presence all at once and this is how you pay me back!"

"I'll pay you back with your death! That's the greatest gift I could give you!"

Saix, on the sidelines, elbowed Axel and whispered in a hush tone. "Now might be a good time to interfere."

"Really? I don't know, this seems like a personal matter."

"Just do it."

"Oh god." Axel sighed and flung his arms out in frustration, "You know, you're awfully bossy today, you know that?" He walked off from the rest of the group, much to Roxas' dismay and went to Xinck. Placing a hand on his shoulder, Xinck flinched but kept his eyes on Larxene.

"Okay, alright. It's been a long day and tensions are high. Everyone's a bit stressed out and-"

Xinck hissed in a raspy voice, "Get the hell out of my way, Ginger." With a small push he placed a hand on Axel's side and slid him three feet to the left with ease.

"Damn, dude, you're strong." Axel said in amazement.

Larxene stood up and brushed her coat free of dirt. In a way, this was expected. Tensions always rise on the road to greatness. She had given her mother her share of outburst, so she saw this coming. She spoke calmly, "You're just pissy today because it hurt. You're like a baby who just got it's first immunization shot."

Xinck replied, "Well let me give you a shot. I know just where to put it—RIGHT IN YOUR FUCKING EYE!"

A dark figure, large and tall, made it's way before Xinck. Lexaeus stood before him, arms folded and eyes staring down at the Deviant. "You are making a scene. I ask that you two forget your petty squabblings and go to your rooms."

"Move, dammit!" Xinck yelled, but Lexaeus stayed. Xinck huffed and tried to go around, but Lexaeus stepped and blocked his way. Xinck bellowed, "MOVE YOUR FREAKIN' BODY, YOU WALL!"

"Stifle yourself! You forget yourself, Xinck." Lexaeus remained calm, his gaze unmoving from Xinck. "Remember your pla-"

"Got to hell!"

"Remember your place, No. XIV. We do not-"

"Kiss my dickhead! You remind me of Rocky Dennis from _Mask!"_

"Ok. That's it." Laxaeus's face noticeably twitched at Xinck's defiance. He raised a stern hand, flattened it and aimed for Xinck's neck.

"I hope you get Bird Flu and d-Ugh!" The strike was lightening-quick. Xinck's eyes rolled into his head and his shadows receded back into his body. He fell limp and Lexaeus caught him and flung him over his shoulder.

Larxene laughed at Xinck's unconscious face, his eyes crossed and his giant tongue hanging out of his mouth. "Very good, Lexaeus. Be a dear and drop him in his room; I'll have a talk with him later. Oh and yes, I'll have my cup of tea on the veranda later. One lemon wedge, please. Chop chop." She grinned at the warrior.

The Silent Hero snorted as he walked past Larxene, "I'm doing this because it needs to be done, not because you want it done. Get your own damn tea."

"Well, _someone's _pissy today."

Lexaeus ignored her comment. He walked past the others and past Saix and Axel on his way to a Corridor, "_You _should have been the one to stop this. Not me." With that, he got to the Corridor and left with Xinck's body.

Saix scoffed to Axel, "I think he's talking to you."

"He's talking to you, jackhole!" Axel shot back. The sound of another Corridor turned their attention to the darkness swirling in front of them. Xemnas stepped out, his usual expression of boredom on his face.

"What did I miss?" He asked.

* * *

"_Our group is growing, our goals can reach fruition much quicker. Useless fighting and arguing is nothing more than wasted time and energy. " _That was Lexaeus's reason, anyway. His Corridor opened in Xinck's foyer-sized room and placed him gently down on the floor.

Lexaeus eyed him as he lay there unconscious. _"So much anger inside this supposedly emotionless creature."_ Xinck turned himself over and curled up, now sleeping. _"That raw power couldn't have possibly come from just his darkness." _His breathing was normal, he twitched a little as he slept. _"What awful life did he have to generate such strong emotions and call such a darkness?" _

Lexaeus thought back to his years as a guard and apprentice to Ansem the Wise. They all learned so much about the Heart and it's limit to Darkness. Darkness can and always will corrupt, that was a strong fact that was the result of every experiment they did. But what about Xinck, this Nobody? Nobodies are nothing, they have no light, no darkness. Xinck is of Nothing and there is no light in him, but there is Darkness. More darkness than there should be in anyone. It makes no sense. He's a freak, an anomaly, a deviant. A fitting name, indeed, Lexaeus thought.

Darkness corrupts the heart. But he has no heart, so something must takes it's place. Is it possible that his soul could become corrupted? Is corrupted? Maybe, maybe not. His darkness could be different the same way he's different. Perhaps the word 'Deviant' doesn't always carry a negative connotation.

Lexaeus opened a Corridor with a whip of his hand and stepped halfway through. Either way, he thought, yours will not be an easy one. "Rest now." He said, "For your struggles are just beginning."

In his sleep state, the deviant mumbled, "All these people bother me...let's go on a killing spree."

"_Such a creepy child."_ With that thought in mind, No. 5 left.

* * *

**Xinck**

He didn't know how long he had been out, but he didn't bother complaining. Hitting Larxene with that blast was good enough. For now, anyway. The point is, he thought, she's knows I'm not taking her shit anymore and that's what matters. I don't need her. I'd much rather take Loneliness over Larxene.

He laid on his bed, angrily writing down the events of his day. All at once, Xinck had gotten his Redux, which he could literally feel surging around in his body, and gotten control of his presence. That meant he could now go on more covert missions and not worry about giving himself away. He sighed heavily and finished writing "'Larxene! Fuck you! You go to Hell! You go to Hell and you die!'" He rolled over onto his back, sighed and began drawing skulls all over his journal.

Then, a thought occurred. He hadn't made his Subordinate Nobodies yet. That was something to do to kill time. When he had completed his first real mission, he had received his title and the means to create his own underclass Nobody. The process would only take a few minutes and after it was done, the new Nobody, that is created from a Dusk, will find other Dusks and 'infect' them and turn them into the new Nobody.

First he needed a Dusk. "Any random Dusk want to be my direct subordinate?" He asked. He wasn't really expecting a reply, but a small, white vortex opened and a common Dusk appeared, swaying back and forth as it stood.

"_My Lord and Liege."_It greeted Xinck.

Second, he needed to unzip it's face/hood...

_5 minutes later._

Now all he had to do was name the new breed of Nobody that stood before him. It was shorter than a Dusk and it's "clothes" were a bit baggy and decorated with multiple Organization symbols. Black and gray were it's color schemes and it's sleeves hid it's tiny hands. It wore a hood, hiding everything except except it's zigzagging "mouth". It's hood was long and wavering, two black dots, "eyes" were on it's top.

"Kinda cute." Xinck said, amazed at his own handy work. "Hello."

"_Hello, my Lord, sir."_ It's voice was different, it was almost child-like, not hollow and reverberating like the Dusks.

He hated that. 'Sir' made him sound old. "Don't call me sir. Just call me Xinck."

"_Yes, my liege." _The new Nobody genuflected, but stood back up when he heard Xinck groan in disapproval, "_I mean, yes, Xinck._"

"Enough about me. I need to know what to call you. What can you do?"

"_You gave me Scythes in my hands. Perhaps the name Cutter would suit me."_

"Nah, when I think of Scythes, I think of Grim Reaping, not Grim Cutting." Xinck pulled himself up on his bed and crossed his legs. "How about Reaper? It's short, sweet and to the point."

"_Very well. I shall be known as Reaper."_

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant. You _are _a Reaper, that's the kind of Nobody you are. It's not your name."

"_Oh, very well then."_

"What is your name?" Xinck asked.

"_My...my name?"_

Xinck reached down off his bed and grabbed the Reaper under it's arms and sat down it down beside him. "You don't remember your name?" One possible outcome of turning a Dusk into a different Nobody is the awakening of memories from their old lives.

The Reaper placed a contemplative hand underneath it's chin. _"I will have to think about that for a second."_

"Alright. Take your time." He said with a sigh and rolling of his eyes, "It's not like I have anything else to do."

Just then, directly across the room, the door thundered with knocks. Larxene called, "Xinck! Open up! We gotta talk! Now, dammit!"

"You go to Hell!" Xinck shouted back. The door was locked, but that wouldn't stop her from breaking it down. Xinck leaped from his bed, leaving his Reaper in deep thought. He held up a hand, concentrated and with his ring finger drew a green circle in the air. He said, _"Teire'li Neta (Lock (it) tight)." _On the door, like a hologram, green lines wrapped around the door, then disappeared, reinforcing the door by 100%.

"OPEN THIS DOOR, DAMMIT!" Blasts of thunder shook the wall around the door, but it did not budge.

"Just a little added safety..." Xinck punched both his knuckles together and a translucent, black sphere appeared and expanded, consuming him, his Reaper, his bed and his entire room. "Banish the Dark!" Not a spell, but it was his own way to shut off all Corridors of Darkness to his room, all the while keeping his room perpetually dark.

"WHY AREN'T THE FUCKING CORRIDORS WORKING! XINCK!"

Xinck laughed madly and shouted, "Suck my fat tits!" _Wait, what? _It was the first thing he could come up with. All he knew was that it made Larxene madder. It made him feel so good, it was almost euphoric. He almost felt like he could do anything!"Oh, yeah. This is what Crack must feel like!"

"_Uh..Xinck?"_

"Yes! My little Reaper friend!" He turned abruptly to the tiny Nobody standing behind him. "What is it?"

"_Pietro Alessandro Rioveci D'Ambrosio."_

"Wha..."

"_My name. I am Pietro Alessandro Rioveci D'Ambrosio."_

Xinck snorted, blinked then scratched at his head, "Oh, you're Italian. Pietro Alessandro Rioveci D'Ambrosio. Wow, that's quite the mouthful. Do you have a nickname? Or something shorter?"

"_Rioveci."_

"Ah, excellent."Xinck reached down and held out a welcoming hand to the small Reaper, "Nice to meet you, Rioveci."

Rioveci placed his small hand in Xinck's and shook, "_You, too, Xinck."_

The Organization places an X in their name for Brotherhood. Change the name. A name gives meaning. The New you. Xinck's curved into an evil smile, "So how do you feel about the letter X?"

I gave my Reaper, Rioveci, the name Xercivio. I don't think you're supposed to give Lesser Nobodies the X anagram, but I did anyway. What are they gonna do, sue me? I think I'll hang around him for a little while, hopefully he'll come out of his "Nobody" shell eventually and just start talking like a normal person. He said that he was starting to remember things from his old life, small things like his favorite food or favorite color (it's Teal). He told me he's 11 years old.

Pietro Alessandro Rioveci D'Ambrosio

Wow. Got enough names?

My Redux. I have to find a name for it. I read, like, one page of that pamphlet and that was one of the only things I remember about it: You have to name your Redux. And the other thing was that the best time to do your Redux is whenever you can prevent yourself from dying...or something like that.

I think I'll use Japanese in the name. Japanese is cool. _Toire wa doko desu ka _means "Where is the Toilet?" It's not what I'm calling my Redux, I just wanted to write down where is the toilet. Don't know why.

I guess this is it. I'm getting tired. I have to get up in a few hours to go on a mission.

Oh, one more thing before I go. I wanted to write this down because I thought it was something worth remembering. In one of the books I read, I looked over a section about ancient civilizations. One of these was a Super Civilization, now extinct, it's name is unknown, but one of their greatest inventions was an unstable element called Bazillium, which, I think actually killed them all in a horrible blaze of hell fire.

Anyway! I saw a sample of their language and it looked like this written in English: _Zei'i Ie Nkui._

Yes, I know it looks weird, but it sound weirder: Ze-Iiiee-Ie-Uunke'.

Roughly translated from Freaky to English, it could mean "Of greatest obscurity can my strength be born."

Quite Honestly, I have no idea what that means. Paraphrased, it could mean that my name, Xinck, means "From The Darkness I Draw My Strength."

From The Darkness I Draw My Strength. Yes, I do.

-Xinck the Fallen Deviant.

* * *

_**Xemnas Report **_

It has been a day since Xinck's outburst and gaining of Redux. He's going on his own missions now and has successfully created his own subordinate Nobody, ones he calls Reapers. I heard from Xigbar that Marluxia spent three straight hours bitching over the name for some reason.

In other news, I successfully contaminated the water supply with my new, highly-experimental drug, which I have named "Xemnas In The Sky with Diamonds." As I said in my earlier reports, it is an altered form of of LSD. It causes violent suicidal/homicidal outbursts in Humans (and Cannibalism in Jimmy Fallon). In order to test it's effects on Nobodies, I poured the drug into the water supply.

I told Saix to give everyone the day off. Strangely, most of them, save Lexaeus and Demyx, stole a large van and went to the mall. It would appear the drug caused both Insanity and a severe decrease in Intelligence. Madness and stupidity are the main effects of the drug on Nobodies, along with isolated effects depending on the individual (Yes, and I believe they killed and ate Xinck. Then he came back. Quite shocking, indeed).

The Drug effects on Demyx resulted in his odd incarceration when he tried to sneak into China, I think and Lexaeus briefly became anorexic.

It would seem the drug isn't quite as useful as I had hoped. I suppose I could keep it locked up in storage...or use it later for some brief entertainment at the expense of my subordinates.

* * *

Organization Data

*The small sentence after the Redux is not it's meaning, just a thing...

** Just thought I'd add it for the hell of it . Besides I like the name, don't you?

**Xemnas**

Element: Nothingness: How He makes use of this element is unknown, but it is believed that he taps into the Realm of Nothingness by separating both Positive and Negative energies.

Level: (pre-Redux): 900,000 (1,999,999 during Redux)

Presence: Obliterator. Affects Nobodies and Humans. Gravity and pressure increase severely, crushing everything within one to two miles.

Redux: _Mu _: _Bringer of The Void, Beyond Nothingness_

**Xigbar**

Element: Space: How he makes use of his element is unknown, but it is believed that it is how he views space that allows him to manipulate. To him, everyone stays in one place, it's Space that moves around you.

Level: (pre-Redux): 450,400 (499,999 during Redux)

Presence: Randomizer. Random, unstable Gravitational field, extremely dangerous to Humans

Redux: _Tyr Gungnir: Forever Moving, Unstoppable_

**Xaldin**

Element: Wind: Air pressure is constantly moving around Xaldin. Using his mind and body, he can redirect the flow of pressure, thus generating wind.

Level: (pre-Redux): 450,400 (521,521 during Redux)

Presence: Pressure Increases severely, Air can be sucked straight from the lungs of Humans.

Redux: _?: Winds Waging War, Skies Trembling _

**Vexen**

Element: Ice: Water begins to freeze at 32 degrees, but Vexen can turn water into Ice by siphoning off energy in molecules (he can do this as long as water is under 40 degrees), slowing them down and generating cold. The energy he siphons off acts as a protection to himself against extreme cold.

Level: (pre-Redux): 88,994(260,000 during Redux)

Presence: Colder. Within a certain Radius, temperature drops severely, clouds freeze and large Ice icicles form in air, dropping randomly.

Redux:_?:Frozen Hatred, Inventor of Chill_

**Lexaeus**

Element: Earth : His superhuman strength allows him to move the earth, but it's his mind that allows him to manipulate the faults that surround him underground.

Level: (pre-Redux): 500,000 (730,500 during Redux)

Presence: Mover. Tremors, Earthquakes and sinkholes. All metals and Earth-based materials point towards Lexaeus.

Redux: _Vaalbara/Novopangeae**: The Living Planet, Unshakeable and Stalwart_

**Zexion**

Element: Illusion: Magic, and the manipulation of the sense of Sight, allows Zexion to create "real" illusions.

Level: (pre-Redux): 399,666( 567,666 during Redux)

Presence: Fear. Dangerous, almost real hallucinations of Fears manifest and can cause epileptic shock.

Redux: _?: Lose Your Illusion In The Eyes of Judgment_

**Saix**

Element: Moon: Not really controlling the Moon, Saix is constantly absorbing reflected energy from any nearby Lunar object. When his reserve of energy is full, he can expel the energy in bursts that trigger a psychotic, blind rage.

Level: (pre-Redux,at max): 490,450 (720, 000 during Redux)

Presence: Anger. Rage-inducing presence. All humans within a certain Radius go into an angry fit and fight.

Redux:_? : Goddess Moon Watches Over Her Devil_

**Axel**

Element: Fire: His power to conjure fire is just the surface of his abilities. The element of Fire is actually the physical representation of Energy and Axel is able to generate more thermonuclear Energy than 3 power plants over the course of 5 years. He can generate this energy indefinitely, allowing him to never run out of fire power.

Level: (pre-Redux): 489,500 (719,998 during Redux)

Presence: Melter. The only member besides Xemnas who is required to hold in Presence at all times. Can release Radiation and melt ALL inanimate objects around him. Some humans combust.

Redux:_?_: _Flames That Can Scorch Hell To A Crisp_

**Demyx**

Element:Water: Demyx prefers to use his music to "play with the water" and use his mind to direct it. As long as water is not frozen, then he can manipulate it.

Level: (Pre-Redux): 200,000 (555,555 during Redux)

Presence: Forcer. Humans are 72% water, as his presence is released, that water yearns for Demyx, pulling away from the Human. The More they resist, the more the water will pull towards Demyx.

Redux:_?: Perfect Ocean, Blade of The Sea_

**Luxord**

Element:Time: At most, Luxord, by generating his own particles of time, will only stop, slow down or speed up time in a certain area (the stronger the individual, the harder it is for these affects to work on them). He never time travels and tries to discourage everyone from doing it because it only irritates him. According to him, it is impossible to change the past, not impossible to go there, but impossible to change any major event.

Level: (pre-Redux): 444,207 ( 540,000 during Redux)

Presence: Twister. Random Time-Dilation field. Humans either move faster, slower or age is randomized.

Redux: _?: Leave It All To Chance, Your Time, Your Paradox_

**Marluxia**

Element: Flowers: Marluxia is a natural gardener, using his Chlorokinetic abilities to grow anything anywhere. Of course, he usually relies on flower-based magic in battle as opposed to actually throwing flowers at people.

Level: (pre-Redux): 818,818 (899,999 during Redux, 2nd Redux: 976,000)

Presence: Glare. Simply by staring is his presence released and stuns/immobilizes humans. He claims his beauty is that stunning.

Redux: _Angelo Grazioso, Fiore Piangente-Angelo Notturno Del Fiore Immortale: Flowers Bloom, A Beautiful Death._

**Larxene**

Element: Thunder/Lightning: Larxene, by mentally gathering electrons on the ground and protons in the sky, can call down lightning around her (it's too difficult to gather subatomic particles on living people, so her sky-lightning aim isn't 100% accurate). In her body, electric charges build up naturally allowing her to release the energy anytime.

Level: (pre-Redux): 466,000 (599,990 during Redux)

Presence: Striker. Lightning strikes the earth 100 times per second. In the area where Larxene releases her presence, that number increases both from the sky and earth.

Redux: _?_: _Marvel At The Sky As It Turns Blood Red_

**Roxas**

Element:Light: Roxas naturally gathers both waves and particles of light, and using his mind he can increase or decrease it's intensity, shape it, mold it and almost anything else he can think off. He has even demonstrated the ability to manipulate sunlight.

Level: (pre-Redux): 500,999 ( 1,999,998 during Redux)

Presence: Pusher. All presences cause an increase in Pressure around the subject and the humans in the area. The force, for all members, comes downward, but Roxas' presence goes outward from his body. His affect is to force away or push everyone around him.

Redux: _Archangelus Exitium Et Creatio, Lucifer:_ _Remember The Rebellion, Brightest In The Heavens_

**Xinck**

Element: Darkness : Xinck is connected to the very center of darkness, finding he can manipulate anything that is absent of light. He can "kill" photons, create particles of Darkness and move them with his mind and body and mold it into any shape or form he desires.

Level: (pre-Redux): 499,999 (999,666 during 1st Redux, 1,999,997 during 2nd Redux)

Presence: Ender. Long-term exposure results in Death for some, 4-day Sleep for others.

Redux:_?: Deliverer of Darkness, Sovereign of Shadows, All Fades To Black _

* * *

One more Deviant's Cradle Chapter

REVIEW!


	38. Deviant's Cradle IV

Here it is, The Final Deviant's Cradle chapter...is split in two. Yeah, it was that long. To be honest, I almost couldn't wait for this chapter because I was constantly debating on whether or not I wanted to include Xinck's Redux at this time. I couldn't decide, really.

Anyway, like I said, it's split in two, so the next chapter will be up before you finish this page.

So enjoy and I don't own anything, except the things that came out of my head. Those are mine.

* * *

For the past few days, the terms between Larxene and Xinck weren't as terrible as they had previously been. True, they were both openly hostile towards each other, but in mixed company they knew when to stop. Xemnas was the only voice that struck enough fear into them to make them stop, everyone else was just in the way. After every argument, quarrel and fight, Larxene would leave laughing to herself more than Xinck would be laughing with Xercivio, something that actually irritated Larxene even more.

Larxene thought it weak, being in constant company with a lesser Nobody. It was pathetic. They were meant to serve the Organization, not pal around with them. It was deplorable. In her own, twisted, joyously sadistic mind, she believed that everything she did and does to Xinck was exactly what he needed to grow in power; make hate his breakfast, ill-will his lunch, and malevolence his brunch. Anger will be his midnight snack. And when he was ready, she would show him that SHE is the master and the one to be feared and obeyed.

Marluxia saw no point in Larxene's actions. Their plan to take the Organization could use all the power that could get. To Marluxia, Xinck would've been a perfect addition, but Marluxia was worried about his loyalties. Xinck had openly professed his enjoyment in working in the Organization, so getting him to switch sides would be extremely difficult. That, combined with Larxene's truculent behavior towards him, only made things worse. He wouldn't overthrow Xemnas if he knew he had to work with Larxene. Marluxia tried to tell Larxene that what she was doing wasn't helping their plan, but Larxene stubbornly argued that what she did to Xinck would pay off for them. She inquired that if getting Xinck on their side was so important, then why didn't he try anything? To which Marluxia argued that he and Xinck are only work associates and that one of the only things that they had in common was their superficiality about looks.

Xinck had done his best to ignore Larxene, but found her almost intolerable. He wanted nothing to do with her. What was even worse was when Saix assigned them both on the same mission. Luckily, to lighten the load, they were always in a 3-person group. Xinck loved seeing Larxene get mad (at least until she made him mad) and he knew how much she hated seeing him with Xercivio. So anytime he could, he would bring the Reaper with him on missions.

The only Lesser Nobody in the Organization to be given an X anagramed name, Rioveci was dubbed "Xercivio" by Xinck. It took a little while, but because Xinck had told Xercivio to speak his mind, which was essentially an order, he eventually came out of his "Nobody-like" state and showed a more common personality. And as he did, he remembered more and more about his own past and revealed it to Xinck.

Pietro Alessandro Rioveci D'Ambrosio was rarely called by his first name, his family chose to instead refer to him as Rioveci, his middle name. He was the youngest and third child in a very affluent Italian household. He was the second son of one of Italy's most wealthy and powerful Executives, while his mother was a very powerful political figure. Needless to say, he was very well off in his youth. At the age of two, he and his family moved to America. His Brother, the oldest, and his sister, the middle child, as well as his mother and father all spoke Italian and had the accompanying accents when they switched to English, while Rioveci didn't have one. This was something that, while seeming insignificant to others, gave Rioveci a wedge between him and his family. He never felt close to his family. Everyone was busy with either this or that and if anything, to him, they were just people that lived with him. At the age of four, Rioveci was dubbed a child genius, something he knew since he was 2. He also knew that his brother and sister were not to be trusted. They were greedy and conniving, already 16 and 15 respectfully, they knew that they'd receive a large inheritance upon their parent's deaths (Something they were planning on). Needless to say, they didn't want to share with the baby of the family.

Rioveci couldn't let this happen. Not to him, anyway. At the age of 7 his Brother mysteriously came down with a case of "Broken Neck" and died suddenly. At 8, his sister ate a poison potato. She lived, but fell into a coma. By Rioveci's hand was the plug pulled and his sister was no more. 8 years old and already he had two murders under his belt. He felt nothing. They weren't important to him, they were just people that called themselves his family. They would've done the same to him if given the chance. He did them before they did him. His parents took it in the predictable way: Weep for the public, cry your tears for your lost children and get ready to make sympathy cash. It was then that Rioveci found out what he wanted to do when he grew up. He wanted to be powerful. Extremely powerful. And everyone knew that money was power.

At the age of 10 he burned down his large family mansion and killed his parents. With them dead, everything that was theirs would be his.

But there was a draw back. He was 10 and had no other family, as a result he was dumped at an orphanage while every cent of his family's money that was his was locked away until he came of age. He was angry for that. He took his anger out on the innocent children at the orphanage, hurting them, bullying them, ruling them. He was a megalomaniac. Bossing and having power over others made him feel better. At the age of 11, he lost his heart to a heartless and became a dusk in Organization XIII.

"Wow." Xinck mused, astonished, "That story had my favorite thing: an ending."

Xercivio sighed, laying on his back on a random couch in the Castle, Lego building blocks on his stomach, _"Don't be rude. I didn't say anything when you told me your origin story."_

"You didn't have to say anything. Your body language betrayed you." Xinck was laying face down on the metal floor, powered doughnuts in a bag at his side. He picked his head up slightly to look at Xercivio who was innocently playing with Lego. "You have such a tiny body."

"_Don't be shitty!"_ Xercivio hurled a yellow brick at Xinck's head. It impacted and clattered to the floor.

"Ow!" Xinck retaliated, tossing a white powered doughnut at the Reaper. It burst in a puff of white powered against his head. Xercivio got up and started furiously wiping at his head. "Stop that!" Xinck ordered and Xercivio stopped. XIV came over, picked Xercivio up and began to clean his head with his tongue.

The little Reaper twitched and fussed in Xinck's grip, _"Oh! Ugh! What are you doing?"_

Xinck retracted his tongue for a moment."That was my last doughnut and I only eat them because of the powder. Now close your eye...hole...thingies..."

"_They don't close!"_

"Then this is gonna suck." His giant tongue once again lapped around Xercivio's face, under his hood and on his cheeks. When done, Xinck let him go, dropping him on the floor.

Drool dripped from his arms, his head. Xercivio twitched, the idea of human saliva caressing his body was enough to drive anyone insane. _"Ew...ew...ew...sooo disgusting."_

The Deviant stuffed his hands into his pockets and gave a small, evil grin, "Yeah, I'm quite the card, aren't I?"

In a way, this was Xinck's way of getting revenge on Xercivio. Ever since he started taking him out on missions and observing him, Xercivio had been remarking about how Xinck "squandered" his gift, referring to his abilities. Xinck mostly ignored these comments and never inquired as to why Xercivio thought this, but the last time he brought it up Xinck playfully retaliated by constructing giant Teddy Bears of Darkness and making them sing "Teddy Bear Picnic", much to Xercivio's chagrin.

"Alright." Xinck sighed, "I'm hungry. Want to get something to eat?"

"_You just had an entire bag of doughnuts and you're still hungry?"_

Xinck shook his head wildly like a child, "Not hungry. Just bored." He reached down, offering a hand to Xercivo. On instinct, the Reaper grabbed it, Xinck pulled him up and over his shoulder where Xercivio grabbed and held onto his back.

"_I don't want food."_He said_ "I don't even know if I have a mouth."_

"We'll figure it out. Oh! Oh! Hey! What are you doing?" The back of his head became wet and drooly, the little Nobody rubbed his wet head against the back of Xinck's neck. "Ew! Ew! That's gross! That's spit!"

"_It's your spit!"_

"I don't want it back!"

* * *

"Oh, come now, Xigbar. You don't believe that Xibre would've made it?" Zexion said.

"No! Of course not. Dude was creepy! That's the only reason you two got along."

"How creepy could he have been?" Roxas asked, having no real memory of the person in question.

"Creepy enough for Xemnas to blast a hole in his head." Axel replied.

"It was I who had to dispose of the body." Saix said.

"Dispose?" Xigbar said, "Or toss out the window?"

Saix shrugged, "Same thing."

"My personal favorite was Anoxesha (Ah-no-zay-sha)" Said Xigbar. He grabbed the large, black leather-bound book, slid it across the table to him and flipped it's pages. He came to a stop at the page of a woman in a form-fitting black coat, long purple hair and eyes. She had large breasts, which prompted Xigbar's evil grin. "Not a day goes by that I don't remember her."

"Only because you had sex with her." said Larxene.

"On several occasions, too! HAHAHA!"

"She was nice." Axel said, hiding a grin.

"You had sex with her, too, didn't you?" Zexion asked.

Axel grinned and tapped his nose. Roxas asked, "What's sex?"

Xigbar started, "It's when you stick your-!"

"Xigbar!" Axel shouted, stopping his words from corrupting a young mind. He turned to his friend, "I'll tell you when you're older and you won't be traumatized by it. Believe me, learning about stuff like that when you can't handle it can mess you up."

"Sex." Came a voice, entering the kitchen with a Nobody piggy-backing on his shoulders. Xinck continued, coming into the room and looking at Roxas, " Is when a man inserts his penis into a woman's vagina, slaps her breasts about, then pees on her."

"P-pees on her? Ew! That's disgusting!"

"Oh, for the love of Christ... "Axel grabbed the bridge of his nose. Of all the people who came into the kitchen at that moment, it just had to be him. "Pee on her? Really?

"Well, unless you don't want to get her pregnant, than you pull it out and pee on her leg." Xinck replied, going to the refrigerator.

"HAHAHA!" Xigbar clutched his stomach, fell from his seat and hit the floor. "'Pee on her leg' HA HA! Oh, that's so wrong."

Larxene only rolled her eyes and looked at Xinck's back at the refrigerator. All she could see was the Reaper on his back. She shook her head, "Fucking idiot."

"Penis-curling She-beast." Xinck replied back, paying her no mind, grabbing a Jello cup and walking to the table. He had asked Xercivio if he was hungry, but he said no.

"Hey, you two." Saix spoke sternly, pointing his orange Jello-filled spoon at the two in question, "None of us are interested in your petty bickering." His spoon was still pointed at the both of them, it's contents jiggling.

"Are you going to finish that?" Roxas asked.

"Is Jello all we have to eat?" Zexion asked.

"There's some Spice cake in the fridge..." Axel said.

"Oooh." Zexion flashed a quick smile and got up from his seat.

"...with Xemnas's name on it."

"Jello it is, then."

The Savage Nymph turned to Xinck. "Why do you keep that thing with you all the time?"

The Deviant didn't lift his head from his Jello, and replied, "Why does Marluxia keep you around?"

"Don't get smart with me, needle-dick!"

"Piss off, micro-tits!"

"Let me guess, being fat must make you hostile, huh? Is that it, fatty? Too many cakes and pies, that's your problem!"

"Super skank, cum-dumpster! How many guys did you go down on before you came to the kitchen?"

"**Enough!"**A brief word. A crushing force descended upon the Castle, like the pressure of an entire world was falling from the sky. Every person in the Kitchen struggled to breath, they fell out of their seats and fought with all their strength to keep their existence.

Xemnas came into the Kitchen, a hand at his temple, rubbing it vigorously. He saw his subordinates writhing on the floor, some more than others. With just a thought, he contracted his presence back into his body and sighed. Everyone struggled to their knees, drenched in sweat and fear and shock. They watched silently as their Superior walked to and opened the refrigerator.

What terror swept through their bodies, to afraid to move, to speak. Xemnas peeked inside the opened refrigerator and grabbed the aforementioned Spice Cake on a silver platter. He grabbed a fork and headed for the door. He took a bite, moaned in satisfaction, and declared, "Carry on." With a wave of his fork. And he was gone, just like that.

* * *

_Later_

"I don't understand your grievances." Marluxia said. He hated hearing Larxene complain about virtually nothing. He moved an annoying piece of hair from his face, but the winds were unsettling tonight and were determined to get on his nerves through his hair.

"How can you not understand?" The woman bellowed. She was pacing back and forth along the Balcony, her companion was stationed in the doorway adjacent to her. "He's doing this on purpose! I know it! He's holding that thing with him just to annoy me and, what's worse, is that it's working!"

"Why don't you just let it go? I bet he's not even thinking about you."

"I know he is!"

"How?" Marluxia scoffed at her.

"Because! Bec-" She huffed, she sighed, she stomped her foot. "Because...We're almost the same, him and I."

"HAHAHA!" Marluxia chocked on his own saliva , laughing at the very idea, "How exactly are you two alike?"

"I mean besides the obvious differences, the male/female black/white thing, yeah, we're almost alike."

"You're insane, you know that right?"

"And so is he! See what I'm talking about?" She began to pace again, fists clenched, teeth grinding. "And I know that we can use him in our plan!"

"Oh, sure. Let's be loud about that in the Castle of the man we're trying to overthrow."

"I'm serious. I know I can get him to our side, I know we can make him stronger and useful, then we won't have to just rely on Sora."

"Larxene, Larxene, Larxene." Marluxia braved the wind to come to her, he gabbed her gently on the shoulders, she stopped pacing. He looked her deep in her cold, unforgiving eyes and a small flicker of infatuation shined within. Whatever anger she had left with the wind around her, but the wind went unnoticed when words blew from his lips. "Larxene. Just let it go."

"But, Marluxia, I know I can-"

"No, you can't. He hates you more than life itself, and I've heard his rant about life. He wants nothing to with you and if you keep trying to force yourself on him it will only end in disaster for ALL of us."

"Marluxia, I know I can! I just know it! One more chance! One more chance to make him see, one more chance to to make him strong and worth letting in on our plans!"

Marluxia shook his head. Nothing he could do could deter her from this. He let go of her, turned and walked away to the open door. "Do what you want. But I am warning you, do not let this get out of hand. This entire situation could come back on us. You are already ruining your image. Just be careful." He left no trace and he was gone.

She was left alone. Nothing but he wind and the darkness of night around her. Her face cracked into a smile. As if she needed his permission. She was going to do what she should've done before and she was going to start with that Reaper...

* * *

_Hammer of the 12th _

"Ok...um...I'll name you...Bubastis." Xinck named another Reaper. Xercivio was still clinging to his back like a baby chimp. The Reaper, now dubbed Bubastis, bowed before Xinck and run away in the opposite direction. It tripped on it's own feet, got up and left again.

"Next!" Xinck called. At his command, a lone Reaper appeared before the two and bowed.

"_I think this is the last one."_ said Xercivio.

"Good. I think I'm getting hungry again."

"_You just ate!"_

"Yeah, well, carrying your fat ass around is energy-consuming." His attention came back to the Reaper on the floor, "Mmm...you look like a...Spawn. You're name is Spawn."

"_Yes. Thank you, my Liege"_ Spawn did a backflip and disappeared into a portal

"_What makes you think he looks like a 'Spawn'?" _Xercivio asked.

"I don't know. Something about his face."

"_We all have the same face!"_

"Yeah, but you're cuter"

"_What the-but you! I...I ….thank you?"_

"Yeah, that's right. Let it all sink in." Xinck said.

"_You're weird."_

"You're one to talk, you parent-killing maniac."

"_Hey, that's not funny!"_

Xinck laughed in an evil manner, turning, he began walking up the stairs at Twilight's View, one of the Largest, emptiest areas in the entire Castle That Never Was. It was basically a wide, seemingly never ending pit, white in color like the rest of the Castle. There were pipes, large enough to resemble catwalks, zipping down from the bottom of The Hall of Empty Melodies, crossing over Twilight's View, then dipping down towards Crooked Ascension. An enormous, window, in the shape of the Organization's insignia, was carved into the side wall of Twilight's View and had the perfect view of the Dark City.

The emptiness of this part of the Castle seemed either pointless or symbolic. Knowing Xemnas, it was probably pointless.

"Hey!"

_Oh my God, not this again. _The Deviant sighed with irritability and turned around to see his former mentor at the bottom of the stairs, a smile on her face. "Oh, well, _mira_, Xercivio. Look what the whore cat dragged in: a whore."

Xercivio didn't reply to him, but greeted Larxene, as was customary. _"Lady Larxene."_

"Don't call her "Lady"." Xinck said.

"_But I have t-"_

"Then I'm ordering you to not call her 'Lady'"

"I don't get you, Xinck." Larxene said, "You're supposed to be this...badass Darkness-guy with power over those little bastards." She pointed an accusing finger at Xercivio, "Instead you're acting like a child with the attention span of a broomstick and making those things your friends!"

Xinck removed a finger from his ear and flicked away a bit of earwax, "What can I say? We have a nice Employee-Boss relationship. Much better than yours and mine, actually."

Larxene scoffed, "You know, we could've been friends."

"If I need a friend like you I'll shit one out." The Deviant turned defiantly away and continued his trek up to the Hall of Empty Melodies.

A split second. A tug, a pull, a scream. Xinck didn't have a chance to react. He turned back around, Larxene was at the bottom of the stairs, a grin on her face, Xercivio's hood gripped tightly in her hand. The little Reaper was holding on, struggling to keep himself up.

Xinck's eyes twitched in anger. "Put. Him. Down."

"Why should I?" The Nymph's grin was fading slowly, "Why are you acting like this? Don't you know how much potential you have? Letting things like _him _influence your actions isn't what you were born for!"

"Put him down!" Xinck bellowed, "He's got nothing to do with this!"

"He has EVERYTHING to do with this!" She spun the Reaper up into the air, grabbed his leg with her other arm and began to pull.

"_Aaaaggh!"_

Black winds blew into his hands, both swords shined in his grip. He screamed, "PUT HIM DOWN!" Shadows rose from his shoulders, white, ethereal vapor billowed from his eyes. Larxene just stared at him, his anger, his hate. It was so raw.

Her smile returned. "Whatever you say." A flick of her wrist, she let go and tossed the Reaper away like trash over the railing. Xinck watched him go, heard his yelling. His small body smacked onto a large pipe and fell limp and silent.

"Huh. Thought I might hear bones snap-Duh!" An uppercut sword/punch from Xinck sent them both flying 15 feet away into the air. Larxene grabbed Xinck's head, he broke her grip and headbutted her as she punched him hard in the neck.

They flew up and onto a large sections of pipe wide enough to run on. Larxene landed on the right, Xinck on the left. Lightning delivered her Kunai into her hands and she charged for the Deviant "I should have killed you when I had the chance!"

"I'll see you in hell!" He ran for her, blades and chains zipping round him like ribbons on a gymnast. She jumped away, falling back, she tossed bolt after bolt at Xinck. He moved and jumped and dodged each bolt effortlessly. Larxene came down, kunais stabbing into his flesh repeatedly. He screamed and sliced at her shoulder, taking off skin and sleeve. She screamed and jumped back.

He laughed and held his blade to his lips where he took his tongue and licked at the blood, "You don't taste too good, _cherie."_

Breathing heavily and letting the wound heal, Larxene spat back,"_Nique ta mere._" In perfect French.

"How rude!"

"Shut your mouth, trick!" With that, she was gone. Appearing behind Xinck, she grabbed him by the back of his head, hauled him up then brought him back down, she dragged his body against the pipes with only one hand. She brought him up to the vertical strip of pipes, and bashed his face in, turned him around and loaded her fist with thunder.

"Choke on it, bitch!" She shouted, unloading punch after punch into his face, all the while bending and cracking the pipes behind him. The final hit, her fist, his head both smashed through the metal pipe, breaking it's bond with the others and destroying the catwalk.

Larxene jumped away and sailed through the air, landing on the flat surface glass of the window in the shape of the Organization's symbol. She let her wounds heal, her kunai still in hand. She looked down, the giant teal-green pit below her and the silhouette of the Dark City on the Horizon. She tapped the glass with her heel and a loud _thunk! _resounded with each tap. It was tough glass, bullet-proof.

"Larxene!"

Xinck was behind her, his face and skull were reforming and he quickly wiped the blood from his face. "You hit like a bitch." He ran for her, darkness effervescing from his fingertips, "This is how you punch!" He stuck out his fist, underneath Larxene a giant black fist punched her into the air, yelling, then another fist came and smacked her back down.

Lightning fell from the sky and shot into Larxene's back, picking her up and reviving her. "I'm gonna rip your dick off and feed it to you!" She flung out her arms and bolts of lightning crackled from her body. She was gone with a blink of an eye.

"I just know your fast not invisible!"

"Don't forget omnipresent!" From behind! Xinck turned to see her dashing towards him. He readied to block, but heard the sound of footsteps from behind. Clones from both sides! He turned and barely blocked them both. Both Larxenes let loose with a flurry of stabs, and kicks, Xinck blocked. Larxene swept her leg, Xinck jumped, blocked another strike from the clone, twisted and delivered a kick to her chest, sending her far back. Xinck dismissed his swords, grabbed the Original Larxene by her wrist and tossed her into the air. He dashed to the Clone, grabbed her and threw her with all his might to the Real incarnation of the Nymph. With a grunt, the women collided with each other and became one once more.

"Oh! Larxene! You disappoint me!" Xinck yelled, angrily, Thanatos reappeared in his hands. "Twelfth Member of the Infamous Organization XIII, my ass! AAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed, taking his eyes off his mentor for a split second. 6 shot Kunai whizzed through the air and impaled themselves in Xinck's chest. "What the fuck?" He looked at the knives protruding from his chest. He tried cutting them off with his swords, but they would not break. He looked at Larxene, who was up on her feet again.

She cracked a grin and snapped her fingers, "_Byie'jalla Zakaouru."_

The Kunai in his chest buzzed and glowed., energy surged about them. The exploded in a flash of yellow, taking a good portion of Xinck's abdomen with them. Blood and bone and bowl slid down the walls and splattered the floor, Xinck's body hit the glass floor, blood seeping from the giant wound.

"Look at you now." Larxene said, that same cocky grin plastered on her face as the Man Who Found Her. It was a grin of assured victory. She looked down at him, gasping for breath, eyes like a fish's as it dies. To her left she saw a piece of bone, one of his ribs. She bent down to pick it up and tease it with him. The lower down she went, the clearer he became. He wasn't gasping for air, he was chanting.

"What the hell are you saying?"

He needed to keep her at bay long enough for him to heal. He needed a chance to get away, so he chanted "_Seeping crest of Turbidity, arrogant vessel of Lunacy. Boil forth and deny, grow numb and flicker disrupting sleep."_ Black lightning and purple energy surged at his hands and crackled.

"Don't you dare!" Larxene spat. She raised her foot and angrily stomped on his left wrist, nearly piercing it with her heel.

"Aaagh!" He screamed, but continued on, "Aaggh! Oh..._Crawling queen of Iron, eternally self-destructing doll of mud. Unite, repulse. Fill with Soil and know your own Powerlessness!..._"

"Don't you fucking do it!"

The Deviant raised his head and stared into her eyes,"..._Way of Destruction No. 90, Black Coffin!"_

The two Nobodies were consumed in an unnatural dark void, rectangular in shape and outlined in a purple haze. The entire window was covered in the darkness, and there was no sign of it ending. For a split second The black coffin just stood in place, undisturbed and perfect. Then a single spear-shaped bolt of black penetrated the box, disrupting everything. It ripped apart, more spears stabbed into the box, from it's sides and top and bottom. The entire structure exploded and shattered the glass underneath, dropping the limp, lacerated bodies of Xinck and Larxene out of the Castle and into the calm, cool night.

The rushing wind, stirred Xinck's attention. His bodies healing factor was reaching it's limits, already healing the giant hole in his abdomen, it now had to take care of the dozens of lacerations inflicted on it. Luckily his limbs still worked, damaged though they were. One blade manifested in his hand, he turned in the air, the greatness of the giant white Castle above him, the giant green pit below him, he threw his sword's chain and the the blade flew at the very bottom of the Castle. The blade pierced the hull and he hung there, swaying back and forth as the wind blew.

He shivered. He twitched. His breathing was heavy. His body hurt and tickled all at the same time, from the healing and the pain. His chest was reforming, skin built up over the wound, its color turned from red to pink and finally matched his tone. The rest of the insides were still returning, but at least he stopped the bleeding.

"Where is she?" The Deviant scanned the horizons, did a 360 spin in place and saw nothing but the surrounding Dark City. He glanced upward to the Castle, the hole they fell out of, the window, dropped glass like rain, sparkling in the dim light. But he saw no Larxene. She wasn't dead, she couldn't be, but he didn't sense her anywhere. That attack wasn't at it's full, if it was then it could have affected space and time, at least that's what he read in it's spell book. It probably wasn't at full, he thought, because I spoke it in English. Good thing, too. Probably would've killed myself. Never gonna do that again.

Xinck continued spinning in place, letting his wounds heal before he moved. His face, arms, legs and stomach were fine and his ribs had reformed. He pulled up his legs, jostling the chain a little, and sat there in the air with his legs crossed. He continued turning when something caught him in the air, yanked him from his sword and sent him sailing through the air.

From her torso down, her body was all abuzz with lightning, granting her flight. Her face was terribly cut up and wounded, streaks of her own blood streaked her face. Her hair was a mess, there were patches missing and one of her reverse bangs had been cut. Her grip on Xinck was tight, she wouldn't let him go as they climbed up the heights of the Castle.

"Aaagh! Let me go!" He screamed in her air over the sound of the rushing wind. He struggled in her grip, but she wouldn't give.

"You sorry little Ingrate!" She shouted back. They flew straight up, past the dozens of enormous towers surrounding the Castle, past the clouds that shrouded it in mystery. She came past a white bridge connecting a tower to the main bulk of the Castle and dropped him down with force on the landing. She flew to the Castle, several yards away and landed on a rectangular communication spire like a ninja.

Losing blood, she wasn't healing fast enough. Despite using her skills to be perfectly balanced on a tower, she was bent over, slumped and clutching her side.

Xinck, on the other hand, while terribly wounded, was healing just fine. No longer losing blood and feeling better as time passed, he stood up, perfect, shaking as his body healed. A look of constant defiance on his evil face.

"Dead yet?" Xinck asked, a cocky grin spreading on his face. "Ha ha. You like causing people pain, but don't like it when you're hurting. You're pathetic. Don't know why I was ever scared of you."

Her breath was shaky, her left eye was closed to keep out the blood, "You shit." She spat. "You think you're better than me?"

"I don't think, I know."

"Let me ask you this, Xinck. Are you fighting me just because I hurt your friend?"

"He's not my friend and no!" He shouted back. People always make assumptions about him, never knowing his real intention. "He's not my friend, he's just someone to stave off boredom! I don't have friends! Never had one, never will! I can handle Loneliness. I always have...always will."

"Then why fight me? If you're not fighting for anything, then what's the point?"hu

You don't always need a reason to fight. Humans are naturally violent. Xinck wasn't man, but he was violent, hate-filled and murderous. He knew that much about himself. That great truth, that epiphany was something he realized when he killed Bronx: He was good at killing, he was exemplary at taking lives. He was born with that indifference to life, not as a Nobody, but as a Human, ever since he was a child.

A laugh that started out low, then reverberated throughout the world came from Xinck. His evil grin expanded across his face, his eyes cut and the circles under his eyes grew darker, "You're right. I don't need a reason to fight you, _Rakushinu." _He gazed up at her, like a mortal eying a goddess, "But I do have a reason to _kill _you. People like you just deserve to die." Black winds blew into his hands and Thanatos reappeared in his grip.

Not to his surprise, she lowered her head, closed her eyes and chuckled, "People like me deserve to die, huh? Is that your philosophy?" the air around Larxene grew thicker. Random spark burst around her, her presence unleashed. Thunder rolled in the sky above, lightning shot through the clouds, illuminating their interior. Electrical discharges burst from the Castle walls and collided with other towers, heating the air all around her. Kingdom Hearts, high above them all, was struck with lightning, but was unaffected like a jewel in the sky. Bolts cascaded down like a waterfall, striking the Castle, electrifying it. "Is that Your philosophy, Xinck?"

"Yes! It is!"

Electrical charges burst from her hair, her eyes went yellow and glowed, generating their own lightning. "THEN AFTER YOU KILL ME, YOU HAVE TO KILL YOURSELF!" She released her grip on all her Kunai. They levitated around her, the points facing down, all 8 rotated around her, forming a ring. Her arms left her sides, spread them straight out. Her chest puffed out and she raised her head to the troubled skies.

"Govern Over That Which Thunders!" She bellowed. Her Redux initiated, her presence unleashed, an enormous EM pulse was triggered from her very core as a shockwave, knocking out the power of the entire Castle. A God-size bolt of lightning struck Larxene in the head, spread to her Kunai and engulfed her entire being. The power surge knocked Xinck back along the bridge, he tried blocking with his swords, but was forced away anyhow.

Throughout the whole Castle, the lights went out, devices stopped working and a terrible force swept over them all.

"Dammit, Larxene." Marluxia cursed, his Margaritaville brought to a halt, " I told you not to get carried away.

"What's going on?" Roxas asked to Axel.

"Nothing good. I can tell you that." Axel stood from the table. "Let's go."

"Oh, sure!" Xigbar said, "Let's go _to _the danger. Yeah, that's great for my health."

"I'm sure you've lived long enough." Vexen said.

"Shouldn't you be in your hole in the basement or something?"

"You know what? You guys do whatever you want." Axel said, a corridor opening, "I'm going."

"Me, too." Roxas said.

"I shall come as well." Marluxia said.

Back outside with Larxene and Xinck, lightning was raining from the sky and streaking across the earth for 5 seconds at a time. The spot where Larxene exploded in a flurry of light was still obscured by energy. As soon as her display began to fade, Xinck recovered stood, unmoving, in his stance.

"I'm not afraid of you."

From the mess of electricity covering the 12th, a voice was heard. It was Larxene's, but there was a second voice behind it, metallic in tone. "Good. Fear is crippling. As Nobodies, that fear is taken away at our unbirth. But fear is learned, it's not something you're born with. We have to re-learn how to fear. So put that fear aside, Xinck, so that I can take it and shove it right back up your ass."

The energy cleared. Her kunai were gone. Larxene stood there, her wounds healed, her skin flawless. A black visor shielded her eyes, but electrical discharges shot from underneath the glass. Her hair was now down to her back, her two reverse bangs were just as long, lightning shot around her follicles, in and out of her hair. She had on a large collar, open in the shape of a V down to her navel. Her belt was golden and lined with dozens of long, golden Kunai. Her pants, long and hakama-like, were cut around the upper thigh, exposing skin. Her heels were black, tipped with gold and appeared mechanical in nature. Around her waist, trailing a good 6 feet behind her, were wide, black and golden tendrils that ended in arrow points, also tipped in gold. Her arms, the most equipped part of her new form. Enormous Gauntlets, 7x the width and size of her own arms, were strapped in the up-position along her upper arms, almost acting as a barrier for her head. They were ornamental in appearance, black with golden, lightning-shaped designs covering them. They had no hands or fingers on the gauntlets, only empty space that crackled with energy. Larxene's hands were gloved, the knuckles were golden and spiked.

"You had to do your Redux just to kill me?" Xinck asked, unafraid.

She answered in that same metallic voice, "Maybe I just wanted you to see it once." Her voice seemed to almost swell with pride, shouting the name of her Redux with a force, "Govern Over That Which Thunders, _**Dame **__**Sorcière Tonnerre **_(Fr. Lady Thunder Witch)

_**Dame **__**Sorcière Tonnerre**_- Ever-present Mother of Thunder and Lightning. Banished from her throne in the sky, this Witch seeks to destroy the Hearts of man, carving them out and punishing them unmercifully. The skies rumble in fury at her presence, lightning streaks the sea and troubles the very foundation of the World.

"Are you just going to stare at me?" A roundhouse kick to his back sent him flying off the bridge and into the air. Another caught him in the stomach, sending Xinck in the opposite Direction, smashing into another building.

"Oh, god!" He wailed, hanging there, wedged in the metal.

Larxene floated ahead of him, arms crossed, a cocky smile. He couldn't see her eyes. "Wow. You don't look so good."

"Aaagh!" Xinck screamed, "_Puta Madre!_" He cautiously pulled out his upper body from the metal tower.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So tell me, do you now understand? You can't beat me."

"If I do my Redux, I can!" Larxene grabbed him by the neck, yanked him out of the tower and strangled him in the air.

"I'll never give you the chance to do it!"

"_Ebenholtz!"_ A blast of Darkness erupted forth from his hand plowing into Larxene. She dropped him, trying to recover from the strike. Xinck threw his blades for the tower, repelled to it and climbed to the other side of the tower, away from Larxene. He hung there, like a climber on a rock face, huffing, trying to think of what to do.

"I can't keep running. She'll catch me eventually. I can't...I gotta-"

"You know I can hear you thinking out loud, right?" Before he could react, a gloved hand gripped the back of his neck, yanked him up and drove him vertically into the tower as she flew to it's top. Larxene ascended the tower, spun the Deviant around like a rag doll and threw him into the night like a stone through the air.

On his way, he grabbed a thin spire, spun around it and let go, heading straight back for Larxene.

She listed lazily to the left, Xinck missed and flew past her. He flung out a chain, to her shock, it ensnared her around the neck. He came spinning back towards her and smashed into her face first, knocking them both out of the sky. He pushed them towards another tower and smashed her front against it, her yelling went on deaf ears as Xinck stood on her back like a board and piloted her down the tower.

The Nymph growled, snapping her fingers and calling a burst of lightning to strike Xinck in the back. The resulting blast knocked them both apart, but Larxene recovered long enough to summon an even more powerful blast in her palm. She aimed and fired, blasting Xinck straight down into the abyss of clouds surrounding the Castle. Larxene floated down, gracefully landed on the sloped surface of Havoc's Divide.

A large sigh escaped her. Was he dead? Couldn't be, of course he was tougher than that. Larxene repositioned her visor. She didn't want that to fall off.

"Now where's he gonna pop u-"

A catcall from behind, "Yoohoo! Mrs. Thunder Witch!" Xinck sat on the edge of Havoc's Divide, legs crisscrossed, his hand waving for her.

"You fucker." Larxene spat, lightning crackling from behind her visor.

"Ha ha ha." Xinck gave a halfhearted laugh and gingerly picked himself up. "Is this all your Redux can do? Granted, your outfit looks fantastic, but really-"

"HAH!" She whipped away her visor, letting loose a terrible electric beam from her eyes. The beam was too wide to control on full, Larxene missed and struck the high tower 100 yards behind him. She sliced the building cleanly in half, it's top falling off and collided with the broad side of another tower, knocking it askew. "HAH!" the beam faded away when she replaced the visor over her eyes. She twitched from the recoil ad spat when she saw she missed Xinck.

"Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me!" The Deviant turned around and paraded his backside in Her direction. "Your Redux is crap. Is that all you can do?"

In Larxene's Redux, her speed and strength are increased and, needless to say, so are her electrokinetic powers. But it's her magical abilities that that are increased 100 fold, allowing her to effortlessly summon objects or creatures and conjure powerful thunder-based attacks. "I'll show you what I can do, you fat bastard!" She raised a hand and fired a bolt of from her own palm, "Thor!" High in the skies, the clouds bubbled with instability as a phantom-like silhouette of a Thunder God rose, wielding a great hammer. Larxene pointed at the Deviant, "Him!"

"Oh! You suck!"

The Thunder God raised it's arms, it's hammer and brought it straight down on Havoc's Divide, sending out a devastating shockwave. Xinck was forced over the edge, but grabbing the ledge saved him. The hammer fell from the sky and became tangible, The Thunder God faded from the sky and Larxene grabbed the Hammer wedge in the ground. Just as Xinck pulled himself back up, Larxene rushed him. The Hammer was swung, Kunai were fired, blades were thrust and chains rattled. Lightning surged about, fired from the sky and destroyed any shadow in their way.

Larxene was roaring with every swing she made, blocking each strike from, countering and even stopping his attacks midway to attack him. Xinck's face was stricken with panic, desperate to avoid damage. She was wearing him down and moving him over to the ledge.

"Yah!" She roared, bent down and swept her hammer into Xinck's leg, busting the kneecap and sending him to the floor in a screeching heap. She grabbed two Kunai from her belt and impaled them into each of his hands, pinning them to the ground.

"Gaahh!" He screamed. In an instant, staring up at Larxene and wailing, Xinck's face wasn't evil, nor cruel. It was frightened, terrified even. He gazed up at Larxene, eyes in tears. "I'm sorry! Ok! I'm sorry!"

In her blind rage, she raised the hammer above her head. She pulled it down, aiming for his Head and destroyed it with a sickening crunch. Blood and brain fell from the limp body that crashed to the floor.

Her breath was heavy. Her nerves made her body twitch like never before. Gazing at the headless body nearly made her lose herself. "What the fuck did I-"

"Oi!"

_Of course._ A quick turn around, Larxene saw her ex-protege leaned up against the Nobody-shaped entrance, a silver and golden sword in his grip. He waved at her. She was shocked, her words nearly flew from her mouth in a flurry,"But how could you-"She looked back at what she had just smashed, expecting to see a mess, she saw nothing but a cracked white floor. "You made a clone?"

"Ha ha yeah I did." He took his shining sword, twirled it around by it's hilt as he spoke, "I figured it out after seeing you do it. I mean, I didn't get it 100 %. but it served it's purpose."

"When did you find the time to make that?"

"When you fired that last bolt and shot me down." He spun his sword around, then brought it up to his face and licked the blade. "I had enough time to make a clone and get this." He flipped the sword on it's reverse and glistening, golden letters shined, 'EXCALIBUR'. "Larxene, you really can pack a punch. You hit me so hard I smashed into the Organization's Vault and found this. Fun Fact: I brought this back from my First mission!"

"You talk too much, you fucking brat!" Her eyes erupted in a burst of electricity. She tossed away the hammer, The large Gauntlets on her shoulders fell onto her arms, she took a crouched position, jutting out her left leg and leaning back on her right. Her right gauntlet was raised above her head, her left was lowered. From the fingerless ends where Larxene's hands were, lightning cracked and took the form of claws, thick, razor sharp and crackling with energy. She clapped her hands together, a ball of unstable lightning formed and she hurled it at Xinck.

The Deviant held his new sword in defense, readied himself and smacked away the ball, sending it flying back, past Larxene and into the night, where it faded away into nothing.

Larxene watched her attack fade away, "That's impossible. You can't hit lightning!"

Xinck rested the sword on his shoulder and grinned with malice, "Excalibur can."

"RAAGGGHHH!" She screamed, she stomped her foot, and the sky screamed with her.

_Yeah, that's good. Keep making her mad. She'll lose herself in it, she'll slip up and that's when I get her. _Xinck chuckled and held his sword high in the air, "Time for a musical!" He spun around and began a nonchalant duck walk all while he twirled around the legendary sword and sang, "_Excalibur. Excalibur. I'm looking for him, I'm looking for him, from United King I'm going to California!"_

"Ragh!" A flash of light, Larxene was upon him, her Clawed Gauntlets readied. They engaged each other and Larxene immediately got the upper hand. She struck once, Xinck blocked, the metal of the sword conducting the electrical energy of the claws shocked him, but Larxene didn't stop. She reared a fist back and punched, sending Xinck and his sword falling back to the ground. Electricity zapping his body, blood dripping forth from his mouth, he stood, grinned and grabbed his sword.

"Stop smiling!" She shouted. More cracks of white lightning and she split her form into three. The three new Larxenes jumped away from their original and spread out around the Divide. "Grab him!" On her command, they dove, ran and jumped for Xinck, who waved the blade in the air and generated thick black arrows to impale. The first Larxene took, preparing to strike, took three arrows in the gut and was sent back, while the other two successfully dodged and crashed into Xinck.

A dance of blades was performed as the two clones and Xinck fought in close contact. One Larxene swiped for his head, he leaned back onto his hand and turned into a spin, tripping the Larxene behind him and slashing at her face.

The Real Larxene, watching from afar, cradled her cheek as a bleeding wound formed. Useless clones, she thought. She watched on, seeing Xinck impale a clone in the stomach and tossing it's body over the edge. Larxene grabbed at her stomach, feeling the new wound seep blood through her clothes. It wasn't deep, but it would heal. He laughed, the two remaining clones closing in on him.

"He's enjoying this." She cursed through gritted teeth. "I'm sick of playing games with you!" With that she took off into the air, over the edge of the Divide and floated there. The clouds left the sky, filled with lightning they flew down to her hands. "Xinck!"

Distracted by his name, the two remaining Larxenes bashed him in the gut and he keeled over, dropping his sword. The Larxene's grabbed each of his arms and forced him upright to see the real Larxene's light display. From her body, like serpents, a myriad of electrical bolts fired, streaming onto the darkened Castle. Her clawed hands were shrouded by the electrified and gave off great bursts of bolt, every stream of her power flowed up and outward, combining into an organic yellow shaped serpent. It's power filled the sky with instability and light. The dragon grew in tremendous size and dwarfed Larxene, it grew arms, a head, fangs and eyes as red as blood. It threw out it's arms and grasped two towers for balance, lightning was drawn to them as it radiated from the dragon's body. _"Bao Zakeruga!"_

The tremendous bursts of lightning had destroyed the clones and were absorbed back into Larxene. Xinck dropped to his knees, unable to move, unable to breath and marveled at the sight before him.

"L-larxene!" His voice almost went hoarse. He shouted for his life, "Larxene! I lay it down! I give up!"

Larxene gazed down at the boy. "You're lying!"

"I'm not! I...I don't want this anymore!"

Her gaze locked with his. His eyes were wide, his face in horror. This wasn't the Deviant she had found. That spark of brilliance or madness in his gaze wasn't there anymore. With a mild thought, Larxene abandoned her dragon summon and it shattered in light, leaving a void in the sky. She floated downwards to the Deviant and touched ground on the Divide.

Xinck scooted around on his knees, turned from her, raised his hands in defeat and lowered his head. "No more. I can take no more of this...this life, you, the Organization. No more. I can't take it. My life is hell, always has been, always will be. Release me from this torment of my life!"

Larxene watched Xinck's back for any sudden movement. Nothing, but the heaving of his chest. Xinck, no— this thing that used to be Xinck, the Deviant, deserved to die. So much for my plans, she thought. "Alright." She bent down and grabbed the fallen Excalibur, wielding it, she moved for Xinck and raised it above her head. "People like you and me know no peace after death. So I'll release you from your life, but your torment is just beginning!"

She raised the sword, then brought it down with great force.

A flash of white.

The right Thanatos blocked and raised the sword far above Larxene's head. She was open and Xinck gutted her directly in the abdomen, spilling her intestines in a heap of blood.

"GAH!"

"Dumbass!" Xinck smiled with glee and laughed, "Haven't you played _God of War II_? HA!" He yanked the blade out, dripping with her blood. Knocked off balance, a swift kick to her chest forced her down to the ground on her stomach. Excalibur still in her grip, Xinck grabbed her arm, raised it up by the elbow and brought it down on his knee, snapping it in two, shattering her Gauntlet and dropping the sword. He grabbed her by her long hair and laughed, smashing her forehead into the blood-soaked metal and even denting it.

"Maybe you should've killed me after you stabbed me in the throat!"

Larxene recovered only slightly to set her working hand for one of her Kunai, but Xinck grabbed it, set it against the metaled floor and drove one the right Thanatos into it.

"Aggh!"

He grabbed her other, broken arm and did the same. "GAAAH!" Pinned and safely secured to the floor, Xinck took his time in grabbing Excalibur. He walked ahead of her, blade in hand and stared down at his soon-to-be-deceased ex-teacher.

"Or maybe you should've killed me when you found me and all of this could've been avoided."

"AAGGHHHH!" She wailed and gnashed, her body was beginning to fade as shadows left from her.

"Now burn in hell..." He seethed. He readied the sword directly in front of her face, "And take this sword with you!" He thrust and penetrated her skull repeatedly, tearing at her visor, ripping her nose and destroying her face. He moved from the face and impaled her neck, her chest and even stabbed at her heart several times for good measure.

He grew tired, defiling her body with that sword. He stopped and threw it down. He was drenched in her splattered blood, but he didn't care. It felt good. Heart or no, he felt good at what he had just done. It was as if years of anger, hatred, misery and despair were released with every stab he made. The memories he had of those emotions seemed to lose influence on him. Finally, release. It felt so good.

"Oh, my god. He killed Larxene."

"Shh, you bastard!" Vexen said to Demyx, "Silence, you fool! You want to get caught, mm? Make him come up here, kill us and have his way with our skulls?"

Every member of the Organization, save for Xemnas, was watching from a safe distance near the roof of The Hall of Empty Melodies. "I told you the guy was creepy." Axel said.

"You shouldn't make light of the situation." Saix said, "We're shorthanded as it is, losing members is a grave disadvantage. And members fighting members is just as bad. Xemnas told them not to let this get out of hand."

"Well, why didn't _you _try to stop them?" Xaldin asked.

Saix scoffed, "I'm not going doing down there."

Xigbar sighed in amazement. "I can't believe he beat her in her Redux. That's not easy."

"Xigbar, _I _beat you in Redux." Lexaeus said.

"Oh, please! It's two opposing forces, earth and space. My Redux powers almost cancel out around you."

"Those aren't opposing forces, I wasn't even in my Redux and I beat you."

"You hit me with a rock, you dick!"

"It was a fairly small rock."

"It was a boulder!"

"No, no no." Luxord said. "I was there. It was a small rock."

"No!" Xigbar shouted, dumbfounded, "I..I was..You didn't-"

"Xigbar, be quiet." Zexion ordered, "Just stamp 'Epic Fail' on your forehead and sit down."

* * *

_Cries of the 14th _

He let the sword clatter to the ground. He went to Larxene's silent, fading body and grabbed both Thanatos blades from her palms and dismissed them. He watched her disfigured face turn to shards of black and be taken by the calm wind.

Now what to do? He killed Larxene. The Organization wouldn't look at that and just smile. They'd want to punish him, probably for weakening their numbers not for taking another member's life. Maybe he should just leave. He could, he can teleport anywhere he wanted to go. No one owned him, he was his own person who could do whatever he wanted. He was 15 and had more freedom than anyone else his age. More freedom and more power. He could be himself, no longer bound by anyone. Not his old life and not his family. All of those things were for people who had hearts.

He had no heart. For him, having a heart, not having a heart...it was almost the same thing.

Everything was easier that way.

Maybe he should kill himself. He had no purpose. Nothing to look forward to. The Organization's goal was to complete Kingdom Hearts and get there hearts back. He didn't want his heart back, not really anyway. If he didn't see the point in their goals, then what was the point in being around them? Roxas? Sure he found the 13th member amusing, almost nice to be around, but they'd never be friends. Xinck never had a friend, it would be stupid to expect one out of him.

_Then After you kill me you have to kill yourself! _Her words through his head. They'd be there forever.

"Take my own life..." He mumbled, hands stuffed into his pockets. "...Ok." He hated for her to win in any shape or form, but she was right. He really had no purpose, just like her. No purpose. No past. No Future. No point.

He walked away from Larxene and over to the ledge. He stared down into the impenetrable abyss that surrounded the Castle. He wondered how far it went, where it went and how many times he would need to fall before his body got the idea that he wanted to kill himself. "Oh well." He raised a foot over the edge, "Guess we'll start at one..."

"Takin' the easy way out. Look at you..."

_That voice? _"No!" He turned in a hurry. Standing behind him, body pulled back together perfectly, Larxene smiled, one hand on her hip, the other clutching Excalibur. She raised the sword by it's blade and zapped it, in a flash, the silver and golden sword was turned to ash and went with the wind.

"No...no.." His voice trembled. Every emotion he thought he got rid off came flooding back like a riptide. "NOO! NOOO! How! Why?"

She sighed and wiped at her brow, "Special ability, _Anastasia _("She Will Rise Again"). If I die in Redux, I can come back one time at 100% health. Pretty bitchin', eh?"

"But you..you can't come back!" He bellowed, "I read that Pamphlet on Redux. It says after you do Redux, if you die, YOU DIE! You can't get around that!"

Her grin stretched from ear to ear, she smugly added "My Redux can." She started her assault. She tucked in her elbows and moved her arms about wildly, her pointer and middle fingers pointing outward. Concentrated electricity gathered at her fingertips and crackled all around them, scarring the ground around them with burn marks. She brought her fingers in, combing both energies and aimed with her right hand for Xinck. "Mind your head." She let go.

He was too stunned to move, to block, defend. He saw the blast of blue lightning leaving her fingers and in less than a blink, was burrowing a hole through the base of his neck and exploded out his back. His body went back from the blast, back and down the tower that held Havoc's Divide. Everything went dark. His body wouldn't move besides the wind and gravity pushing his limbs around. He knew that his healing wouldn't help. His neck and brain were the spots where it was concentrated at. If one of those spots was too damaged, then his body wouldn't heal soon enough. He'd bleed to death long before that happened.

His vision left him. Everything was dark, he lost consciousness. He fell into darkness.

Falling...falling...

_Hey! Oi! What the hell are you doing?_

His arms moved on their own. They clutched Thanatos and his body reared up and stabbed into the metal of the Castle, bringing him to s screeching stop in midair.

_Wake up! Damn you, open your eyes!_

His eyes fluttered open. The view of the Castle above him, the Dark City below. The wind was strong here, nearly blowing him off the side of the Castle. "Wha-" His hands were firmly fixed to his sword, who where firmly fixed into the Castle. He pulled up his legs to his chest, placing his feet underneath each blade. The wound to his neck was weeping blood, he couldn't cradle it unless he let go of a blade.

_You're wasting time. You're letting Larxene trod all over your new life, your new dream!_

"Who...who is this?" This voice was more than just in his head. It echoed outward from his body. It was three voices in one, speaking in unison like a choir just for him.

_You know who I am. I'm what you asked for. That Divine Darkness that came with you as a Nobody. Are you just going to die here? Let that hole in your neck be your end by Larxene's hand?_

"I..I can't heal."

_This is your life! DO NOT let her take it from you! You dreamed of something great and this is it! Fight! You are not meant to die here!_

"...Yeah..." My life. My dream. This is it. A life where there was never a dull moment. I got what I wanted...I have to be prepared to fight for it.

_Why do you fight? Why do you kill? It's all the same answer! So you can protect what's yours! Make Avarice your shield and Darkness your Sword!_

"I will!" His confidence back, he withdrew from the wall, taking his swords with him and floating in the air. He found floating easy, it was easier than keeping his feet on the ground.

_We will help you._

" 'We'?"

_Yes, we. You've already named us. Now tell us what to do!_

Xinck stood there, letting the wind blow around him, letting it move his coat around his body at it's own will. He closed his eyes and felt his body pulse, his presence released and the wind no longer held control over him. Darkness raised off his body, both black and white. He took his left sword and it burned black darkness, he turned it sideways out in front of him. He took his right sword, it burned white darkness and he placed downward in front of him. Thanatos formed a burning black and white cross in front of Xinck. He sighed, concentrated on the darkness inside him and let the words come to his lips. The Castle had gone dark when Larxene did her Redux and now that same darkness that shrouded the Castle tore itself off and stormed around Xinck like malevolent clouds. "...Scream With The Howls of My Soul!...and..." The Darkness troubled, pure white Darkness swirled in the mix and shot for Xinck. It wrapped around his neck and solidified, forming a long, flowing white scarf that looked torn and jagged from battle. The final verse, he screamed, "Cry Havoc and Slip, My Dog of War!" He ran his blades against each other, the black and the white exploded in a shower of chaos, combining with the expanding cloud. He screamed and shot like a bullet towards the top of the Castle, his darkness cloud spiraling up with him.

Back on Havoc's Divide, Larxene was confronted by the other 11 members, save for Xemnas. "Did you really have to kill him? Roxas was the first to ask the question, but it went ignored.

"You destroyed two buildings because of your petty squabbling." Saix said. He pushed through the crowd and stepped up to Larxene. "Look!" He pointed far to the left and at the once tall tower that was now bifurcated horizontally.

"Eh.." Larxene truly didn't care, displaying her apathy by scratching her long hair, "Someone'll fix it, I'm sure."

"You didn't have to kill him." Luxord spoke up, "He owed me munny."

"I say good riddance." Xaldin grunted, arms folded, "Bastard was a loose cannon just waiting to go off."

"I agree with Xaldin." Vexen chimed in. "The sooner he was gone, the safer the rest of us can be. Although, I'm not excited about Larxene still being around and nothing thing, I-"

The Organization turned and in one unified voice shouted, "Shut up, Vexen!"

The scientist stammered in shock, eyes buggy from the disrespect, "You are all out of Line! Back in my day-!"

"Shut up, Vexen!" Another shout and the scientist shrank away, silent.

An explosive sound penetrated the air. The darkened Castle lost it's dark hue, and, in a way, became paler than usual. A scream, a howl sounded all around, it was an unholy scream, like the tortured cry of a soul in anguish.

Lexaeus was the first to take notice. His gruff voice caught the attention of the others, "There's something new in the wind."

"Yeah." Demyx said, shyly, "That was...that was me. I ate Doria for lunch."

"No." Number V said, "Something more than that. Something we haven't-Oh, oh, my! There it is. I smell it now." The warrior defensively covered his nose in disgust.

"Ugh!" Xigbar gagged, also covering his nose, "God! There's like a heat behind it! Oh! It's like walking into a retirement home after they forget to wash the old people."

Another blasting explosion, this time it shook the Castle violently, knocking them all off balance. Rubble from the top rained down on Havoc's Divide and the members scattered to the doorway for safety.

"Larxene!"

The woman stopped in her tracks to turn back to the ledge. Falling from the sky and landing exactly where he had been shot, Xinck brandished his swords and his white, torn cape played in the wind. The hole that had been blasted in his neck had healed.

A smile on her face, she sounded almost proud. "Very well done. I knew your will was strong the moment I found you drenched in innocent blood." She giggled and outstretched her arms as if to hug him, "And I was not wrong! Xinck!"

The Deviant said nothing, merely staring at her.

"Listen, with my guidance and skill and your power and drive, we can do so much! We could rule the world! All worlds, including Cuba!"

Another explosion below, more towers around the Castle fell. Xinck stood still, eying Larxene with indifference. "Come on, Xinck!" She shouted, "What do you s-Oh, my God." Havoc's Divide was nearly toppled over, debris fell and struck and dented the ground. Larxene was tripping over her own two feet, the other members were scrambling around to take cover, but Xinck stood perfectly still, raised a hand and snapped his fingers. The shaking stopped.

She had fallen to her knee and looked at her ex-protege. "What..what are you doing?"

Slowly, an evil grin stretched across his face. His eyes darkened and wisps of dark energy effervesced from his body. "Larxene." He said, "I want to show you who I am, _what _I truly am."

"And what, might I ask, are you?" She said with a roll of her eyes.

His voice was hollow, his gaze locked on her, his grin was wide and evil, "A monster."

With that, the entire western side of the Castle, every bridge, every building and tower was taken out by a great black fire. The rubble plummeted to the ground and into the Dark City. The fire raised itself into the sky, split into two and dwarfed the entirety of the Castle. Another figure, a large neck and head, raised itself, this time directly behind Xinck. It went higher and higher until it was staring straight down at Larxene with red eyes. Then on it's left and right, two more heads, the same shape and length, rose to the same height. Three pairs of eyes, three heads all on the same black four-legged body. It's underside was spiked white hair that outlined it's enormous, muscled frame. On it's belly, was a zigzagging horizontal line, a pair of 'eyes' above the line gave it the appearance of a mouth. The thick, black fire that took out the west side of the Castle was it's two tails. It's hind legs had taken out several buildings in the Dark City to make room and it's front legs had moved the Castle itself.

All eyes were on Larxene as the Castle became engulfed in the shadow of this three-headed hound. Larxene stepped back in half shock and half excitement. "Get! The! Fuck! Out!"

"YES!" Xinck howled, he raised a hand toward his dog as if proud to present his Redux, "Cry Havoc And Slip, My Dog of War, **Inugami, Kage no Ryouken **(Jp: Dog God, Hound of Shadows)."

**Inugami, Kage no Ryouken-**In the Beginning, there was Darkness. This great Hound ran untamed and was called "The Three Gods Who Are One". It was the Lords of Despair, Death and Darkness. Indestructible and all-powerful, the true power of this demon can never be contained, only channeled. All shall bow or be extinct in his presence, nothing shall be left in his wake. Hound of Desolation, Harbinger of Destruction, it's true essence can only be Mastered by a true Prodigy of Darkness.

"Tristitia! (Despair)" He waved to the head right of the middle. Identical in appearance to the other heads, it's unique trait was it's long black mane that dropped down it's head in spikes and nearly covered it's sad eyes. "Erebos! (Darkness). He waved to the left-most head. It's unique trait was a white mark on it's forehead in the shape of a 3-pointed crown and it's ears were pointed up, almost like horns. "Ender! (Death)" He pointed to the middle head. It looked straight ahead, it's only unique trait was it's long, pale green mane that flowed down it's back like a ghost. At the base of each neck was a white collar, spiked and marked with skulls and the sigil of the Organization.

"Let me up!" On his command, the middle head, Ender, leaned down far enough onto the Divide for Xinck to jump onto it's nose. As it rose back into the air, Xinck jumped onto the very top of it's head, the pale-green fire mane didn't affect him at all. Taking both blades in hand, he threw his chains and blades outward towards the left and right heads. The blades hooked into the collars and the chains acted as leashes. He laughed madly, his torn white cape wafted in the wind. He pulled on the right chain and Erebos raised it's head, "Murder the Harlot! Erebosian Reign!" Erebos responded accordingly, it tore open it's mouth and the entire tower that held Havoc's Divide was consumed in a flash of Purple energy, shattering the tower and raining down debris from the sky.

The members scattered, jumping away from the decimated tower and onto the adjacent towers that were being assaulted by meteor-like debris that rained down from the very top of the Alter of Naught. Large chunks bombarded every part of the Castle that Never Was, no place was saw from the now fading purple haze.

A flash of lightning, Larxene appeared, partially unfazed from the blast, clinging to the side of an untouched tower. She was breathing heavily, shocked and desperate for a plan of action.

"Now, you see something. You do know you fucked up right?" Marluxia bluntly said. Number Eleven was standing on a nearby balcony to her right, the door to the balcony partially open. Marluxia had an annoyed expression on his face. "I told you to leave him alone."

"How was I supposed to know he'd have a huge fuckin' dog for a Redux?" She snapped.

"I told you to just let this go!" Marluxia snapped back. "We can't take over the Organization if this Castle is nothing but rubble!"

"I'll...I'll take care of it! I'll get him under control, we can still use him in our plan."

A grim look descended over Marluxia's face. With an irritated sigh, he swept hair from his face. "No, it's too risky. If we're going to do this, we'll do this without him."

"No! Marluxia, I-"

The wind troubled, a growl. Xinck's voice, "Swallow the Harlot!"

"Run!" Marluxia shouted, turning away and running back inside the hallway that led to the balcony. The giant maw of the Erebos head widened and aimed for Larxene. The Twelfth member shot away at the last minute as a bolt of lightning. Erebos bit away a huge chunk of the tower, crushing the hallway, tearing at the wires, pipes and circuitry inside and nearly engulfing Marluxia as well. He fell tot he ground and was just barely out of reach from the teeth.

Xinck yanked on his right chain and pulled Erebos away from the tower as the head chewed on the metal. "Don't fill up on junk." He said. The head rolled it's eyes in response, continued chewing for a minute, then spat out the huge chunk of Castle tot he ground in a heap of scrap and saliva. "Ew, it's got spit all over it." On the other side of his Hound, the left head, Tristitia, with it's sad expression on it's face, sounded a soft growl and caught Xinck's attention. Tristitia pointed far over to the left on a lone standing tower where Larxene stood."Right. Of course." Xinck whipped both chain leashes like the reigns on a horse, "Let's Move, Kurayami."

The bulk of Xinck's Redux was outside of the floating Castle, it's hind legs and two black flame tails. It's upper body, arms, chest, stomach and heads, were actually inside of the Castle Grounds, so for them to move around, Xinck had to direct their body out from between the towers, walk around to the nearest open space to their target, heft themselves up and stick their body and heads back into the Castle.

As Xinck and his Redux moved about the Castle, the other members were hard at work trying to save themselves from the ever-increasing debris that fell from the sky. Lexaeus hefted Skysplitter into the air and batted away more rocks and broken castle. "Believe it or not, this is the highlight of my day."

The air chilled and a great iceberg tore from the ground and into the sky, stopping falling debris from impacting Vexen. "Speak for yourself!" The Scientist snapped, "I had a perfectly good monkey brain to dissect."

"There's always later, no?

"No!" Vexen snapped, "He ate the top of my lab!"

Penetrating the air and bound for Vexen, an entire room, torn and ripped from the Castle, broke the iceberg and shattered it. Vexen stood frozen in place, Lexaeus moved, jumping into the air, his mighty tomahawk riding on his shoulder. He bashed the debris and shattered into rubbish, and raining down smaller, pieces on Vexen.

"That doesn't help!"

Out of nowhere came Zexion, Book of Retribution open. He raised his middle and pointer fingers in front of him. "_Ketsu_!" He shouted and the debris directly above Vexen became trapped in perfectly square, blue translucent boxes in midair. With a sigh of annoyance, he snapped his book shut.

"I didn't need your help!" Vexen shouted, quickly picking himself up and wiping off any dust on his coat. "I was perfectly capable of handling the situation on my own."

The Cloaked Schemer had leaned long ago that ignoring Vexen was an invaluable skill. His serene gaze and all of his attention was now focused on the giant, demonic Darkness that was surrounding the Castle and battling the Thunder Witch. Members fighting members. It was a shame, thought Zexion, fighting over petty differences that splinter those who share the same Nonexistence.

* * *

Elsewhere, in a more dangerous part of the wounded Castle, Axel, Roxas and Demyx were tying to find any safe place. Despite being the first to suggest coming to see Larxene and Xinck's fight, he was also the first to run away as soon as the Castle started shaking and falling apart. Axel had only told Roxas to come with him, but Demyx overheard and followed them.

"Quick, this way!" Axel shouted ahead of the group. They were all running though a broken hallway whose roof had been torn apart and hurled at Xinck by Larxene. It was like a war zone as they ran though the hallway, explosions, smoke rising through the air, the scent of death and the buzz of electricity rampaged through the air.

"Axel!" Roxas huffed, running behind his friend, "Where are we going?"

"I'm tired!" Demyx whined, "Can we take a break?"

"We're looking for Xemnas." Axel said, turning a sharp corner, "This doesn't make sense. The whole Castle's going to hell and he's nowhere in sight. He's the only one they'll listen to long enough to stop!"

An explosion ripped though the air, the walls tore apart from each other, the pipes exploded and discharges of lightning zoomed through the air, stopping Axel and the others in their place. Dust shot all around them, obscuring their vision. All they could do was here.

"Oh, Xinck! You dick!" Larxene screeched. She pulled herself from the wreckage.

High above, Xinck shouted back. "Man-faced trollop! Step on her!" The sound of an affirming growl and rubble being released from underneath a great weight.

"Step on this!" She snapped. The sound of wires or cords zipping through the air into the sky. The sound of needles lodging into flesh and a furious roar echoed through the world.

"That's a dirty trick!" Xinck shouted back. "Erebosian Reign!" Like the sound of a jet engine powering up in less than a second, a heavy sound reverberated around them. A purple haze filled the hallway, Larxene screams faded as she ran/was blown away. The hallway floor fractured on impact from the blast, it lifted up between Roxas and Demyx and splintered upward. Demyx fell to his knees and clawed at the floor, trying to keep from sliding down. Roxas and Axel, on the other side of the rising floor, maintained their balance and slid all the way down to safety.

"Agggh!" Demyx shrieked frantically. He was kicking and clawing, trying to climb up the floor, "Help! Help me!"

"Sorry, Demyx!" Roxas called back.

"You're in our thoughts and prayers!" Axel shouted.

"You bastards! Help me!"

Demyx's shouting faded as the two ran further through the hallway. The fighting had faded as well, since Xinck and Larxene had moved to a different part of the Castle. Axel and Roxas turned another corner into yet another long hallway, except at the end was an untouched spiral staircase along a wide pillar that led to the hallway that held Xemnas's office.

* * *

Xinck was having a blind rampage, blasting and biting away at Larxene over and over again. Sometimes he'd miss, sometimes he wouldn't. When he did miss, Larxene took advantage, made her way to the top of the beast and attacked Xinck directly, but he'd never let go of his chains and would recover, pull for Tristitia to turn upward and bite at Larxene. As of yet, the middle head, Ender, had done nothing, only serving as a platform for Xinck to stand on.

Eventually, Larxene was brought out of her mood to notice the scarred Castle. She knew that neither of them were done, but Marluxia was right: they couldn't take the Organization if the Castle was in rubble. She baited Xinck and his hound away from the Castle and into the Dark City, cleaving a scar of crushed buildings in his path as he looked for her in the deserted city.

Xinck was giddy with excitement for anticipation for his kill. He couldn't help the sadistic grin plastered on his face. Having his Redux rampage around looking for Larxene was like a continuous burst of long-awaited pleasure. He couldn't believe how hard it was to find her, technically he had 4 pairs of eyes looking for her. All three heads were scanning the city below them, eyes sharp and glowing red like the Black Shuck. Out of the corner of his right eye, a flash of yellow sparkled. "Over there!" He yanked on Erebos' chain, pulling the head to the right. A destructive blast of darkness followed, reducing every building in it's 1-mile path to ash. When the blat of subsided, he saw that the flash of yellow wasn't Larxene, "Oh, just a Streetlight." He cursed and continued walking his dog.

Erebos raised itself to Xinck's level and looked at him. Dogs can't smile, but he was able to mimic one and laugh/growl at his Master's mistake.

"Oh, shut up, fat head!"

The other head, Tristitia, also raised itself to Xinck's level and whined. Xinck sighed, "No, no , no, not you. You don't have a fat head." He sighed and shook his head. One thing he didn't exactly like about his Redux was how it wasn't like a normal three-headed dog, who can only think with one head at a time and is thus, technically, one being. But his Redux was composed of three separate heads that could all think at the same time, this is the reason why each head has a different name and a different personality.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw what looked like the long, flowing blond hair of Larxene. He and his Redux turned, as he did, a bolt of lightning struck him on the head, through his body, arms, chains and electrocuted his hound. Screams and howls roared with every volt.

"You and your giant bitch can't touch me now!" Larxene chanted, laughing and running up the back of Ender's neck for Xinck. Her Gauntlet Claws cleaved into his back over and over.

"GAAHHH! He's a boy, I checked!" He wouldn't let go of his chains. He reached back to kick her away, but she moved too fast, went around to his front and carved at his front, sending him falling back down Ender's neck and onto his Redux's back. Larxene stood at the top, laughing.

_Dammit! I can't hit her if she's this close!, _He cursed and stood up. "Ender, shake!" The middle head did as commanded and shook it's neck and head furiously, the other two heads watching, unable to do anything without risking injury to themselves. Larxene jumped from the shaking head into the air and dove like a bullet for it's back. She landed near Xinck and exploded with an electric shock wave.

To his shock, Xinck realized how vulnerable he was. His front was wide open and exposed, his arms out, holding his chains out around the necks of his dogs. And he couldn't let go to fight her, or pull on Erebos to fire without risk of injury to the whole. His thoughts stopped when another jolt shot through his system, up through his chains and around the necks of his Redux. They squirmed and winced and whined. Through a strained face, Xinck opened his eyes to see Larxene firmly gripping one of his chains with her Gauntlet, sending volt after volt through his body.

He had to do something before he took too much damage and faded. He couldn't let go and Larxene wouldn't stop. Then, the perfect plan came into mind. Over the sound of his electrocution, he shouted, "Kurayami! Roll over, boy!"

One minute, Larxene and Xinck had their feet firmly planted on the back of the giant Redux, the next, everything turned upside down. First they were falling, they were weightless. Larxene was screaming with shock, Xinck was grinning. Then, the ground was above them, black fur above them. The ground was coming to them quickly, then everything went black. They were squashed and Larxene was thrown off onto the ground. When Xinck's Redux was rolling back onto its feet, Xinck was still holding onto his chains.

Larxene was sprawled on the ground, several ribs were trying to repair themselves. She hacked out some blood and got to her feet in a daze.

"Erebosian Reign!" Another purple haze filled the sky. Larxene looked to see an open maw filled with a smoking black and purple energy. A crack of thunder sounded just as Xinck released the obliterating light from the mouth of his dog. The blast devastated even the earth in its path, leaving a rotting scar of jagged rocks and torn roads in the Dark City.

The blast ended. Xinck scanned the are for any sign of Larxene. A blood spot, a torn limb, anything that said that she was dead. That blast was delivered at point-blank range, she couldn't have lived through that without getting damaged a little.

"Of course she's still alive..." He shook his head in anger. How could I be so stupid, he thought. She disappears every time I try to blast her, then appears behind me and I can't attack if she's too close. It's too difficult for Kurayami to fight a single enemy with his size. I was hoping to just squash her flat or eat her, but she's too fast. I have to get closer.

With a pull, Xinck released his chains from the necks of Erebos and Tristitia then turned to the latter. "Tristitia." The dog turned to Xinck with its sad, yet vicious expression on it's face. As it turned, it's long mane that partially covered the left side of it's face in a Gothic way, moved slightly. Xinck held out his left Thanatos blade, it's point downward. "It Seems You've Been Asleep For 1000 Years, The Way Your World Has Changed Will Bring You 1000 Tears." Tristitia's red eyes flashed. It's mouth opened wide and a wail, not a roar or howl, a wail of sorrow and pain screeched through the night air. And with that, the Tristitia head began to dissolve and smoke away, first it's head was gone, then its neck and collar, leaving only an empty black space where it used to be.

Xinck jumped off of Ender's head and dropped for 5 seconds until he reached the top of a building. He landed with a crater on the tall dark building, then turned back to his Redux. "I'm going on foot, you two just...hang back for awhile." It was a gamble, leaving his Redux out in the open, if it was killed, he'd be killed. But then again it was a giant dog so he didn't have to worry.

The blast had hit her, but just barely. Leaned up against an alley wall, trying to heal, the 12th member considered her options. His Redux was big, which meant there were many points of attack, but a downside was that it was big _and _powerful. If she was careless she could easily get stepped on, eaten or blasted. Xinck was easily distracted, maybe if she used a trap involving something shiny she just might be able to get the upper hand.

Her body had finished healing. She jumped from the alley to the top of the building she had leaned on. Reaching the top, she could see how much damage she and Xinck had down to the Castle. She was surprised it was still floating. All this damage, all that power. She wanted that, she _needed _that. With Xinck's power under her thumb they could do such great things. She could finally be where she belonged, at the top with no one above her. And Xinck would share in that power, he'd have much less of it, obviously, but he'd be there at her side. Why couldn't she make him understand?

The sound of leather boots smacking pavement caught her attention. Behind her stood the Deviant, his face shrouded in a cruel apathy, his torn cape billowing behind him. Larxene returned with a pleasant smile, which only irritated Xinck.

"Xinck..that's quite a pet you have there."

"You called him a bitch earlier."

"I call you a bitch all the time."

"So you're calling me your pet?"

Her smile widened, "A little bit, yes."

_Arrrg! God! Why does she always have to one-up me? _Xinck took a furious step forward and Thanatos appeared in hand.

"Xinck, come on now. Look at what we did!" She gestured up at the wound inflicted on the Castle, "I mean, if we can do that, think of what else we can-"

"I'm sick of your words!" He lunged for Larxene and threw his left blade for her. The blade shined red and black. The blade itself exploded and shattered, replaced with the head of a dog with black mane. The head shot from the handle followed by a black, skeletal snake-like body. It grew to tremendous size and when it opened its mouth it screeched a ghostly wail like a Scream Resonance. Tristitia shot for Larxene, it's mouth a myriad of white teeth drenched in saliva.

Just before Tristitia neared to swallow Larxene, the 12th got in her stance, readied herself and grabbed at it's upper and lower jaws with her Gauntlets. She was struggling under the force, she had super strength in her Redux, but she was quickly reaching her limit.

"HAHAHA! Yes! Struggle and weep, you crazy whore!"

The screams from Tristitia were enough to make her go deaf. Larxene couldn't take it anymore. Her arms were soon to give out, so she twisted her arms and the head downward long enough for her to jump onto it's back and run down it's spine for Xinck.

"No, you don't!" He pulled back on Tristitia, throwing Larxene off balance and tossing her upward. Tristitia caught her in its jaws and on Xinck's command squeezed her just enough to hold her. He didn't want her to die just yet. Xinck pulled again, this time swinging Larxene at the full length of Tristitia. He twirled her around seven times, soaking up her screams with laughs of his own. He smashed her against buildings, glass windows, he jumped from the building at full force and smashed her against the hard stone pavement. Her visor was busted, terrible blasts of lightning erupted from her eyes.

"Gaaahhh!" Her screams were thunder, the sky would burst. Xinck didn't care, his revenge was almost done.

"And let go!" Tristitia let go as Xinck tossed her away. Larxene flew through the air for half a mile, bloodied and battered. Her Gauntlets had been crushed, pieces of its metal had found their way into her skin. She came to a halt, colliding with a Skyscraper and bashing into it's roof in a heap.

In an instant he called back Tristitia, summoned the whole of Kurayami and made his way to Larxene to deliver the killing blow. He found her trying to stand and limp on a skyscraper not far from Memories Skyscraper. Her Redux-exclusive long hair wasn't as tidy as it once had been, her clothes were torn and her partially exposed eyes were giving off electrical discharge. As Xinck neared her on his Redux, he could've sworn he saw a small smile on her face.

That smile. That arrogant smile. Even when she's about to die she keeps mocking me, he thought. I hate that smile. Cocky, arrogant, like she's better than me! He jumped from the top of Ender's head and landed a few yards before her. He just watched her, struggling to breath, to walk. He should be taking joy in it, but he couldn't because of her smile. As if everything, for her, was going according to plan. Is her dying apart of her plan, he thought. She could have something worse waiting for me after. No. no, I don't care. She has to die!

"Xinck." She started. He drowned out most of her words, he thought she might try to by enough time to heal, but it didn't matter how well she healed. She was nearing her limit. "..You...you're full of surprises. Aren't you? Do you think...killing the only person in the universe like you will make you feel better?" He couldn't make out her eyes because of the electricity covering them, but he assumed they were as cocky as her eyes. "Kill me and you'll be alone forever. Can you handle that? Eternal solitude?"

Xinck said nothing.

"Me and you...we can do things, great things. Kill me and miss out on what could be. Do you think you could handle that? Missing out on what you _truly _are meant to be, can you live with that?

She must be pleading for her life, he thought. I don't care what fate or destiny wants me to be. We're Nobodies, we are _truly _meant to be nothing. She's such a phony, pretending that we really have a purpose. So can I live with that? What a stupid question.

He sighed with aggravation, "Only one way to find out. Ender!" The middle head above him with it's pale green ghost-like man down it's back raised its head at attention. "End Your Game and End The World." It's eyes reddened and glowed brighter as the eyes of Erebos and Tristitia grew dull, black and lifeless. Ender's neck began to shrink as bones in it's body began to break and crack and reform. The arms of Xinck's Redux literally snapped at the elbow and shoulder, reformed and became more muscular and defined. From the elbows, enormous, thick and black bones jutted upwards. It's thumbs became clawed and movable like a man's. It's legs gave off a sickening crack, redefining themselves and muscling up. The whole of his Redux became bipedal, walking on two legs. It began to rise as its spine and neck repositioned itself. The heads of Tristitia and Erebos had become flat and lifeless, their necks shrinking into the shoulders and their faces, positioned with their mouths open, acted as shoulder guards. It's front was black, while it's stomach had become "living", a mouth with a zigzagging smile was white, giving it the appearance of a jack-o'-lantern. Two white slits acted as it's 'eyes'. When it opened its mouth, a gaping Darkness was there ready to swallow everything. Ender, as the head of this new being, still maintained its canine face, albeit a smaller, more humanoid neck. It still had its black, twin flame tails.

_Your enemy is your teacher. My teacher is my enemy. Learn from them, learn how to kill them. _Xinck raised a victorious finger and pointed it at Larxene, who's grin had faded as Ender's Shadow enveloped the Dark City. "My enemy and teacher all in one!"

If it was fear in her eyes, it turned to anger. If it was regret in her eyes, it turned to spite. If it was helplessness in her eyes, it turned to hatred. She ignored her still-healing body and let it explode in a flurry of her element. "FINE! YOU UNGRATEFUL HE-BITCH! YOU JUST GOT LUCKY! I HAVEN'T EVEN SHOWN YOU HALF OF WHAT I CAN DO!" She raised her hands and literally tore open the sky and banished the clouds, "_Jigadirasu Uru Zakeruga!" _Blue lightning curved in the air, combined and exploded in a sphere of destructive energy, bathing the entire world in a pale light. The sphere became solid, round and hollow, like the barrel of a cannon, 5 thunder symbols dotting the edge. At the top was the body of a Thunder God, eyes bleeding lighting and fists gripped on it's cannon body. Blue angelic wings draped its back, with every flap an EM pulse was released, every light was knocked out and the screen at the top of Memory's Skyscraper went blank.

Larxene raised a victorious finger and pointed it at Xinck, who's grin did not fade. "Fire!" She roared

Xinck raised a fist and Ender behind him raised his giant fist as well. "Fist of The Fallen!" Bursts of black white and red energy consumed the meteoric fist and came down like a hammer, aimed for Larxene. Larxene's attack charged at the same time, the cannon shined brighter than Kingdom Hearts, bolts of lightning fell and scarred the earth around them. The cannon fired, releasing an obliterating thunderbolt from it's very center, aimed for Xinck.

Lightning and Darkness, both unstoppable elements collided with an immovable force. The tower the two Nobodies were on buckled and shook, it's frame remained, but the windows burst, sending millions of glass shards raining down in the streets. The resulting explosive that should've killed them both was forced up into the air, past the clouds, past the sky and into the upper atmosphere. Black and Yellow light shined brighter than the brightest star as it exploded. And just as quickly as it had come, it was gone. The smoke cleared around the building, both Nobodies made out each other's shape, but it was a third shape that caught their attention.

"That is enough." Xemnas said.

The Superior had jumped into the path of both attacks at the last minute, put up a simple shield and reflected it into the air. It wasn't difficult or strenuous for him.

"Superior..." Larxene was at a loss of words. This man didn't know the definition of mercy. If he could effortlessly redirect the attacks of two Reduxes, then she could only imagine what he'd do knowing what had happened to his Castle. "Superior..I.."

"Hey, Xemnas!" Xinck waved, but didn't smile, greeting his Superior.

"Xinck." His voice was calm, there was no hint of anger or displeasure. "You have an awfully large Redux. I'm..intrigued as to the reason why it's an animal, but-"

"Excuse me, Superior, I don't mean to interrupt, but I _really _have to kill Larxene, so if you can just-"

"I cannot allow you to do that."

The Deviant's expression noticeably sank. "But..but why?"

"We only have 14 members. We cannot kill each other over petty squabbling!" He had raised his voice, the first time Xinck had heard it. It was unsettling, he could almost feel something inside him push down in on itself. Xemnas raised his hand and gestured for the scarred white Castle, "Look at what your insignificant little arguments did. Both of you! Look at what you have done!"

Larxene looked at the Castle, but Xinck didn't. His head was down, his fists was trembling. Xemnas continued, "Xinck. From this day forward you are forbidden from releasing your Redux in The World That Never Was. It is too destructive. Do you understand."

Xinck mumbled something, but his head was down and no one could hear him. "Speak up." Xemnas ordered.

"I...I have to kill her..."

"No. you may not." Xemnas said. Behind his back, Larxene stuck her tongue out at Xinck.

"Yes. I have to kill her!" He raised a hand and the surrounding shadows formed a single Thanatos blade. He raised his head and panic was in his eyes. "She has to die!" He screamed, "I did my Redux! If she doesn't die, I do!" He lunged for her manically, sword ready to cleave, "SHE HAS TO DIE!"

Xemnas caught Xinck in the neck with his arm, nearly compressing his windpipe completely. His feet slipped from under him and he fell on his back, his sword clattered to the ground. Xemnas sighed, "Did you even bother to read the Rules of Redux pamphlet?"

Through gritted teeth and choking breaths, Xinck responded, "I..skimmed...it."

"Then you read the part where it says that you'll fade away if you lose a battle in your Redux?"

"Ob...viously."

"Did you get to the part where it said that this rule is null and void if the Redux user quits the battle and leaves or if a third party interferes?"

"...no..."

"I didn't think so." Xemnas turned to his No.12, "Dismiss your Redux, Larxene."

Obeying, Larxene snapped her fingers and a bolt fell from the sky, hit her and left just as quickly. She was in her Organization XIII coat, her hair was short, nice and neat and her injuries were gone.

"You, too, Xinck. Dismiss your hound."

He had no choice to obey. He felt so small now, so weak, s insignificant. He truly felt like nothing. He got up, the throbbing in his neck subsided. He looked at Ender who stood ready for an order. Xinck held out his hand and flexed his fingers, pulled at invisible strings and the whole of his Redux began to dissolve into shadows. His torn white cape shredded itself and faded away.

Xemnas opened a dark corridor and turned his back on his subordinates. "You are both fools. As punishment, you are both charged with overseeing the reconstruction of the Castle and the Dark City." Without another word, he vanished into the darkness.

He was so close, so close to it. So close to his kill, he let it slip through his fingers and he failed. His knees hit the floor, his head low. It wasn't fair.

Larxene, in a nonchalant manner, walked to Xinck while scratching her head. Just like that she had brushed off the entire situation, "Hey, listen, I'm going to the store. You want something? No? Okay, see ya." She opened a corridor around her and just as Xinck looked to her, she grinned that arrogant smile that he knew would haunt his mind forever. The grin of superiority. The grin of dictatorship. The grin of control. That same sadistic grin that Xinck puts on his face anytime he killed someone on a mission.

That fact tore at his very core. "She's right...we are the same..."

* * *

All was pointless. Nothing had meaning.

"Over, under, round and round so your feet won't touch the ground." I should've tried this a long time ago, he thought as he flung the noose around a low pipe in his room.

When he was a young boy and fighting the despair in his head, he often thought of suicide. He never went through with it because he was a coward. Fear stopped him as a human, he had no fear as a Nobody. Nothing stood in his way now.

"_Then after you kill me you have to kill yourself!" _Those were her words. They were true, but he couldn't kill her. Xemnas got in his way. They were the same, Larxene and Xinck. In Xinck's distraught mind, by killing himself he could eliminate whatever part of him that was Larxene. Larxene deserved to die, he deserved to die.

He found a folding chair and stood on it while he placed the noose around his neck.

"It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair." Words that ran through his head. "Life isn't fair. Life _wasn't _fair. He had died once, lost his heart and became a Nobody. He was already in one afterlife and..._this _happened. So Life wasn't fair and Death was no different.

Below his chair, a white portal opened, lined with Nobody thorns. Xercivio plopped out and landed on his feet. _"What are you doing?"_

"Isn't is obvious?" Xinck replied. Of course he's alive, he thought. People like him just don't die. Xercivio folded his arms and scanned Xinck up and down. He had no eyes, but Xinck knew Xercivio was very observant. "You're not going to try and stop me?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

"_That depends. Do you think this will be your way out? Your way to freedom?"_

"My freedom was forfeit a _loooong_ time ago."

He kicked the chair out from under. A sickening snap followed...

Anytime someone asked me about who I was or where I came from, I would always lie. "Oh, I'm Canadian, or Egyptian or Chinese or Cuban". "I was born in 500 log cabins" or " The day I was born 21 people died in the hospital." I would lie so much that everyone pretty much caught me in these lies and ask me why I didn't just tell them the truth. To which I would answer, "I've actually lied so much about my past that I honestly can't remember it anymore." But the truth is, I do remember my past, very vividly, too.

I don't know why, but I've always felt that everything I was or could've been was wrong. Maybe it was my parents or my teachers that told me what was right and what was wrong. They told me what happens to bad people who do bad things: Bad things happen to them; They go to jail; They go to hell.

When I was 5 years old I pushed one of my classmates off the jungle gym and she broke her arm. I don't know why I did it, but it almost made me feel better. I don't know why, maybe I was too young to know. Needless to say, I got in trouble. My teachers yelled at me, my parents yelled at me and even the little girl's parents yelled at me. I think this is where it started, my repression of who I truly was. Ever since then, everyday, I couldn't go a single day without the thought of hurting another human being and when I got older, hurting them became killing them. My thoughts started getting more violent, I thought of torturing them, maiming them, bleeding them dry, biting into their flesh. It was a terrible thing, really, but I could never do it because "Bad things would happen to me."

For 15 years I lived with the fear of the consequences of what would happen to me if I acted on my natural impulses. I was a Pariah as a result, I was Depressed as a result, I went Insane as a result. But I never hurt anyone no matter how badly I wanted to because I was too scared of the "Bad things that would happen to me."

Then I died and became a Nobody. Could this be my freedom? I was no longer bound by emotions or society's laws. I had power beyond that, above that. I was a God. I killed for the Organization and I enjoyed it. I learned how to torture if I was asked to. I was almost happy, but then..Larxene. I wasn't a God. No matter how high up you are, there is always someone above you, controlling you.

Perhaps freedom is as much as an illusion as reality is, as much as an illusion as morality and kindness is. When I was reborn as a Nobody, I was essentially a new person, a new soul in a strange world. And all because of who I was, I was not shown kindness, I was threatened, attacked and hated. Humanity is a sick thing. Morality is just bullshit and Life is Hell.

...so by contrast, that could mean Death is Heaven. So why fear dying?

* * *

The Next Chapter is up, so..you know..just hit Nex, i guess. But Review first, I'm seriously. Review.


	39. Deviant's Requiem

EDIT!- I've finished the picture of Xinck! Go to my profile to see the address!

And here it is, just like a said it would be.

* * *

_He Kicked the chair out from Under. A sickening snap followed..._

Anytime someone asked me about who I was or where I came from, I would always lie. "Oh, I'm Canadian, or Egyptian or Chinese or Cuban". "I was born in 500 log cabins" or " The day I was born 21 people died in the hospital." I would lie so much that everyone pretty much caught me in these lies and ask me why I didn't just tell them the truth. To which I would answer, "I've actually lied so much about my past that I honestly can't remember it anymore." But the truth is, I do remember my past, very vividly, too.

I don't know why, but I've always felt that everything I was or could've been was wrong. Maybe it was my parents or my teachers that told me what was right and what was wrong. They told me what happens to bad people who do bad things: Bad things happen to them; They go to jail; They go to hell.

When I was 5 years old I pushed one of my classmates off the jungle gym and she broke her arm. I don't know why I did it, but it almost made me feel better. I don't know why, maybe I was too young to know. Needless to say, I got in trouble. My teachers yelled at me, my parents yelled at me and even the little girl's parents yelled at me. I think this is where it started, my repression of who I truly was. Ever since then, everyday, I couldn't go a single day without the thought of hurting another human being and when I got older, hurting them became killing them. My thoughts started getting more violent, I thought of torturing them, maiming them, bleeding them dry, biting into their flesh. It was a terrible thing, really, but I could never do it because "Bad things would happen to me."

For 15 years I lived with the fear of the consequences of what would happen to me if I acted on my natural impulses. I was a Pariah as a result, I was Depressed as a result, I went Insane as a result. But I never hurt anyone no matter how badly I wanted to because I was too scared of the "Bad things that would happen to me."

Then I died and became a Nobody. Could this be my freedom? I was no longer bound by emotions or society's laws. I had power beyond that, above that. I was a God. I killed for the Organization and I enjoyed it. I learned how to torture if I was asked to. I was almost happy, but then..Larxene. I wasn't a God. No matter how high up you are, there is always someone above you, controlling you.

Perhaps freedom is as much as an illusion as reality is, as much as an illusion as morality and kindness is. When I was reborn as a Nobody, I was essentially a new person, a new soul in a strange world. And all because of who I was, I was not shown kindness, I was threatened, attacked and hated. Humanity is a sick thing. Morality is just bullshit and Life is Hell.

...so by contrast, that could mean Death is Heaven. So why fear dying?

* * *

_10 Minutes later..._

"So...uh..you just gonna leave me up here?"

"_Yup!"_ Xercivio sat on the floor of Xinck's bedroom, legs crossed and a portable DVD player blaring _House M.D. "I love this show."_

Xinck was swaying back and forth from his noose. He had broken his neck from the force, and his spinal cord was severed so he was technically paralyzed. He couldn't heal either since the injury was still occurring. He thought he would've choked to death, but he was wrong. "My legs are tired." He whined.

"_Well, maybe you should've thought of that before you hung yourself."_

"How was I supposed to know it wasn't gonna work? Why didn't you try to stop me?"

"_You looked pretty sure of yourself, so..you know, live and learn, I guess."_

"That..that's just mean."

"_Uh-huh. Hugh Laurie is a great actor. I should get a cane."_

"Ok, I'm bored. Cut me down!"

It was an order, so Xercivio had to follow it, but he took his time getting up. He wiped his body, did some stretches and jumping jacks. He jumped, his hand turned into a scythe blade and he cut the noose, Xinck fell to the floor like a lifeless dummy. He stayed there for a minute as his neck bones healed up and feeling and movement returned to his body.

Xercivio went back to watching his show and Xinck joined him. "What's this episode about?"

"_Um, Dr. House is treating this girl who was beaten by her parents, gang raped by some thugs and is now impregnated and suicidal. A shame, really. Why is the world so cruel?"_

The answer came naturally to Xinck. "Because it's filled with cruel people."

"_Yeah. Almost hypocritical for _us _to be saying that, eh?"_

Xinck shrugged and pulled his knees up to his chest, "We are who we are." Words that he knows he should never forget. "I am who I am." He repeated to himself. _And I've been denying myself for too long. _

Jokingly and half paying attention, Xercivio asked, "_And what, pray tell, are you exactly?"_

"I..am a product of my environment."

"_A what?" _The Reaper turned his head to see Xinck, now standing up and a mad look in his eye as looked to the sky through the window above his bed.

"When I was born, I knew who I was, but I was told that I was wrong and bad. So I repressed it for my whole life and my life sucked as a result! Then I was reborn, a fresh, new soul in the world and..the first people I met..hated me! For who I was! I didn't mean to hurt them, I just needed help and they shunned and hated me! Because of them, I'm...I'm...a monster." He looked at Xercivio, anger in his voice, but glee in his face, "I'm a monster because of them! It's their fault! You help a person in need, you don't try to kill him when he's at his lowest!"

The Reaper looked his master up and down, a bit taken aback, _"...'kay. If you're having all this...baggage, then maybe you should talk to them about it? Mm? Maybe? Yeah?"_

"Oh, we'll do more than talk to them about it." A wave of his hand and beckoning Corridor of Darkness opened near him.

"_Wait, what do you mean "We'll"?" _Xinck grabbed Xercivio by the leg and dragged him into the portal with him.

"You're coming to!"

* * *

This world had no designated name. The Organization knew about it, but found no use for it since its Heartless population was so low. This was the world that Xinck was Born in, the world where he was found by the Organization. It was a quaint world with many unique properties, its people were diverse, in that while their world seemed ancient and Feudal, but it was modern. Its people knew of electricity, power, weaponry and had many modern conveniences.

There was a large town, or village with a crowded population of near 200,000. At the farthest edge of that town were cliffs, the same cliffs were Xinck was trying to kill himself before Larxene found him. Under the lone tree that stood right on the cliff's edge, a portal of Darkness opened and the Deviant took a huge breath of the salty air of the world. The first time he came to this world, it's sky was blue, morning, and when he left it was crimson, sunset. This world's red sky was the most beautiful sight Xinck had ever seen. Odd, he thought, that he hadn't taken better notice of it on his first visit, despite the unpleasantness.

He didn't scan the horizon long before he saw the village that spurned and threatened him. It wasn't a nice size village with houses, stores, etc, all made from stone, wood and other flammable materials.

"Maybe I should burn it down first."

He was talking to himself, he had ordered Xercivio and the others to hang back until he gave the signal. The closer he came to the open, wooden gateway that held the name of the village. It was written in a Japanese script that He didn't recognize, so he couldn't make it out. Walking through the gate, he caught a whiff of something delicious. He pretty much ignored the random citizen's that walked around the town and made his way to a noodle stand. He took a seat at one of the cushioned stools and propped his head on his hand.

"What can I get for you?" The man in the kitchen asked, his back to Xinck. He was frying noodles on a flat, electric stove that billowed delicious-smelling smoke into the air. The man was large and, if Xinck's memory served him right, looked almost identical to the noodle man he had accidentally killed before Larxene had found him. When the man turned, Xinck confirmed it, but when the man saw Xinck, his eyes cut. "You look familiar."

Xinck had a twitch in his hand and even his face. His lips began to curl into a smile and his eyes came alive with a brilliant madness. "Oh, really?"

"Just a little. Live around here?" Xinck noticed the grip of the noodle man on the counter. It was tight, as if he was squeezing coal for a diamond.

In his excitement, he thought up a quick lie, "Yes, actually. I have a farm not too far from here."

"Oh, a farmer, huh? The noodle man ran a tongue over dry lips, "I'm sorry, I just thought you looked like a guy, a foreigner, a lot of my customers were talking about."

"Oh, what'd he look like?"

The noodle man ignored his question, "This foreigner, uh, a few weeks ago killed my brother. He runs a noodle shop a few miles away." His staring at Xinck grew to a glare that that housed a fire of anger, "You look like him, the foreigner. Black hair, brown skin, and those teeth."

Xinck's smile had curled into a full Cheshire cat grin, "Uh-huh."

"And I just so happen to know every farmer in the land. So tell me, what kind of farmer are you?" His fat face was jiggling with rage as it turned red, the veins of his eyes were bulging.

Laughing, the Fallen Deviant asked, "What kind of farmer am I?" A flash of black, both swords in hands, he impaled the man in the face, pulled him over the counter and flung him into the street 3 yards behind him. Xinck leaped from the counter and landed the point of his toe on the man's chest. He was dead, but that didn't stop him at all, "I'm a Death Farmer, motherfucker! I love _Tropic Thunder!"_

That's when the screaming started. Anyone who had seen what happened ,men and women, boys and girls all ran screaming through the streets. Those that heard the screaming and saw the running people, stayed in place to see the disturbance and of course there were those who were warriors and held onto weapons.

8 white portals appeared around Xinck and 8 Reapers appeared and danced and jumped around him, waiting for an order. Xercivio didn't dance or jump around. He considered it undignified. _"Why was the signal "I'm a Death Farmer, motherfucker."?"_

"Because I like _Tropic Thunder_, but I don't care for Ben Stiller."

"_Fine, whatever. Orders?"_

"Murder and Mayhem and all that jazz." He broke into a cackle and vengefully pointed his finger towards the crowd of innocents scattering from him, "Now Go, my pretties! Go!" Every Reaper ran, jumped and leaped into the crowd and began the slaughter. Xercivio stayed behind and looked up to his master.

"_Is this what you had in mind after Larxene beat you? Murder a bunch of people?"_

"I'm doing what I'm good at. I'm good at killing. Are _you _judging me?"

"_Of course not. But is there a point to this? Is this helping the Organization's goal?"_

14 sighed and giggled evilly, "Xercivio. I'm going to tell you something that I learned either a few years ago or just recently, I can't remember. But anyway, the lesson is, 'Fuck it.' Just Fuck it. Fuck it and throw caution to the wind. Like me." He spied a running woman and impaled her on his sword 12 feet away. He pulled her back to him, removed his sword from her screaming body and held onto her stomach tightly as her caressed her cheek with his tongue. "You see, Xercivio? I'm throwing caution to the wind." He grabbed her face, smiled at her panic and her screams. He snapped her neck. Her screaming ceased. "Throw caution to the wind, Xercivio. AND LET GOD HANDLE THE FUCKING MESS!

* * *

Bullets whizzed through the air from the guns fired from the men desperate to protect themselves and their village. They shot at Xinck from afar, and at point blank. He would take the bullets into his body and spit them out from his mouth. Then he'd kill them. Men came at him with swords, but they were weak and couldn't take a sword to the throat. Anyone who raised a weapon to him died quicker, all the while, he laughed, he giggled, he smiled and made jokes with every kill. He wanted all of them to die, he let no one escape. On the perimeter of the town, a great black and purple wall of fire rose 20 feet into the air, cutting the village off from the rest of the land. The wall was impassable, people tried to dig, but Reapers came for them.

"Oh!" Xinck would sing out loud as he came down a street, "Killing you...is easy 'cause you're beautifu-u-ul! Doot'n doot'n doo doo, _Aaaaaaaaah!"_

People tried to hide in their houses, but that didn't stop him. He barged right in and grabbed a young boy, ripped him from his mother's arms and brought him outside by his hair.

"No!" The mother shrieked in awful grief, sprinting from the house for Xinck. She didn't know what she'd do, but her son was in the grip of a demon.

Xinck held the boy out to her, she made a grab and he pulled him back, "Nuh-uh-uh! None for you! You ever see a pumpkin drop from the sky?" He didn't wait for an answer because he knew she wouldn't. Xinck leaped into the air, a good 35 feet and floated there, the mother with her arms extended under him, hoping to catch her boy. "And here's the windup!" Xinck readied the boy like a baseball, but aimed downward instead of outward. He never played a game of baseball in his life, "And the Pitch!" He threw the boy down to the earth by his hair with enough force to snap his neck. He was dead before he hit the ground. His mother caught the carcass and fell to her knees. Before she could mourn, Xinck dropped from the sky and snapped her spinal cord with his full weight.

"Oh, that's such crap!" He yelled, picking himself up, "You caught him and can't catch me! I only weigh 100 pounds! Nonexistent pounds, at that."

His massacre had gone on for 7 minutes and already he had ended the lives of 500 people. He was working in overtime, the Reapers helped, but were slow and tripped over there own two feet if they ran too fast. Xinck did most of the work, but because they tried to hide it made it a bit difficult...

….so he set the village on fire.

* * *

The black wall of fire around the village, the burning red sky, the blood soaked earth, the incinerated carcasses dotting the ground and the smell of burning flesh in the air. Xinck took this time to appreciate the beauty of it all. A mother tried to put out her infant. An old man shot himself in the head from the grief of seeing Xinck rip his wife in half. A burning boy wailed in endless grief as his skin boiled away. Even the animals were burning, a dog had collapsed in it's fire and was nothing but ash and cinders. A horse was running fast through the streets, setting fire to anything in it's path.

He was satisfied with his handiwork.

Bodies upon bodies lined the streets, were piled in burned out houses. Flies descended on the carnage, they didn't mind the flames.

A girl's screams sent chills of pleasure down his spine. A baby's cry made him twitch in ecstasy. "Oh, god, if I had lotion right now, I'd totally jack off." He walked through the streets as if he had lived there for years and had dropped by for a visit.

People were dying, there was no escape, but he still saw them running.

* * *

He took my mother. He took my sister. He left me in their blood. I didn't understand, did I do something wrong? Why did he leave me?

Then the fires started. I was in my house. I was too scared to move.

It was hot, I didn't care. I held onto their bodies and let

the flames take me.

* * *

"Come on, COME ON!" Xinck shouted at the young man, one of Thanatos sword in the young man's hand. Xinck held onto the other sword and had it positioned under the chin of his elderly father. The young man's younger kid sister was next to him, eyes filled with tears, unable to speak or hear because of deafness. "Either kill her." Xinck ordered, "Or I kill your father. Come on, make a choice."

"N-n-no! Don''t do it!" The old man screamed, "Just run, run away! Get as far as you can!" Xinck snapped the man's arm in half.

"Shut up! You're ruining everything!" Xinck turned back to the young man whose face was streaked with tears. He was holding the sword sideways with both hands on the blade and handle. The blade was sharp, it cut into his fingers, he bled, but didn't notice. "COME ON!"

The young man jolted up with his decision. He gripped the sword on the handle, screamed and charged for Xinck.

The Deviant rolled his eyes, "Idiot." He took the sword in his gut, felling it pierce his stomach all the way to the back. He scoffed and chuckled, "Is that it? And I thought you loved your pappy." He grabbed the sword from the young man's grip, took it out of his body and slashed the boy across his face, sending him wailing to the ground.

The little sister had ran away. Xinck impaled the old man in the throat and let his body drop to the ground as he chocked to death. He walked up to the young man. He was on his hands and knees trying to crawl away. Xinck kicked him in his sides and flipped him on his back like a turtle.

"Oh, god...please...please don't...please." He pleaded and Xinck smiled while lifting up his foot.

"You know, if you weren't covered in blood, you'd be kinda cute." He bashed his skull in and wiped his bloodied shoe off the boy's shirt. He looked up to see the little girl running away towards the village center, wear burning corpses rested in the streets. "Hey!" Xinck called after her. Of course she didn't turn back. "Hey!" He yelled again. "I know you hear me, what, are you deaf—oh, wait, you are. Oh, well." He opened his palm to the girl and she was consumed in blast of darkness.

Total Death Count: 130,560

* * *

He...he ate my husband. It was the most horrific thing in all the world.

He just opened his mouth and it kept opening.

Then he took a bite, he carved into my husband's face like an apple.

And just like that, he spit it out, face, bones, teeth, eyes and all.

He came for me next. First he cut off my arms, then my legs.

He didn't kill me, he let me bleed out.

But it didn't hurt. My body died when my husband did.

I felt nothing but grief.

I didn't bleed to death.

I cried to death.

* * *

I couldn't get him down.

He was right there, but I couldn't reach him.

They told me to keep him safe.

"Always keep your little brother safe"

BUT I COULDN"T REACH HIM!

I was too small.

He was right there, in the tree

the branch in his body.

The Demon got him and I couldn't stop him!

He hurt me, but I had to get my little brother.

I couldn't.

* * *

Total Death Count: 199, 980

He thought he worked too fast. True, he had been going on for about 2 hours and his Reapers had quit from exhaustion. But Xinck himself was running on pure adrenaline. There was nothing but piled bodies in the streets and ruined buildings, so Xinck had to run into houses and ransack the place to find any remaining victims.

"Found you!" He exclaimed. A lone man hiding in a corner of his house. Sword to the face, dragged his corpse outside and flung him into the sky. Another house, he found a man and killed his lover while he watched helplessly, then he eviscerated the man.

In a house, untouched by the flame, he found a lone woman. He set her ablaze and watched her burn while standing on the porch of her door. His smile wide, his eyes alive with the orange flames that consumed half of her face and all of her body.

He was good at what he did.

Then, everything went quite. He walked around the whole of the village and found nothing but corpses, corpses, corpses. He looked in houses and found nothing. He searched for 10 minutes and found that his drive and will was waning. He was getting bored.

But...he thought he felt a little better. These people thought he was a monster. These people were dead. He was still a monster, he knew that much anyway. He lost his kill for Larxene, something that almost drove him to suicide. Taking his anger out on these people who deserved it made him feel better. If they had just helped him when they had a chance, he would never have met the Savage Nymph. And none of this would've happened.

But, at least he felt better.

Two, three gunshots. One in his shoulder, one in his neck and the other in his head. He groaned and leaned over in pain. "OW!" He sounded more annoyed than injured, "That hurt, goddammit!" His shoulder eventually spat the bullet out, but he had to let the bullet in his head find its way to his mouth to spit it out. The one in his neck he'd have to dig out manually later.

A man, not too far away, was standing with a pistol in both hands. The last person in the village. Xinck stood up and faced him, smiling. The man wasn't muscular, but he was solid and his eyes were proud and neon green. In fact, he had beautiful eyes, they were bright, almost glowing like Holy Emeralds. He fired again, but Xinck moved out of the way. He dashed for the man, twisting and dodging out of the way of bullets. When he was too close, the man did not move, instead he ducked down, spin his his heel and struck Xinck in the hip, knocking the Nobody off balance.

"Wow, you're good!" Xinck exclaimed, getting back up. He took a stance, no swords and faced the man. They came to each other, Xinck kicked, the man sidestepepd and punched for his head. Xinck ducked and punched the man in his stomach, then aimed for his face, but the man blocked. While blocking, the man raised a foot and stomped on Xinck chest, cracking a rib.

"Gah!" A little angry at being injured by the foot of an arrogant human, Xinck opened his mouth and ensnared the man's leg with his teeth, tearing skin and muscle down to the bone. The man screamed, but it was a proud scream. The man fell back, but Xinck caught him and grabbed him by the shoulders and hauled him up. "You have a very proud face. And you're quite the fighter." The man said nothing, he stared down at Xinck, his lips closed, his face drenched in sweat. Xinck could feel the beating of his heart as he licked his own lips. "I've always wondered what Pride tasted like."

His mouth opened wider and wider, his tongue wiggled as the man's face disappeared into Xinck's mouth. The man hollered, he screamed, he writhed in Xinck's grip, but the more Xinck's teeth sank into his head, the less he struggled. When his teeth cut into his brain he went limp.

Xinck spat out the man's body and face and gagged, holding onto his stomach and stumbling about as he looked for something to hold onto. "Oh my god, that was nasty! Ew! Why'd I do that?"

A small, almost unnoticeable gasp caught his ear. He turned to a house he thought was empty to see a woman standing there. A hand was placed on her mouth to stifle the noise. Her eyes, her beautiful eyes, were the same Holy Emerald color of the man whose face he had just eaten. Those eyes held pride within them, but there two greater things in them as well. One was regret, regret that she had betrayed her husband's order to stay hidden and the other thing was the Absence of Fear. There was no fear in her eyes as Xinck approached her. When he was close enough, the blacks and whites of his eyes close to hers, she pushed him back and he fell onto his backside in the dirt.

"Oh my god!" He yelled, annoyed, "You people have no sense of hospitality!" In an instant he was up on his feet and on her. He grabbed her and jumped into the air. On the way up, her eyes were on her house, no, not her house, but the inside of her house. She screamed, but only slightly when Xinck impaled one sword in her chest and the other in her pelvis. He pulled her apart on his descent and her two halves sailed through the air. On his way down, he bathed in her blood.

Her upper and lower halves landed around her husband. Xinck landed on the porch of their house, the door was open. He peeked inside and saw nothing but burned walls and furniture. Their were pictures, but they were black with ash, in fact the entire house had been blackened. Nothing there.

"_Are we finished?" _Xinck turned to see Xercivio beside him. He was red and faded pink from the blood he was covered in. _"All of the Reapers have reported in that there is no one left alive in the village. Are we done?"_

Before he could answer, a mirror caught Xinck's attention. It was the only thing in the burned house that wasn't blackened. His skin had become red and sticky with the dried blood of everyone in the village. The blood was on his hands, his face, his mouth, his eyes, they were red and black and white. He saw himself in the mirror, he thought this was his true self. He asked himself if it was, but he couldn't give an answer, so he smiled to himself instead. "Yes, Xercivio. We're done here."

With just a thought, a beckoning Corridor of Darkness opened. The Deviant turned towards the comforting blackness. As he did, out the corner of his eye, in a small corner and camouflaged in the ashed blackness of the burned house, was a black box. It seemed large enough to notice any other day besides this day, but because the burned house now matched the color of the box, it was impossible to notice. But it wasn't the box itself that caught Xinck's eye, but it was what was inside the box. Staring at him as the Corridor closed in on him and Xercivio, was a pair of proud, Holy Emerald green eyes.

_Doesn't matter, _He thought, the darkness closing on him, _They'll be dead soon anyway._

* * *

The burned village had decayed further in the months that passed. Roxas walked behind Xinck in silence, stunned at what he had heard. He felt a weight in his chest, like it was pulling him and slowing him down. He didn't understand how or why he would do that. Because he was mad at Larxene? Because he lost? It didn't make sense.

"...And when I came back to the Castle." Xinck was coming to the conclusion of his story, "Well, you remember seeing me covered in that blood. You and everyone else saw me when I left from the Gray Area to my room. Some of you guys asked me why I was covered in blood, drenched in it. All I could do to answer was smile."

Then nothing was said as they entered they entered the village. It was nothing but a wound left to fester on the face of the land. The bodies were gone, the ones that were intact anyway. Either they were buried or they had completely decomposed. But the bodies that were beyond recognition, beyond looking even remotely human. Xinck walked through the dirt road streets, he faced forward, straight toward the village center.

Roxas, on the other hand, was slowing down. Seeing the bodies torn apart, their insides torn out, still being digested by flies. He covered his nose, the smell was too foul. He noticed that Xinck had almost left him behind as he walked closer to the center of the village. He ran up to him, right to his side and as soon as the words left his lips, he hadn't realized how angry he sounded. "Why would you do this?"

Xinck didn't look at his friend, he didn't take his eyes off his destination. "There isn't always a reason for everything."

They came to the center of town. Before, there was a huge stone monolith at the center, but Xinck remembered tearing it down and using it to smash people. But now, there was a smaller, wooden memorial with marigolds around the base sticking out from the ground. The Deviant took a knee and read the inscription carved into the wood out loud.

"Will of Heaven, grant Us guidance

and protect the lost souls

of these Innocents for

All Time."

The Deviant bowed his head, closed his eyes and placed his hands in a praying pose. _"Moushiwake Gonzaimasen."_

Roxas didn't understand. 'And what does that-"

" 'I Am So Very Sorry.'" Xinck whispered. He raised his head and barely opened his eyes. "I'm such a hypocrite. I'm the worst. I was the one who said morality is nothing and here I am...apologizing."

This was his friend, Roxas watched him on the ground, fists beating at the dirt, head down and shaking. Roxas' own fists were shaking. Here was his friend at the lowest he had ever seen him and all he could think about was screaming at him. 'Why did he do it?' and 'What is wrong with you?' and 'There is no excuse!' and worse of all, 'You're right. You are a monster.'

"I'm a killer." He sobbed, but there were no tears in his eyes, "I'm a monster. But I've realized something. I'm not Larxene, no I'm not. I'm worse than Larxene."

Roxas stayed silent. Glaring at Xinck's back, his eyes nearly burning a hole through his body. _If I had known, I would've stopped him._

"It isn't fair." He manically grabbed at his own face. " I don't have a heart, so why is this bothering me? It's in my head, my fucking crazy head!"

"What are you talking about?" That was the only thing Roxas could say, but he had no comforting tone.

"In my head, in my memory, that human in me is still there. He's me when I had a heart, but I remember every emotion I ever had. He's screaming in grief and remorse at what I did and it's tearing at me from the inside, I can't take it!" He turned his head to Roxas and dropped his arms from his head. His eyes were wide, his mouth was small. He yelled, "Why are you here?"

This took Roxas back and for a moment he looked surprised, "Wha-..what do you mean?"

"Look at me!" His voice shot from his throat, scratchy and loud, "I'm a killer! I'm a murderer ad a fucking psycho! A monster! Why are you with me? Why do you want to be friends with a monster?" his words quivered, his eyes grew more panicky with every word, "Everything I touch dies, it withers and decays! I kill people and I'm good at it and..and-"

He stopped all of a sudden. Still on his knees, he nearly fell back in shock, Roxas' weight nearly forcing him back, his arms crossing against Xinck's back and Roxas's head on his shoulder. "Ah..but..why? Why?"

"Xinck." He started. He didn't whisper, his voice was calm, no hint of anger. "Xinck. You..you are a killer, a murderer. I've seen you kill in battles, fights, for no reason and in cold blood. I've seen you do things that no one ever should, Human or Nobody. But my hands aren't clean either, and it would be wrong for me to judge or derride you for it. Xinck, you're one of my best friends and I know you, I know who you are. You're one of the smartest people I know, even if others might call you insane or weird. You're funny, actually, the funniest guy I'll ever know. No matter what the situation is, no matter how bleak or hopeless or dangerous it is, you always find a way to make fun of it. You're strong, you're loyal, creative and..and..tons of other thing! " He got out of his embrace and stared Xinck in the eyes, they were wide and confused.

"No single word can ever describe you," Roxas continued,"You're a lot of things. Sometimes you can even be cruel and mean, and you can be a monster. But I'm your friend and I always will be. And if you're a monster, then I guess I'm a monster, too." Xinck only sat there, too shocked, too stiff to move. Just like that, inside his head, the screaming stopped. The pain stopped in his body. Everything was quite and still. He honestly felt as if a terrible weight had been blown away, carried out of his body. The thought of what he had done was still in his mind and whould be forever like a shadow of time, locked in his mind, but it was smaller now, dwarfed by his growing appreciation for his friend. Roxas reached out for him.

Xinck did know who he was, but so did one of his only friends. He raised his hand to his eye and wiped away some dust that had collected there. He sniffled. "You...really think I'm funny?"

A small grin spread across Thirteen's face. "Yeah, well, you're not a stand up comic, but you can make me laugh."

Fourteen chuckled, "Alright, I'll take it." He stood and stretched his limbs and yawned then wiped the dust from his coat. "Ok, let's get out of here. This place is depressing me."

"You think the ship is ready?" Roxas asked as he followed Xinck out of the dead village.

"I hope so. Oh, god, what is that stench?"

"The..uh..dead bodies."

"Oh, yeah, right."

"What, did you forget already?"

"I don't know. Forget what?" The Deviant innocently scratched at his head.

"You..you can't be serious!" Roxas shouted.

Xinck turned his head to Roxas, a cocky grin plastered on his face. Roxas cracked a grin that turned into a boisterous laugh to the sky.

It didn't take them long to get back to the meadow where Xinck woke up in months ago. There, they found their stolen Gummi Ship, it's 5 hour maintenance over, and they took off back into space to find Axel. That is...until it ran out of gas...

* * *

**Something Extra...**

The halls of this world brought back many memories of his youth while he trained here. He could easily walk these entire lands blind-folded with his hands tied around his back. Of course, this world didn't truly belong to him, not anymore anyway. No, he chose the path of the Wanderer, doing so allowed him to gather so much Knowledge about the worlds, about Light, about Darkness. Traveling from world to world for decades gave him much time to think and when he was invited to this world for a special occasion, he leaped at the chance.

But that occasion had just ended and his plans could now be set into motion.

Master Xehanort turned a corner in the stairwell and standing against the wall, his black helmet off and in his right hand, was his sole pupil.

He asked, in his gruff voice that ad changed with his age, "What do you make of Ventus?"

His young, dark pupil, wearing his darkness suit, had his eyes closed and was slightly bobbing his head. He didn't hear a word Master Xehanort had said.

"I asked you a question." He sounded sterner.

The pupil continued bobbing his head. Upon closer inspection, Master Xehanort saw tiny, white earphones in his ears just under his spiky black hair. The pupil opened his yellow eyes to see his Teacher standing there, eyes cut and quickly removed his earphones. "Yes?" Loud, techno music was pulsing from the earphones.

"What are you listening to?" Master Xehanort asked. The Pupil held one earphone out to the old man and he took it and held it up to his pointed ears. All he heard was pulsing techno and the repetition of the words: _"I like your booty, but I'm not gay, not gay. I like your booty, but I'm not gay..." _"Who is this?" Xehanort asked.

"Insane-o-Flex."

Xehanort handed him back his earphone and rolled his eyes. He hated Popular Culture. "I asked you a question. What do you make of Ventus?"

The young pupil scoffed, "He ain't gonna cut it." An odd smirk spread across his face with every word, "Somebody's gotta break that loser in."

Master Xehanort flashed him a look, reminding him of his role in the plot. He placed his hands across the small of his crooked back, "Not here you won't. I still have to keep up appearances." He began to walk again, heading for the last set of stairs and the main door.

"I know that." The pupil scoffed again with rolled eyes. He placed his helmet on his head, smashing his black hair inside. The helmet had pitch black glass covering his face. He could see you, but you couldn't see him. Just the way he liked it. He kicked off from the wall and followed his Master towards the exit. "I have a question."

"What is it, Vanitas?"

"You don't think they suspect anything, do you?"

"How could they? I didn't say anything and I know _you _didn't."

"I'm just sayin', it could be natural to suspect the pointy-eared old man with fiery eyes and a goatee."

"Vanitas..." The old man growled slightly.

"No, no, honestly. If _you _were seeing yourself coming down the street, wouldn't you be just a little suspect?"

"Vanitas!"

"I know I would."

Master Xehanort cursed and moved a hand to his face to rub the bridge of his nose, "Kids these days..."

* * *

REVIEW!


	40. Access the Axis to Axel

Ok, here is the next chapter. It is...interesting to say the least. Oh, wait, I have a question.

What?

How do you think I came up with the title for this entire story?

I..I don't know. How?

No, no, you have to guess. So guess.

I've got nothing, just tell me.

No, it's no fun if you don't guess.

Enjoy and I only own what you've never Heard of.

* * *

Against all odds, the stolen Gummi Ship had ran out of gas as it soared through the void of space between worlds. They fell from the sky like a rock, Roxas banged on the control panel and pulled on the steering column. Xinck screaming in his ear didn't help the situation either. They invaded a world and were surrounding by blue skies and white clouds, a city was below them but the ship was directed for a river. Luckily, no one saw them crashing into the river, saw their ship sinking or saw them washing up onto the shore...

In these situations, the Organization had a saying. "If no one saw it, it didn't happen." So they promptly separated themselves from the crash site and ran into the city...

* * *

_The Castle That Never Was_

Luxord had failed in his mission to subdue Roxas, and as a result Xinck, by challenging the former to a unique card game of his own design. He returned to the Castle, as did Xigbar, Xaldin and Demyx, and was chastised by Saix for his failure. The terms of the card game prevented Luxord from pursuing the two any further, but Luxord kept this to himself, knowing Saix wouldn't be so honorable.

The other members were having no luck in tracking them down either. Demyx claimed to have spotted Roxas, but it turned out to only be that girly-voiced boy from _Muppet Treasure Island. _Xigbar had been spending most of his time world-jumping, going such places as Aruba, Jamaica,...Bermuda, Bahama (come on pretty mama), Key Largo, and Montego. He claimed he didn't go too fast because he takes it slow. Xaldin, on the other hand, had actually been working diligently on his main mission at Beast's Castle and the search for Roxas and Xinck, even though he remained largely uninterested in it, he still remained vigilant. If anything, he claimed, he'd been working _too _hard and deserved a break at his "secret place".

Whatever _that _is...

Saix was almost at the end of his patience. Heart quotas had been down for far too long, Heartless were popping up all over the usual worlds, but all resources were going towards finding two-three runaways. Saix figured if he could just know where they were going he could track them and send a few Heartless their way. But that seemed impossible at this point. The Nobodies were virtually useless as well. The Superior still remained on his self-imposed "Vacation." Saix figured it was for the best. If he did know of the current situation his reaction to it could bode ill for all of them. But still, Saix was desperate to end this. He authorized the use of deadly force on the fugitives, the orders being: "Bring Roxas back at all cost. Just make it so he can still breath, walk and use the Keyblade. Kill Xinck is he refuses to return or you find it necessary." He hoped the fact that they could now kill the Deviant would add extra incentive. With those words, he sent them all out again.

Another move Saix utilized to bring this foolish quest to an end and find the fugitives involved seeking outside assistance. Not only would this assistance find them quickly, it could bring them back just as fast. With that in mind, Saix found the Organization's copy of _Calls of The Infernal_.

* * *

"It's been...A week and a half since we left the Castle!" No. XIII shouted, his head laid flat on outdoor snack bar table. "And the only thing we know is that Axel was kidnapped."

"Mannapped." Xinck corrected.

"Whatever!" Roxas spat back. He looked up to see Xinck shoveling another hotdog into his face, "You eat too many of those and you're gonna get sick."

"I doubt it." The Deviant ate his third hotdog in two bites and reached for the fourth one on his plate.

They didn't have a lead, nor the means to get off this world when they crashed. Roxas was the one who suggested they find a place to sit and think of a plan, while Xinck was the one who suggested finding some food. They settled on this Snack Bar, oddly named Day of The Dough (Possibly because they sold so many fried dough products).

"Xinck, are you really, really REALLY sure that you don't know any magic that can get us out of here?"

Xinck swallowed another hotdog and answered in a nonchalant tone, "Well, there is one..."

"Really?"

"But it involves a genocidal sacrifice."

"Do'h!" Roxas bashed his head against the plastic table loud enough to draw the attention of several people around them. Xinck didn't let Roxas' distress deter him from starting his fifth hotdog, destroying half of it with his mouth. But, then again, seeing him this depressed wasn't the best meal-time entertainment. Xinck reached over the table, hotdog in hand, and tapped his friend on the head with the fatty food.

"Hey." Tap Tap."Hey." Tap Tap, every tap moved his hair. "Well, think about it. It could be worse."

"How could it possibly be worse!" He shouted back, voice muffled.

"Well,...we could be in Australia."

"We're in Vancouver, it's close enough." Roxas spat back.

"Oooh, testy." Defeated, Xinck drew back and ate his final hotdog. He burped, patted his stomach and sighed. Suddenly he wished he had gotten something to drink, it was a little warm and bright outside. The parasol above them kept them in the shade, but the air was hot and didn't help. With a sigh, more aggravated than neutral, Xinck stood and pushed in his chair. "Well, _ikuzo._"

"Eh?" Roxas lifted his head lazily.

"Let's go."

"Where?" He shouted, once again drawing the attention of the people around, tourists mostly. He turned on them, "What the hell are you all looking at?" Then back to Xinck, "We don't know where he is, we don't where _we're _going, either. What's the point?" Xinck grabbed at his shoulder, then his arm and gently hauled him to his feet.

"The point is, you pick a direction and you follow it." He looked at Roxas, a cocky half-grin on his face, "So, pick a direction. North, South, East or West?"

The first thought Roxas had was how odd it was that something positive was coming from Xinck. His second thought was how odd it was that Xinck was actually right. Axel wouldn't give up so easily, and if there was no way, then he'd make a way. So which way, he thought, and the image of the sun setting in the West of Twilight Town came into his mind. "West," He said.

"East." Xinck replied with a cocky, evil grin.

"Northwest."

"Southeast."

Roxas finally rolled his eyes, sighed and pointed down the street in an arbitrary direction, "That way."

"Which way?"

"_That _way!"

"Oh, right." Xinck let go of Roxas' arm and they headed for the crowded sidewalk. They blended in with the crowds as well as they could. A few people turned their heads at the two boys in the long black coats, but the two paid little attention to their stares. There was a natural silence between the two, besides the occasional nose sniffle from Roxas and the unholy rumbling of Xinck's stomach.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He chocked back a burp, beat at his chest and the foul gas was released. "It's just indigestion."

Gasps and sudden screams sounded behind them. The shoving of bodies, the dropping of objects and scuttling feet grew nearer and nearer. Before either Roxas or Xinck could turn, a man, running as if he were on fire, collided in between them, pushed them aside and continued running down the street.

"Ah, son of a bitch!" Xinck cursed, picking himself up and grabbing his stomach as it rumbled.

"What a jerk." Roxas, too, recovered. "Why's he in such a hurry?" He turned around to see a long row of innocent people picking themselves up from the ground, grabbing at their dropped possessions and cursing at the man. And as Roxas looked on in the distance, emerging from an alley was, what he thought, a panicking woman, screaming something at the same time Xinck spoke aloud.

"Stop him! Thief! Thief!" Shouted the woman, who no one heard besides Roxas apparently.

"Someone should stop that jackass." Xinck said, only loud enough for Roxas to hear.

Before Roxas even knew it, he was off, giving chase to the man. "What!" Xinck shouted in shock, "No, Roxas! I didn't mean you! Oh, dammit!" He, too, began to run, but the several hotdogs he had eaten were starting to wake up.

The Thief was carving a path through the streets, knocking people over and causing a scene. Obviously he wasn't a very good thief. He turned his head and gasped, seeing Roxas coming straight for him. Roxas was catching up to him, effortlessly jumping over and dodging the people that were being knocked around. He couldn't risk running with super speed, lest people get curious, but he was gaining on the man with every step. Xinck, on the other hand, was far behind, running and gasping for breath with every step.

"Oh!...Hotdogs..killing me..." He began slowing down, bumping into people and gasping. "I'm out of shape...huffhuff, I can't run very fast..." He finally collapsed in a heaving pile and closed his eyes, "I think I'm having a heart attack...and a couple of light strokes..."

Roxas was right on the heels of the thief, his arm was outstretched for the back of his collar. "Gotha now!"

"No! Stay back, kid!" He shouted back. His voice was ragged, he was tired and slowing down, getting nearer and nearer to Roxas's grip. But the man turned a sharp corner into a filthy alley, narrowly escaping Roxas's hand. The man splashed into a shallow puddled, throwing up water in the deserted alley as he ran, there were no more people, no more witnesses. Roxas shot like a bullet for the man and grabbed his collar, pulled him straight down to see what he had taken, a ball-shaped object in dark blue cloth. Roxas grabbed the object from the man's grip and let him fall into the dirt.

"You shouldn't take things that don't belong to you!" With that, he thought he sounded a bit hypocritical, since he ad taken lots of things for the Organization. He then turned his attention to this thing in his hands, he could feel it's shape in his palm and it seemed to be more than just a ball and it was hard and had holes in it, big ones. Before he could unravel the cloth around it, the man got up from the ground and pulled a gun out from the inside of his coat. "This is what happens when you turn your back!" The gun was aimed at the back of the boy's head.

Roxas moved his left leg back without turning around and kicked the gun out of the Thief's hands. The man stood there in shook, Roxas's leg still in the air. He flipped in the air and smashed his right foot into the man's face, sending him sailing through the air and to the ground in an unconscious heap.

* * *

Not long after stopping the thief and recovering Xinck from the sidewalk, the two made their way back down the street in the opposite direction to return what had been stolen.

"I say we keep it."

"No, Xinck. It's not ours, so it's not right."

"Well, well, Mr. Holier-Than-Thou, since when do you care about ownership?"

"Think of it like this: If someone took something of yours and wouldn't return it, what would you do?"

"Find them, kill them slowly, take back what's mine." He answered without hesitation.

"Exactly. See any relation between that and what we're doing?"

"Wow, Roxas. _You're _a genius."

"Thank you."

"...you know that was sarcasm, right?"

"Yep, but I'm not gonna let you ruin it for me." He gave Xinck a large smile in return. They were coming upon the corner where Roxas had heard the woman scream 'Stop! Thief!' and when they turned the corner, they wee met with still cold air. The entire alley was dark and seemed abandoned at first glance, minus a few stray cats, rusted trashcans and busted trash bags. A thin, almost purple mist drifted through the air but it stayed low to the ground and seemed to be originating from the very back of the alley, where a large hut or tent was stationed.

"I didn't think you could set up something like that in the middle of a city." Roxas said.

"I'm sure it's against city code."

The hut or tent was hued by a dark purple and dark gold tarp to protect it from rain. There was no door and the open entrance was adorned with sparkling charms that twinkled in the vague noon light. The whole scene seemed not to fit it's surroundings: a mysterious and foreboding tent at the end of a surprisingly dark alley, despite it being the afternoon.

"We don't even know what we're bringing back." Xinck said. "Let's see." He made a grab for the cloth-wrapped object, but Roxas pulled it away from his reach. "What the-? You dare defy me? Your Better?"

"Technically, I'm _your _Superior. And I'm older than you!"

"I'm taller!"

"And louder." Roxas said, rubbing his ear.

"Give me that thing!" Xinck made another grab for the ball-shaped object and Roxas extended his arm further away and placed his free hand on Xinck's face to hold him back. They began arguing and yelling, filling the alley with noise and bickering. From the tent entrance a woman, an elderly woman with tanned and wrinkled skin and her hair tied up in a purple cloth and dressed in a matching robe, came out. "Who comes to make such noise near my steps?" She spoke with an accent and looked with squinted eyes at the two boys who were on the round fighting over her stolen property. She gasped with excitement when she saw it in the hands of the blonde one.

"You there!"

"Huh?" Roxas looked to the woman, and ignored Xinck chewing on his ankle.

"You brought it back to me." She came over to them, slowly but determined. She completely ignored the fact that they were fighting and snatched the cloth-covered object from Roxas's outstretched hand and cradled it in her arms. "How can I thank you?"

Xinck said, "You can pay-" Roxas clamped a hand over his friends open maw.

"You don't have to repay us." He struggled with Xinck a moment before standing up and looking the woman in her dark brown eyes.

"Oh, well." The woman said, "Madame Zeroni thanks you." She smiled, the wrinkles on her face moved and she put out her hand to shake and Roxas did the same. She grabbed his hand, tore off his glove and turned his bare hand upside down and traced a long, thin finger across his palm and studied it intently.

"Wha-hey! What are you doing?"

"Mmm." The woman said, eyes darting around his palm, "You are looking for something—no, some_one _who was taken from you. And you are at a disadvantage now, yes?"

"Wha...how did you know?"

"The palms tell no lies, child, the palms tell no lies." She continued reading, "You're a very kind boy, very bright and courageous, but you have a shadow looming around you, guiding your hand for it's own purpose." At this, Roxas turned to Xinck, who was still on the ground, "It's not him." She said and continued, "Your future is...unreadable? Yes, sorry, but I cannot make out your future, only that it will be very life-changing." She gasped once more, smiled brightly and looked directly into Roxas's already shocked expression, "You're from another world, aren't you?"

He didn't do it on purpose, but he nodded.

"Quickly, come with me!" The woman turned and pulled Roxas with her as she made her way back into her tent, her recovered object tucked under her arm.

"Oh, yeah, no one help me or anything." Xinck shouted, picking himself up and grabbing Roxas's discarded glove. He marched into the tent after them.

Coming inside the tent, they were both greeted with the smell of incense, perfume and scented candles. It was a powerful combination, the army of smells penetrated their nasal defenses and invaded their olfactory senses. Their eyes reddened and watered to the point of tearing as the woman, a gypsy or mystic, who called herself Madame Zeroni, left them in the front of her tent as she went behind her table to a mantle with partially melted candles on either side. Her entire tent was more of a shop, various objects like books, charms, accessories and vials filled with multicolored liquids were in different spots and adorning shelves and mantles.

Xinck handed Roxas his glove, "You know you're not supposed to tell anyone you're from a different world."

"It just slipped out." He whispered.

"Do not fret, my friends." The woman said, coming back around the table and standing before them. "For you see, I, too, am not from here, but-"

"So..where _are _you from?"Xinck asked.

"That isn't important. What is important is that I can help you get to where you need to-"

"Can you read my fortune?" Xinck interrupted again.

"Xinck! Shh!" Roxas said, "She said she can help us!"

"What's that thing up there?" Xinck asked Her, completely ignoring Roxas and gesturing towards the recovered object on the mantle. Zeroni reached for Xinck's hand, removed his glove and traced his palm with her finger.

"You are a very petty, childish, demented individual who's twisted nature will bring you much pain, most of it self-inflicted."

"I have been know to be a bit of a masochist."

"You are Avaricious, Vain, Invidious, and Wrathful. Your future will revolve around Death...and...oh, what a surprise, a sacrifice involving Greed."

"I'm all 7 Deadly Sins wrapped in a Gorgeous package of Darkness."

Zeroni rolled her eyes and released Xinck's hand and turned her attention back to Roxas, who was still on the fact the she said she can help. "I can help you get to your friend Axel. He was taken, the ones responsible will not return him and you seek vengeance."

Roxas nodded slightly, but said nothing.

"Oh, whatever." Xinck said. "She could be lying for all we know."

"Why would she be lying? She knows what's going on and she knew Axel's name!"

"Parlor tricks, nothing special."

"You know magic, how can you be so skeptical!"

Xinck crossed his arms and scoffed, "She called me Vain. That's not true."

"YOU ARE VAIN!"

"So untrue." He replied, coolly.

"Oh, Xinck!" Roxas sighed. He turned and punched Xinck straight in his gut. He screamed, threw up his hotdogs and fell to the floor in a heap. Roxas turned back to Zeroni, "Okay, just ignore him, just talk to me."

"Very well." Zeroni said.

"Oh, god!" Xinck groaned, "This is how Houdini died!Oh!"

"Tell me, Roxas." Zeroni said, "Have you ever heard of the Axis Mundi?"

"The what?"

"The Axis Mundi, the Bridge between Heaven and Earth, The World Road. It is, in a way, a fail-safe for people to travel by without moving through shadows and losing yourself."

Roxas racked his mind for the reference and came up with nothing. He nudged Xinck's arm below him, "Have you ever heard of-"

"No." He replied, voice muffled, "Do you have a breath mint?"

Xinck's question went ignored and Roxas asked, "So..what is it?"

"Just as I said, a fail-safe." said Zeroni, "Some people, when it is absolutely necessary to be somewhere, can access this ancient road and travel from world to world until they reach their fated destination. When one enters the Axis Mundi, they seldom are aware of it, they do not know where they are going, they simply know that they _are _going. Going for a purpose, for a cause, for their destiny. It is a road that takes you were you need to go."

That was all Roxas needed to hear. "How do we find it?"

Madame Zeroni cracked a smile and moved back towards the mantle and grabbed the cloth-covered object, "The man who stole this from me took it because he believed I took up an unfair amount of his time, literally, so demanded I make up for it. He took this in hopes of hawking it for a few dollars, but I'm sure he didn't know of its true potential." She brought it over to Roxas and began to unwrap it.

"What is it?" He asked.

Madame Zeroni shoved a large dark red skull into Roxas's face. He screamed and fell backwards, tripping over Xinck. "Aggh!"

"Aaggh! My arm! You're on my arm!" Xinck yelled.

"What are you afraid of?" Zeroni asked, laughing, "It is only the skull of Gozer the Gozerian."

"Gozer the Gozerian, Gozer the Traveler?" Xinck asked. He pulled Roxas off his arm and stood up, facing Zeroni, "That thing from _Ghostbusters_?"

"Yes, he was in _Ghostbusters_, but he was a real deity. He was known as Gozer The Gozerian and Gozer the Traveler because he would travel from world to world and bring destruction. You can use this and a spell I know to bless yourselves and access the Axis Mundi."

Roxas stood up next to Xinck, careful to avoid the vomit pile of partially digested hotdog meat. He got a good look at the skull of Gozer, it was dark red and their was a jewel in its forehead that radiated an evil crimson glow. He didn't know advanced magics too well, "What do you think?"

"I don't know." Xinck said, arms crossed, "Gozer The Traveler, The Axis Mundi...let me see the spell and I can give you my unprofessional/unofficial/official opinion." Going into the back room and returning, Madame Zeroni held a think, notebook-sized book and handed it to Xinck. "Okay, let's see here. 'Heretic's Referendum' by Ayesha of Balobedu, Sorceress Supreme.' Oooh" Xinck squealed. "Okay, yeah, this is real, definitely."

"How can you tell?" Roxas asked.

"This book was written by a very powerful sorceress. She makes Zexion look like...a uh...very bad version of a magician, I don't know, but the point is, Roxas, we have found our direction."

"The spell is on page 665." Zeroni said, handing the skull of Gozer the Traveler to Roxas.

He took the skull in his hand and felt it pulse in his grip, like a throbbing heart or a burning flame . "I don't get it." Roxas said, "Why are you helping us?"

The old woman smiled again, "The world, Roxas, in fact, all worlds are cruel. Is it so hard to understand that maybe I sympathize with your loss?" She moved away from them and strolled over behind her desk where she took a seat. She took out a pipe and lit a match and began to puff on the smoke while reclining in her chain. "Losing something dear to you can be like losing a limb or a piece of your very soul, I know this well. I have not seen my family since I came here and I ache everyday. I cannot travel the road back home, I'm too old. Get back what's yours, my young friends." She turned her serene gaze to Xinck, "Greed isn't always a bad thing. If your Avarice runs deep enough and you lose something near and dear to you, you will do anything to get it back and protect it." She took another puff from her pipe, "Go to the park North from here and start the spell in the center facing Southwest. That's where you'll need to be."

* * *

They walked out of Madame Zeroni's shop and back into the alley. The alley hadn't changed at all, but looking into the sky and seeing the moon above them took them back.

"Ah, wha-how long were we in there?"

Roxas shrugged, "20 minutes, tops." It was noon when they went in and now it had to be at least 9 at night. Roxas turned around, back to Zeroni's tent to protest and find out what happened, but all he saw was the blank wall of the alley: she was gone.

"Wow." The Deviant said, "Xinck and Roxas's Crusade brought to you by _Spoooky _Vision."

"Where do you think she went?"

"Camp Greenlake. Who cares? Let's go."

"Can't you take anything seriously for a minute?"

"You wanna find Axel or do you want to stand around and ask questions?" Roxas scoffed, thinking he should know better than to expect a straight answer from _him. _Turning away from he blank area of alley, he joined Xinck as they walked into the now deserted and dark city streets. The buildings of the surrounding areas were all without light, only the streetlamps dotting the sidewalk gave any kind of defense against the dark of the night.

"Does Vancouver have a curfew?" Xinck asked.

"I don't think so. Let's just find the park and get out of here."

They walked North as Zeroni had said and found that this part of the city was unnaturally dark and uninhabited. The wind blew, strays made noise and their feet scuffled along the deserted sidewalk, but those were the only sounds being made. "It's quiet." Roxas said.

"Yes, _too _quiet." said Xinck

"Unnecessarily quiet, I might add." said the man in the black coat. A twinge of shock went down their spines, turning around to see a man wearing the same black as they had on. He just stood there, arms folded and coat billowing around him. His hood was up, so they couldn't make out his face.

"Crap!" Roxas spat "The Organization!"

"How'd they find us?"

"I bet it was your Reaper. He ratted us out, after you told him not to. I told you he was trying to kill you!" Oathkeeper and Oblivion shined into his grip.

"What are you talking about? Xercivio loves me!" Thanatos swirled into Xinck's hands.

The man before them spoke, "I'll have you know I'm not in that Organization."

"Then why do you have that coat!" Roxas shouted. Xinck didn't like this. At first he thought it might be Riku, but he didn't feel any Darkness in him, so that option was out. No one else has access to those kinds of coats except the Organization. Unless...

"_Oh, crap."_ Xinck thought.

The man spoke again, "It's nice to see you again." neither of them could make out who he was talking to and before Roxas began to yell at him again, this time to ask who he was, he spoke. "Well, I must be going. Don't want to keep Axel waiting." He turned on his heel and jumped onto a large, two-story building a block away.

"Wait, dammit!" Roxas roared, jumping after him in the night. "Where is he?"

"Roxas, wait!" Xinck shouted after him, but it fell on deaf ears. "Oh, Fuck me." _Zexion's going ruin everything!_ He jumped after Roxas and they landed on the same building. The man wasn't there, he began running onto the roof of another building, pumping his legs. Roxas followed and all three of them had jumped onto a large, dilapidated building with a wide roof.

"Stop! I said Stop!" Roxas readied Oblivion and threw it ahead of him where it collided with the man's shoulder, drawing blood and spewing it to the ground.

"Agh! Damn it all!" He cursed. He looked back to see the blade returning to Roxas, who was still gaining on him. The man neared the edge of the worn-out building and jumped, turned in midair and snapped his fingers all while keeping his eyes on Roxas. There was a brief glow of red on the building top and the roof cracked and caved in, destroying it and catching Roxas off guard in his blind anger. He couldn't react fast enough as the roof took him inside the building as it collapsed.

"Roxas!" Xinck shouted. He jumped away from the roof in time and continued to give chase. He didn't see Roxas in the wreckage, but knew he was fine. Besides, this was an opportunity to get some information.

The man had jumped off the building and into an alley, Xinck followed, kicking up water as he landed in a puddle. Seeing Xinck, the man began to run. "No! Wait! Zexion!"

"Mmm?" The man stopped in mid-stride and turned, his voice becoming a bit more sinister talking to Xinck "Zexion?"

"Don't play dumb, you little rat bastard. How're you still alive?"

"Wha-? Zexion is dead? It couldn't be!"

"...You're not Zexion? I know you're not Riku, so who are you?"

"You may call me your Murderer!" His voice was wrathful, charging at Xinck with an aura of red around his body. A pillar of holy light right down in between them, stopping his charge, Roxas came down, glowing and attacked the mysterious man. Blades out and gleaming with light, he spun like a wheel against the man, slicing into his body vertically and flinging him into the air.

"Gah-ah-ah!" Drops of blood spilled from his body. When he hit the ground, he fell to his knee, holding onto his chest, surprisingly the wound wasn't that deep. He recovered quickly and stood to face them.

Roxas came down, both Keyblades still shining with his anger, "Tell me where he is or I'll kill you!"

"Damn it all." He said, "I've been here too long." The man reached into his pocket and produced a small pellet. With a smash to the ground, the alley was bathed in smoke, obscuring their vision.

"Ninja smoke pellet!" Xinck shouted.

"He's getting away!"

"Indeed I am!" The man shouted from the roof of the building next to them.

"He's on the roof!" Roxas said. "After him."

"Ah, damn it all!"

The two jumped into the air, leaving the smoke below. They landed on another building just in time to see the Mysterious man straddling the top of a moving sign advertising alcohol. His weight was too much for the sign and it began to tear at it's hinges and slowly fall to the ground. As he fell, he waved to Roxas and Xinck, "I will remember to give Axel your regards. See you soon." Just as the sign tore from it's post, he jumped away and faded into he night like an apparition.

"He wasn't the one on the phone." Roxas remembered the call he had made in the Underworld, he remembered the voice of the woman who answered and laughed. She didn't deny having taken Axel, and here was this man who just baited them to follow. 'See you soon.' he said. What else could that mean?

"They want us to follow." Xinck said. "A trap, obviously, with Axel as the bait." He let his swords fade away, their shadows combining with the night. "This could be even more dangerous than before. If they want to trap us, Nobodies from Organization XIII, then they must have something that would give them the idea that they can take us. That man was dressed like us, so I'm not ruling out that the Organization might be related to this somehow-R-Roxas? You okay?" The Key of Destiny had his back to Xinck. He wiped at his face with his sleeve. He was shaking. "Roxas? Are you...crying?"

A sniffle was heard. "No." He replied. "We have to get to the park and get on that road."

"Okay, okay, okay. It's okay." This only proved to Xinck that Axel's words were true; Roxas was a special Nobody. He did have a heart.

* * *

The Park was, like the rest of the city at night, deserted. They needed to be in the exact center of the park, according to Zeroni, and facing Southwest, according to the book. The Park itself seemed plain and ordinary, circular in appearance with park benches surrounding its edges and a large, round fountain in the epicenter. The fountain was adorned with the likeness of angels and cherubs frozen in poses as if they were flying or falling. They cried the illuminated waters of the fountains, casting a weak, pale glow around Roxas and Xinck as the latter sat and read the book and while the former paced around the fountain.

Xinck, reading the Heretic's Referendum, learned what he could about how to access the Axis Mundi. Most of what Madam Zeroni had said was true, except that the Axis did not always appear as a road, it could be a river or a trail or path, something like that to entice people to follow it to their goals. You can only go forward on the road, going back means you willingly stay in the world you stop in. To actually access the road, if you did not have the blessing of a mythical traveler, you needed to have an absolute need to go somewhere, meaning it opened when One had the will but not the means to meet their destiny. But the Axis did have its downside, meaning that it didn't always take you directly to where you needed to be, unlike Corridors, which some people can activate if they have the power or if their world has faded into Darkness. As well, the Axis is very obscure, its existence either unbelieved or unknown by most and its entire nature and original purpose had been lost a very long time ago.

Just below this newly acquired information was the incantation to this mythical road.

Roxas was growing impatient. His steps around the fountain had become louder with every stride and his groans of irritation were turning to anger. He wasn't mad at Xinck for taking so long, just mad at the situation. He shouldn't have let him get away. He should've caught him and made him talk, made him hurt for taking Axel and messing with him.

That's what Roxas thought anyway. He sighed, his voice edged with anger. "Are you done yet?"

"Done with what?" Xinck asked.

He stopped, looked at Xinck and screamed."THE BOOK!" The scream echoed, birds flew from tress, bats screeched in the air, night chipmunks stopped chewing their nuts.

Xinck held up his hands and almost looked frightened. "Just kidding, just kidding. Give me the skull." He shut the book, having memorized the incantation just as Roxas tossed him the dark red skull, which seemed almost black and purple in the dark and pale glow of the fountain. "Okay, okay, Southwest, southwest...which way is southwest...?" He scanned the edge of the park center, unsure of which way was south and west.

"That way." Roxas pointed down a dark trail that was lined with foliage on either side.

"Yeah, thanks, Sir Yells A-Lot."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you yell a lot, I though the A-Lot part was self-explanatory."

"I never yelled at you!"

"You yelled at me when we were in that Gypsy's tent, you yelled at me about the book, a joke, I might add, and you're yelling now!

"I was only yelling because that-that..asshole! He was talking about Axel! We finally have a real way to find him! Everything we've been doing has all been for him!"

"I'm not doing this for him!" He tossed down the book and cast the skull to the dirt. It didn't crack.

"Yo-you're not?" In an instant, all the anger in his voice and face had drained. "But..but we're friends, right?"

"Yes, yes we are. But you know how Axel is, you know how powerful and experienced he is! He has to be okay, he _has _to! I'm not doing this for him, I'm doing it for you!" He turned on his heel and grabbed both the book and the skull and walked for the Southwest trail Roxas had pointed out. "You woke me up in the middle of the night because you wanted to look for him. I said 'No, he's fine', but even though I argued and put up a fight, I was just holding out because I would've gone with you anyway simply because you asked me to." He flipped open the book to page 665 . "You think I would've trudged through sand, be tied up by a Devil worshiper, turned into a cat, killed by an ancient 3-in1 sword, frozen by a motorcycle, scared shitless in the Underworld and forced to relive my first few days in the Organization if it wasn't for you?"

"Xinck, I-I didn't know.."

"No, you didn't. You'd be lost without me, you don't magic and you're too gullible and naïve to survive without orders from the Organization. And can you believe, _I'm _the sidekick in the situation."

"You're the sidekick?"

"Obviously."

"But...you're taller."

"And you're older, my Superior and you have a matching pair of house keys. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to open this stupid Axis!" He turned his back on Roxas and placed the skull of Gozer The Traveler on the open pages of the Heretic's Referendum. He placed both items on the ground, then grabbed the black dagger he kept in his right sleeve, then rolled up his left sleeve.

"What are you doing?" Roxas asked, walking to Xinck.

"Most rituals call for a sacrifice or blood. Blood contains the spirit, so its a better conductor for spells and ensues minimal slip-ups." He breathed in and out. The ritual called for a lot of blood, so he'd nearly drain himself to do it. He dove in just when Roxas grabbed his hand and took the dagger away."Hey, what are you-?" Before he could finish, Roxas had already pierced the flesh of his arm and dripped thick rubies of blood onto the skull.

"I'm doing this for you." Roxas said, diving further in, more blood dropped and drenched the skull and book. "I'm sorry if I..."He was loosing too much blood, he started to tumble and turn slightly blue. "I'm sorry if.."He started to fall, Xinck caught him.

"Hey, hey!" The blade clattered to the ground. The blood stained the grass around them. The jewel in the skull twinkled. Roxas laid there, his blood draining from his arm, his eyes nearly rolling into the back of his head. Xinck laid him down and urgently opened his bag for a Potion. There was only one.

"It's okay, I'm-I'm okay. I can heal..."

"No, you're not okay! Idiot, you hit an artery, you'll bleed out before you heal." He broke the potion over the fresh wound and let the green mist settle on his skin. Slowly, but surely the wound stopped bleeding and the muscles and tiny veins inside began to twitch in an effort to repair themselves. Gradually, Roxas's face returned to its regular color. "Why did you do that?"

"Because." He said. "I don't want you to think you're just doing this for me. That can't be it, it just can't."

"I..might've just been talking to..hurt you. I get it, Axel was your very first friend, so you're doing this for him. Well, you're my very first friend, so that's why I'm here, and if you went missing, I guess I might, sorta, maybe, kinda go looking for you."

"Ha ha..just maybe, kinda, huh?" The wound on his arm was beginning to close up.

"...Maybe a little more than maybe." Xinck placed Roxas's arm around him and helped pull him up. "You good?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." He scanned his arm, the wound had closed and his healing and the potion were just putting on the finishing touches.

"Alright." Xinck exclaimed, setting Roxas loose and grabbing his dagger. "Let's go find Axel." He came up to the bloodied skull and the open, blood-soaked book. He knelt down and placed his hand on the jewel of the skull. "To get the blessing, we both have to be touching it." He motioned Roxas to join him and he did, placing his hand on the skull as well. "Ready?"

"Ready."

The Deviant faced down and onto the page. His muscles tensed and his grip on the skull tightened. A crackle of red lightning dived from the jewel of the skull and struck the book, lighting it up with a purple light. "Raise your head, O Horror of the World. Eyes of Heaven, Gate of Earth, Key of Light and Hand of Darkness, open yourselves to the Universe and Vomit!" The Skull of Gozer began to crack, first hair-size cracks then they became thicker and numerous. A mist of purple rose from the book and swirled around them, blocking the light from the fountain. "Sister of the Fallen One, weep! Soul of Destiny, rise! The One Above All despairs at his Creation and dies! In Death we live, in Life we die, but we go Together! Now, open this Door!" The skull exploded in a shrapnel mist of red that fell over Roxas and Xinck, giving them an aura-like red glow.

The light from the book faded, the mist was gone and the blood and skull was no more. With the mist gone, the light from the fountain bathed them in a pale light as the red aura around them sank into their bodies. They stayed in their spot, eyes darting about, expecting some kind of portal or door or at least a beam of light to show them the way. But there was nothing.

"Is that it?" Roxas asked.

"I..I think so."

"What's the book say?" Xinck picked up the book and scanned the page. "So, what's it say?" He handed Roxas the book and pointed to the very bottom of the page. Roxas read it aloud. " 'Start Walking.' That's it?"

"Apparently." Xinck shrugged, standing up. "Southwest, right?"

"Uh-huh." They faced the Southwest trail before them. "Well, it _is _technically a trail or path."

"Yeah, but I was hoping for something to start glowing or something." He stored the book in the magic sack he kept around his necklace. "Shall we?" He motioned toward the path.

"Let's." Roxas nodded. So the two walked down the path that lead Southwest, the first step in the Axis Mundi.

* * *

The trail was not lit and what little light that shined from the city behind them was growing dimmer and dimmer with every step. Only the shadows of the trees against the dark blue sky gave any sign that they were either walking deeper into the park or into a forest. It grew to dark to see each other, soon they only heard the sound of their feet hitting the dirt trail.

"Xinck, are you still there?" Roxas asked into the darkness around him.

"No," An answer from his left side.

"Yes, you are! Stop playing around."

"No, Roxas, I'm not here. Seriously."

Roxas punched into the darkness on his left and felt his fist collided with hit. He heard a yell. "Ow! That was my arm, you bastard!"

"I told you you were there."

"I'm sick of you hitting me! I'm gonna get you back."

"Fat chance." Roxas said.

"Now you're calling me fat?"

"No, not like tha-"

"I'll kill you!"

"Okay, okay, okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

"Okay...alright. Fat butt."

"That's too far!" He lunged to his left and grabbed, what he assumed to be Xinck and began pounding away. He heard Xinck grunt and they both landed on the hard ground, another grunt and he kneed Roxas in the stomach. Neither of them could see, both of them were kicking, punching, thrusting and kneeing, headbutting and biting at flesh and leather.

"Suffer!" Xinck growled, ready to bite.

"Have some of this!" Roxas grabbed what he thought was Xinck's face and bashed his forehead into his own skull, sending Xinck back, groaning and screaming.

"Gah! Dammit! Are you trying to make me look like Owen Wilson?"

A pale blue light brought Xinck into view. Roxas saw him cradling his nose and rolling on the ground with his eyes closed. His nose was just bloody, it wasn't horribly disfigured and unholy in appearance like Owen Wilson's nose. "Don't worry." Roxas huffed, "It's fine." It was only when he realized that he could see Xinck did he notice that ethereal light radiating just a yard or two away from him, in between the trees. A river, no, a very small creek that flowed a bright, neon blue through the darkness of the forest. There were no fish in it, no rocks or anything, just blue water flowing through the forest and into the darkness.

"Xinck, look at this. Come look." 14 joined him at his side, still clutching his bleeding nose. He looked at the flowing creek, his eyes taking in the glow and lighting up.

"It's the Axis." Xinck said. "Told you the spell worked. Now all we have to do is follow the yellow brick road to the Emerald City of Oz."

"You mean follow the shining blue creek to our spiky, red-haired friend."

"Yeah, that, too."

The shining creek made little sound as it went on about its way, curving through the thinning forest ahead of it. Roxas looked back the way they had came and saw the beginning of the creek for a few yards, then it became obscured by the darkness of the forest. But, Roxas saw, the way it seemed to fade out made it look as if it had popped into existence just for them.

He broke into a run, jumping in between the trees and following the creek's every twist and turn. He didn't look back to make sure Xinck was behind him, but he heard fast footsteps and knew he was there.

* * *

The shinning blue, ethereal creek gradually ended. Roxas and Xinck had been running along it for a good portion of the night and they had, in fact, gotten to another world. The creek was on their right and as it ended, a new path in a forest came into being on their left. They could tell they were in a new forest; all the trees were spaced out, they were very thin, straight, gnarled and gray in appearance. All their leaves were dead and on the ground, their bare branches reached for the sky and shrouded their tips in pale dawn.

It was still dark, though the sun was rising far out in the distance. Roxas wasn't tired, even though it seemed like they had been running for hours, but he knew Xinck was slowing down so they both stopped for the night (or the dawn, it was around 7:00 in the morning). There was nothing to lay on except, hard brittle leaves and for head support, Roxas took off his coat and slept in a black t-shirt, Xinck took off his magic sack and rested on it. They agreed to wake up in an hour or two and continue on.

It was quiet and a gentle mid-morning breeze brushed by them. Falling asleep had never been easier.

_2 Hours Later..._

The sun was still rising, its light barely piercing through the gray clouds in the sky. The Thirteenth stirred in his sleep and his eyes opened and focused. Dark circles under his eyes, a crick in his neck and terrible taste in his mouth signaled that he didn't sleep well. He had another one of those dreams with Axel, Xinck, himself and the girl with black hair. This time they were in a void, Axel and the girl were playing guitars, Xinck was on drums and Roxas himself was singing. At first the dream seemed 'normal' enough, but then a giant, blue ghost-version of Xemnas popped out of Xinck's head and started rapping and the entire void turned into a graveyard with dancing zombie gorillas.

Needless to say, Roxas didn't have sweet dreams. He twitched and stretched, rolling onto his back and sitting up on the ground. He winced at the pain in his neck and rubbed with the arm he had fallen asleep on, now numb. He looked around the woods or forest they were in: behind him was the trail they needed to follow, in front was Xinck curled up in fetal position, one hand caressing his ear and the other pulling up his coat and shirt and exposing his stomach. Roxas couldn't believe how oddly innocent he looked, how vulnerable.

But it was time to wake up.

Roxas found himself pocking Xinck in the face with a nearby twig. "Xinck, wake up." Poke. "Xinck, wake up." Poke, "Wake up, Xinck."

The Fourteenth groaned, twitched and slothfully swatted the twig away. He mumbled. "Mmm, _Nein."_

"Come on, get up. We have to go." Roxas grabbed his shoulders and tried hauling him up, but he was a little heavy and the crick in Roxas's neck strained a bit. The sound of opening portals and warping space caught his attention. Not just one portal, but several, opened, leaving behind pairs of Dancer, Dragoon and Sniper Nobodies. The Dancers came forward, strutting and twitching as they closed the gap. "Oh, Come on! I just woke up!" The Dancer raised its foot to kick down on the two, Roxas flipped Xinck over and out of the way while he rolled backwards. "Xinck! WAKE UP!"

"Oooh-wha?" Finally, the Deviant raised his raised. The flip had waken him. "What's going-?" He saw Roxas bashing into a Dancer, weapons drawn, as two Dragoons began closing in. "Oh, Company." Xinck kicked himself up, shadows in hand brought out both swords. He cast them out, grappled a Dragoon and pulled it over to himself, jumped onto it and began to stab away at it's head.

Roxas blocked another kick from one Dancer and ducked from the attack of the other one. He jumped back, avoiding a shot from a Sniper. He readied both Keyblades and threw them into the crowd of Nobodies, exploding them apart from one another. Roxas jumped into the air for the confused Sniper and sliced through it as he sailed through the air. A Dragoon came flying forward, Lance pointed and stabbed for Roxas head, he barely dodged it, curving backwards and kicking its Body higher into the air. He flipped back around and sliced the Dragoon up the middle, killing it and landing on the ground. "Two down."

Xinck had taken out the Dragoon and was now facing down the last Sniper, but it was elusive, constantly teleporting and shooting. He couldn't risk going all out hitting Roxas, so he was restricted to small attacks. "Wake the dead!" His swords shined a deadly purple, his swords followed suit and when he drove his blade into the ground and created a crack, 5 wailing souls emerged and ravaged for the Sniper. It teleported away from them and fired away, but to no affect. All 5 collided with the Nobody and tore it apart.

"Ha ha!" Xinck laughed, dismissing the souls, "I...you...Damn, I can't think of anything. Oh, well-Ah!"The last Dancer brought it's attention to Xinck, grabbing him by the waist with both legs, it began to fling him about and bash him against the ground and trees.

Roxas took a hit from another Dancer and was backed up against a tree. The Dancer came once again, it didn't let up on Roxas at all, kicking and jumping and stabbing and striking. Roxas had to block, dodge and move around trees constantly. The Dancer was elusive, just narrowly evading Roxas's strikes and stabs, but just as quick, he would be on the defense again. He couldn't risk going all out without hitting Xinck, so he had to rely on physical attacks.

The Dancer raised it's foot as if to bring it down on His head, but it changed direction, catching Roxas slightly off guard. It jabbed with it's foot, Roxas leaned back, his legs repositioning themselves behind him subconsciously. His right foot accidentally stepped onto a snake hole, disturbing its sole inhabitant. Roxas continued dodging and striking, but virtually getting nowhere while the slithery green snake underneath him slicked and slithered for its life.

"Ha ha!" Roxas caught the Dancer in the side with a right, then brought down his left Keyblade on its head, killing it. Finally, he had stepped on the snake, something the creature considered a grave mistake that deserved justice, swift and terrible. It reared its head up, hissed and bit Roxas. "Gah!" The Nobody screamed, "Somethin' bite me!" He hit the ground with his knee from the shock. The snake slithered away, chuckling to itself with a smug attitude. Roxas finally fell back and his weapons vanished.

"What did what?" Xinck turned away from the nearly finished Dancer to see Roxas moaning on the forest floor. "What happened to you?" The final Dancer came up behind him, ready to strike, but Xinck ducked, side-stepped behind it and slit its throat.

"Arrggh!" Roxas screamed. He rolled around on his back and gasped, Xinck came over in a hurry and knelt beside him .

"Are you okay?"

"Do I look okay! Gah!"

"Well, what happened?"

"Something bit me! I think it was a snake!"

"Oh. Was it poisonous?"

"I don't know, I didn't see it, aggh! Get a Potion!"

"We're out! We used the last one when you cut yourself in the arm."

"Oh, God! Aggh! Can you suck it out, the poison?"

"Where'd you get bitten?"

Roxas groaned again and with effort rolled over onto his stomach. His black coat was still on the ground where he woke up, and before Xinck could put two and tow together, Roxas pointed to the spot where there were two, small holes in the back of his pants. "Right here."

"Um...you know where you're pointing right?" Xinck asked.

"Yes! Aggh!"

"It's your butt."

"I know!"

Xinck scratched awkwardly at the back of his neck. "You're putting me in an odd position, Roxas. What if it wasn't poisonous?"

"It hurts! Ahhh! I-I know its weird, but what else can we do?"

"Oh my god." Xinck didn't wake up this morning expecting to suck poison out of his friend's bum. He didn't see the snake, so he wouldn't be able to tell if it was poisonous or not, but it bit him and non-venomous snakes don't really bite to kill. Xinck knew Roxas's healing factor wouldn't heal poison and a _Cure _spell only helps physical wounds. "Out of all the places you could've gotten bitten, it had to be there?"

"Xinck!" Roxas growled, he glared at his friend, his face turning red with every hiss. "I know this isn't the best thing right now, but think about this. I could die! And If I die, I swear I will Haunt your ass for the rest of your Life! And when you die I will kick your ass for all eternity!"

"Bu.. the-...Roxas, come on! Aggh!" He beat his his head, beat his knees and screamed. Finally, "Fine! Take off your pants! Don't you ever say I never did anything for you!" At his command, Roxas did so and soon his aforementioned area was exposed. "Wow." Xinck said. "It's..bigger than I thought it would be."

"Xinck!"

"Kinda pale, though."

"I'm about to die!"

"Alright, alright, alright!" He gulped down whatever other comments he had and steeled himself. He stared down at the two wounds and was thankful that they weren't directly on the cheek, but clser to the small of his back. Xinck steadied himself, placed one hand on the back of Roxas's knee and the other on his back. He sighed once more. "Okay, I'll suck it in, spit it out and repeat, okay?"

"Okay." Roxas winced and hissed.

Xinck sighed again and prepared his mouth. "I'm going in." He closed his eyes, readied his lips, neared the wound and-

* * *

Yes, hello, sorry about this, but I actually chose

to censor this part to protect the integrity of the characters.

So, to pass the time while they're finishing up, what's going on

in your world, huh? Is that fat girl still taking your lunch money?

Did your boss finally do something about that awful toupee?

How's the Jello in the cafeteria, scrumptious I hope.

Oh, okay, looks like they're done. Let's check back in...

* * *

"GAAAHH!" Roxas screamed and winced and howled.

Xinck pulled up, mouth filled with blood, poison and spit. He ejected the contents to the ground, adding to the puddle. "AGGGH! _Que Asco!_ Why, God, Why!"

"Xinck!"

"Roxas!

"AGGGH!"

"AGGGH" With that, Xinck dove back in-

* * *

Oh! Sorry, sorry, not quite done yet. Sorry.

So, has anyone seen _The Cape_ on NBC?

Is that good? I've never seen it, but I've been

hearing mixed reviews. What about Movies?

I heard _Mars Needs Moms _sucked incredible ass.

Who buys movies anymore, honestly? That's what torrents are

for. Oh, they're done.

* * *

Underneath a nearby tree, the Deviant sat, rocking back and forth and pondering what it truly means to be a deviant. Roxas sat on the floor, pants back in their proper position, his current state a little shocked. What was best, they both figured, was to never speak of the horrid events that had taken place, lest their eyes explode, their skin melts off and their intestines boil forth from their respective necks.

Or at the very least avoid eye contact for a few days...

One thing that they both found difficult to do was what to say next. Xinck thought saying "Ok, poison's out of your ass. Now what?" But that made it seem as if snake butt poisoning was a common occurrence. Putting his mouth near that area of another person to suck out poison wasn't something he'd do again soon. If he had to then it wouldn't be to Roxas. They live together, how awkward would that be, he thought. Roxas thought of saying, "Thank you." But at the same time he assumed it was implied. Then again, if he didn't say something then Xinck would never let him live it down and would continue to bring it up forever. He'd probably bring it up in front of Axel, Roxas thought, and use it to blackmail me. Yeah, I could see him doing that.

Roxas fixed his lips to speak, "Uh...thank-"

"We should go look for Axel." Xinck chimed in.

"Yes! I agree! I'll get my coat." With one swift motion, Roxas got up, grabbed his coat and zipped it up. Xinck got his bag around his neck, it shrunk magically, and he was ready. Soon they were back on the Axis and walking through the forest. Good thing, too, Roxas thought, Nobodies finding us in a random forest must mean the Organization might be near. Xinck, at first, remained silent, catching Roxas's attention. He couldn't believe it: Xinck had saved him three times in one day.

Finally, the Deviant broke the silence. "So!" He yelled, yawning. "Your butt is both pale and huge. What's up with that?" Roxas punched him in the nose and drew blood. "Aw! Oh, god, why!"

Instead of growling, frowning, preparing another comment or preparing another fist, Roxas smiled slightly. "Thank you."

"Uh-huh, whatever." The Deviant wiped the blood away and continued waking at his friend's side. "So, I'm hungry, you?"

"Yeah, I could eat. Let's find a McDonald's."

"Are you sure you don't want to find a slow-moving woodland critter?" Xinck asked.

"You'd rather eat squirrels than fast food? You love fast food."

"Fast food is also _expensive. _We could save at least $20 if we find a half-dead squirrel or bird."

"I'm not eating a squirrel! We're getting McDonald's and you can just order off the Kid's Menu!" Roxas replied.

"Fine, but God help you if I don't get a toy."

* * *

The Whirlwind Lancer was a very diligent and hardworking member of the Organization. He trained hard, he worked hard and he fought hard. He was, indeed, very loyal to the Organization, something he believed was lacking in today's society: loyalty. But even Xaldin had his weaknesses, one of which was taking unauthorized "Mini-Breaks" every now and then. These breaks usually consisted of him going out and spoiling himself with fast food. Why fast food, that is the question, but also the answer. To not go out for fast food would mean he would have to go home and cook for himself, a talent he's always possessed, but he'd also have to deal with the dreaded Others: his fellow members. Always asking for him to cook this or cook that or teach them how to use the microwave. It never ended, no matter how hard he tried or complained or threatened to bifurcate them. So, going out for cheap, fast food was his treat to himself.

Most of the time he'd go to McDonald's, but this town he was in currently lacked a McDonald's, apparently there was a rumor that the owner of the franchise known as 'Krusty Burger' paid the local Mafia to keep out larger franchises such as McDonald's, Burger King and Taco Bell. But, Xaldin was sure he could find something edible at Krusty Burger, in the town of Springfield...he wasn't sure which state it was in, though.

* * *

Review and I might write the next chapter faster. You'll enjoy it, guaranteed.

Seriously, try to guess how I came up with the name for this story. Bet you can't get it right.

I know I won't get it right because I don't know!


	41. Strange Encounters

Yeah, this took some time to get up, but I've been really busy lately, then while I was writing I met a lull in the story and halfway through I was thinking "Why did I do this!" But Luckily I made it work...kinda.

Anyway, I own nothing except the stuff you've never heard Of. Enjoy.

* * *

"We should've gone to McDonald's. I've never even heard of a 'Krusty Burger', that doesn't sound good at all." Number XIII stood complaining at the counter and staring up at the menu behind a Squeaky Voiced Teenager in a uniform and paper hat. His name tag read "Jeremy Freedman". Number XIV stood there as well, waiting to place his order.

"We don't have a McDonald's in Springfield, sir." The Squeaky Voiced Teen said. He leaned over the counter, looked left and right to make sure no one heard him, "There's a rumor that the Mob is paid to keep out fast food chains like McDonald's, Burger King, and Taco Bueno."

"What about Taco Bell?" Xinck asked.

"For some reason." The boy replied, "They keep sneaking in. No one knows how."

"Okay, I'm ready to order." Roxas said. He really wasn't sure want he'd get since the entire menu seemed to be made from meat that should not be eaten by people. Or animals. "Uh...I'll just have the uh..what's that say? The 'Clogger'? Yeah, I'll have that, a medium fry and a medium soda."

The Squeaky Voiced Teen punched the information into the cash register. "And what about you, sir?"

Xinck responded, "I'll have the Ribwich Meal and a vanilla shake."

"You mean a Krusty Partially Gelatinated Non-Dairy Gum-Based Beverage?"

"Yeah, that."

The Teen punched more keys on his keypad and squeaked, "Okay, your total is 20 Dollars and 50 cents."

"Oh, come on! That's highway robbery!"

"Hold on, I've got it." Roxas said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a Twenty dollar bill and some change and handed it to the worker."This is our last bit of money., so we better get to where we need to be soon."

"What happened to all that money Lexaeus left you in his will?"

"Oh, that? I spent most of it on Ice Cream, why?"

"...Didn't think to bring it with you, huh?"

"Should have, right?"

Xinck scoffed, "We could've eaten squirrels in the forest for free!"

"I'm not eating squirrels, Xinck!"

"Okay." said the Squeaky-voiced Teen, "Here's your Receipt, and your number is 27." he handed them their receipt and turned away to prepare their food. Roxas and Xinck went to the far left of the store, coincidentally a blind spot if one were to stand anywhere in the front or other side of the store. Basically they were invisible and undetectable to the Whirlwind Lancer, who was sitting in the far right section of the restaurant. Xaldin actually had a question concerning the contents of the Ribwich so he made his way to the front of the counter.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"Yes, sir?" The Squeaky-voiced Teen turned after placing the lid on a Krusty Partially Gelatinated Non-Dairy Gum-Based Beverage.

"Yes, I was wondering, what type of animal is the Ribwich made of anyway?"

"Well, sir, we're not allowed to tell customer which kind of animal, besides, it's now extinct and the Ribwich is just for a limited time only."

"So it's not a pig?"

"Not even close, sir. Try smaller and more legs."

"Oh..."

* * *

_The Castle That Never Was_

Both Xigbar and Demyx had come back earlier from their manhunt, reluctantly as it were. It seems they both had run into trouble and had to return to the Castle in order to heal in piece.

"So what attacked you?" Saix asked.

"A giant monkey-super Saiyan thingy. I forget what they're called. Oozu, Ozo or something." Xigbar complained, adjusting the ice pack on his forehead. "It caught me off guard, that's all."

"Right." Saix didn't believe hims for a second. Xigbar was just lazy and probably wanted to come back anyway. "And what happened to you?" He turned to No.9.

"I stubbed my toe on a rock." Demyx answered. "I thought it was bleeding so I came back to check it out."

"Where did you even go?"

"Rock City. That place has lots of rocks, you know."

Recently, Saix had developed a throbbing vain in his left temple. It drummed against a very delicate part of his brain and he knew that if he engaged anyone of Demyx or Xigbar's caliber then it would throb harder and possibly cause an aneurysm and kill him. Saix sighed, rubbed his bridge and said. "I'll put this simply: You all irritate the hell out of me and I often dream of killing you."

"Wow. _Someone's _not a happy camper today."

"Yeah." Xigbar said. "What's stuck up your ass this fine day?"

"You know what's up my-" Saix stopped himself, partly due to the vulgar sentence and partly because the vain was hammering again. "You know very well that our Heart quota has dropped severely. But, I suppose, that might all come to an end soon."

"Really? How?"

"I've enlisted outside assistance in capturing Roxas and/or Xinck."

" 'Outside assistance'?" Demyx asked.

"What kind of assistance? More Heartless? Nobodies?"

"Oh no." Saix said. "Much worse."

"Oooh, spooky." Xigbar chuckled, "What, like, assassins, hitmen, bounty hunters, what?"

"No, no. Something far worse."

"Come on! Tell us." Demyx exclaimed, "I bet it was something scary, right?"

"Scarier than scary." Saix said.

"Come now, quick keeping secrets. Out with it!" Xigbar yelled.

Finally, the vain disappeared from Saix's brain. Knowing a bit of information and lording it over their heads gave him a sense of power rushing through his body. He turned to Demyx and Xigbar and spoke. "I summoned the Golgothan."

All sense of color drained from Xigbar's face. "Dude, not cool."

"What's a Golgothan?" Demyx asked. Xigbar leaned over to him and whispered the answer into his ear. "Uh-huh..yeah...and it's...WHAT! Oh, Saix, not cool, so not cool."

"Cool or not, it is already done." The Lunar Diviner replied.

* * *

"Wow, why is this so greasy?" Roxas held the greasy, nearly 1 pound hamburger in his grip. The Clogger was its name. It dripped grease and fat from its bun all the way to its center. It's slogan was 'If you can find a greasier sandwich, you're in Mexico'. It was almost bigger than Roxas's mouth, he wasn't sure how to even eat it. "This doesn't even look healthy."

"Mine looks fine." Xinck said, holding up his Ribwich. Its slogan on the box it came in was 'Now without lettuce!' with a talk bubble coming from a blue-haired clown.

"How's it taste?" Roxas asked. He wanted Xinck to try his food first because He wasn't sure about his Fat-dripping, Artery-destroying, Death burger. Xinck opened his giant maw and devoured half of his burger. He chewed, nodded with approval then bashed his face against the table with giddy laughter. "Hey, you okay?"

"He he he..he he.." A puddle of drool began to form around his open mouth, his eyes had even dilated. "_Rojas_, guess what?"

"What?"

Xinck lifted his head to look at Roxas and whispered, "I can smell my thoughts." Xinck grabbed the Ribwich once more, devoured it in a single gulp and returned to his euphoric state of giddy laughter, bodily twitches and nonsense. To Roxas, it was almost reminiscent of the times he caught him strung out on morphine, so it didn't warrant much caution. Roxas suddenly became aware of the greasy, artery clogging substance in his hands, which by someone's standards is food. He figured it must be okay to eat if it was in on a poster in the window.

Roxas looked at the window to his right and saw the same sandwich in the hands of a blue-haired clown with red shoes, green pants and a yellow shirt. He was holding the sandwich with a caption reading, "If you can find a greasier sandwich, you're in Mexico!" Roxas wasn't sure what that meant. He could've asked Xinck, but...

"He..he..he.._Escolopendra _means Centipede...he he he..Get out of here, Beavis. No, Butt-head! I am Cornholio, I need T.P. For my bunghole...bunghole...bunghole."

"Right..." Perhaps it was just curiosity or his hunger that made Roxas open his mouth, insert the burger and bite down. All he tasted was grease. He began to choke. He dropped the burger on the table. He tried to swallow, but the so-called food was hellbent on staying in his mouth, he started coughing, banging on the table. Finally, he forced his tongue to push it down, grease and all. "Gah!" He breathed freely in gasps, then rested his head on the table. He felt his body seize up and twitch as the food made its way down through his esophagus and dropped into his stomach. "Oh, man! I think I just lost a year off my life!"

Xinck replied, still in his stupor, "Thousands of years ago, before the time of Sigourney Weaver..."

"I think I have to use the bathroom. I'll be back." XIII scooted out from the booth he and Xinck were seated in and made his way to the back of the restaurant to fulfill his biological needs.

"Yeah, you do that. I'm just gonna..oh! Playground!" The Deviant shot like a bullet out of his seat, across the restaurant and out the door to the adjoining playground which bared the likeness of the Clown that owned the restaurant.

Across to the other side of the restaurant, Xaldin could have easily spotted Xinck bolting for the door, only if the Ribwich he had eaten had agreed with his stomach. Apparently, the sandwich Xaldin had consumed wasn't cooked all the way and was currently at war with his bowels. Unable to bare the bubbling, percolating pressure in his stomach any longer, Xaldin shot out of his seat, and across the restaurant, running for his life and his new pair of underwear.

Along the way, a couple impeded his path, standing behind several other people in line to place their order An elderly woman and, what Xaldin assumed to be, her middle-aged son. To say the woman sounded irritated, impatient and belligerent was an understatement. She turned to scream at her son. "Seymour!" Her voice was withered with age, "Tell them we're next!"

Her son, obviously named Seymour, and wearing a blue suit, replied, "I'm not principle of the line, Mother."

"And you never will be!" She snapped back acerbically.

Xaldin couldn't risk entertaining their banter, lest he soil himself in the center of the restraint. Furiously, he bashed into the man called Seymour and knocked him aside, adding an unconsciously uttered, "Move, dick!" As he went on to the bathroom.

"Seymour!" The woman yelled again as her son re-situated himself. "You're a coward! And if it's one thing I know, it's cowards!"

"Mother, I was in 'Nam!"

"Yeah, and you've been bitching about it for 30 years!"

* * *

The bathrooms at Krusty burger were lamentably, despicably, unabashedly...crappy. The once immaculate white urinals were streaked with old urine and graffiti and none of them worked. Besides, one couldn't relieve themselves without giving the one known as "El Barto" a golden shower. There were three stalls, only one of them worked and not very well, if anything it was just another urinal. The walls were dilapidated and covered in cracks, there were Wet Floor signs piled in the corner. How this restaurant managed to stay in business was a miracle. Just by stepping inside this place of woe, Roxas twitched as he caught a whiff of the air.

Seeing as how he could not use any of the Urinals, Roxas went into the only working stall, the middle on.

Also coming into the bathroom and unaware of anyone else's presence was Xaldin, hunched over and cradling his stomach. He barged in and headed for the only stall that didn't have an Out of Order sign hanging on it, but stopped mid-stride when he saw the black shoes of its occupant. He cursed and was considering going into the woman's bathroom to handle the deed, but his chocolate logs were soon to be born and he knew he wouldn't make it in time. With a reluctant groan, the Whirlwind Lancer headed for the first stall, unaware of its condition and completely ignoring it's Out of Order sign.

"Oh, my sweet lord!" The Winds of Despair were nearly knocked out of him as he viewed the horrid toilet before him. He only knew that it was not fit for existent or nonexistent butt cheeks. He quickly closed the door and moved to the last stall. _"Oh, please, oh, please, oh, please, oh, please!" _He chanted in his head as he opened the stall door to reveal the porcelain toilet before him. A small sigh of relief . At least this one could at least be sat on. With a swift motion of the Lancer's hands, equipped with the urgency of needing to drop a deuce, Xaldin undid, unzipped and pulled down his pants, he sat and let loose his bowels of war!

Back in the middle stall, unaware of the Lancer's presence, Roxas was just finishing up his business. Of course, with the splattering, foul poo noises Xaldin was emitting, it made Roxas consider offering his assistance. Then the smell hit him and that consideration quickly vanished along with the oxygen. To make matters worse—or just possibly stranger—an open hand reached from under the stall wall and the gruff voice of its owner asked for assistance.

"Excuse me, but could you spare some toilet paper?"

That couldn't have possibly been more awkward. Roxas' eyes darted from the hand to the roll of toilet paper and back again. The smell was penetrating His nostrils, his air was running out, he had to leave, but Roxas couldn't just leave the man to suffer. Could he?

"Hello? I know you're there. Mind helping me out?"

The hand was beckoning for what it wanted. Desperate to leave and cradling his nose, Roxas grabbed the toilet paper, thrust it into the hand, flushed and ran out of the bathroom.

"Thank you."Xaldin said.

* * *

Coughing and soon to hack up a lung, Roxas stumbled out of the horrid restroom and back into the restaurant. He inhaled all the oxygen he could as he made his way back to the booth where Xinck was sitting once again.

"Back from taking a poo?" He asked, the affects of his Ribwich worn off.

"I didn't do that, I had to...you know."

"Flood the Nile?"

"Yeah, that. There was this guy in there and he almost sounded sick, I mean, he was using the bathroom, but it was like he was setting off a stink bomb of mass destruction."

"Sounds like the work of El Poopador." Xinck said, shoveling a few fries into his mouth.

"Who?"

"El Poopador. A creature...not of this world, Roxas, but an avid user of it's toilets."

"Uh-huh. You come up with that all on your own?"

"Yeah, it came to me after I ate my Ribwich." He tilted the box of french fries in his hand towards Roxas, "Fry?"

"No, no, no. I'm not eating anything from this place ever again."

"Suit yourself. More for me." He reached into the box of fries, grabbed a handful and brought them to his mouth.

"You know, we should hurry up and get out of here and get back on that road. Those Nobodies we fought in the forest might mean the Organization can't be too far behind. I think since we're traveling on a road, maybe we could find a car or somet- are you okay?"

The Deviant wasn't breathing, his hands were gripped around his neck and his tongue was flailing about in and around his mouth. "Ack!-Can't! Breath!"

"Ah!" Roxas sprung into action, getting over the table, grabbing Xinck and getting behind him. Axel had taught Roxas the Heimlich Maneuver in a 12 step lesson. Unfortunately, Axel got kidnapped after lesson 3. So, Roxas grabbed Xinck from behind, wrapped his left around around his chest and, per the lessons he learned, started to brutally punch the crap out of his stomach with his right fist. "Breath, fool, breath!"

"Gah! Agh! Dammit! Cah!"

Emerging from the bathroom, the Whirlwind Lancer proclaimed with great enthusiasm, "My business is Done!" Hands in the air, he yelled with the jubilation of emerging 5 pounds lighter from the toilet. Just as he was to return to his lone table, did he spot the chocking Deviant and the Deviant spotted him. Roxas didn't notice, still trying to beat the obstruction out of Xinck's body.

"Ra-Roxa-" Xinck gagged, pointing to the approaching Xaldin.

"Hold on! I'm saving you!"

"What fortuitous circumstances!" Xaldin exclaimed.

"Ah, Xaldin!" Roxas, out of shock, gave Xinck a final punch. Xinck heaved and coughed out a gob of saliva-drenched fries that flew over a distance and smacked the Whirlwind Lancer on the face. Xinck fell from the table, sprawled out on the floor.

"Gross." Xaldin said, quickly wiping away the mess.

Roxas shot up from the table and took a defiant stance near Xinck, "What're you doing here?"

"Eating." He declared. Xaldin was in his standard pose, back straight, head looking forward and arms behind his back. This pose was quickly broken when he his hand upright and called a single lance. "But I suppose when there is work to do, one must put down the fork and pick up a blade."

"Shit's 'bout get real." Xinck said, still on the floor.

"Fire!" Roxas shouted, a ball of flame gathered in his palm and he hurled it at the lancer, causing him to stagger back in pain. "Let's go!" Roxas grabbed Xinck by his hood and hauled him to his feet. They ran for the nearest door, but were intercepted by a lance that lodged itself into the metal door. Roxas's first reaction was to warn the innocent people scattered about the restaurant. He turned and with force, shouted, "Everybody Out!"

"Screw you, blondie." An elderly woman yelled back, her middle-aged son sitting next to her. Oddly, she then turned on Xaldin, "And YOU! You should be ashamed of what you did in the bathroom! No one can go in there now and Seymour's bladder is full! Full of Urine!"

"Mother!" The man called Seymour proclaimed, "You're embarrassing me!"

"No I'm Not!"

Obviously ignoring the bickering Mother and Son, the Three Nobody's appearance was enough to drive everyone else screaming away from the restaurant, leaving them alone at their table. Them being there didn't stop Xaldin from gathering the surrounding winds and forming a protective sphere around himself.

The restaurant cleared out, the only sounds were that of Xaldin's wind shield and the Deep Fryer in the kitchen, bubbling with instability and French Fries. Weapons drawn, the two Nobodies stared down their adversary. Now would've been a good time to come up with a plan of attack, but Xaldin was an expert Warrior who excelled in attack and defense, any attack plan would be easily squashed. But, Roxas knew that while Xaldin's shield was up, he was almost immune to up-close physical attacks

XIII started first. He brought Oblivion over his head, gathering cool, freezing air around the tip. "Freeze!" He fired a block of ice for the Lancer, it bypassed his wind shield and impacted him on the stomach, unfazing him.

"Is that it?" Xaldin asked

"Uh..." Roxas mused.

"Very well. I'll start." With a spin, he was gone, vanished into the air. With a _Pop _he reappeared in between Roxas and Xinck, Lances laid out in a circle around his body. The two Nobodies curved backwards and back-flipped away, narrowly avoiding the strike. Roxas landed on top of a booth with one foot and quickly pushed off for Xaldin, meeting one of his lances with a strike of his own before he was blown away by the Shield.

Two lances in his left, one in his right and the other three floating about him in the wind, Xaldin turned away from Roxas to go for Xinck. "I've got permission to kill you." He lunged, all 6 lances at the ready and with a thrust he caught Xinck in the stomach, forcing him back against a table. The Lancer held a lance up, ready to impale the boy. "I know you can't stand cliches, but I must ask, any last words?"

Xinck rolled his eyes, then flexed his jaw, "Oi, Xaldin, look what I can do." He threw open his mouth and released a thick blast of dark energy. Aimed for Xaldin's head, He narrowly avoided the blast, stumbling back as it hit the ceiling and blasted through.

"Damn you!" Xaldin cursed, his shield had been taken out by the blast. He looked up to find both Roxas and Xinck, weapons ready as they fell upon him. "Is that it?" Xaldin screamed, "Aerial attacks?" Extending his legs and throwing out his arms, Xaldin summoned an enormous Whirlwind around himself, catching Roxas and Xinck and throwing them to and fro. The whirlwind destroyed the roof completely and tossed debris into the air, the windows blew out and scattered glass and metal, littering the floor as the dangerous winds subsided.

Laid out against an upturned table, Roxas picked himself up. He bashed his head against a wall, his vision was blurry. He looked up, saw Xaldin walking casually for him and Xinck's unconscious body hanging out a window. As he grabbed both his fallen Keys, a brush of wind hit him and a single Lance levitated before his neck, barely touching his skin.

"Don't move." Xaldin said."I can't kill you, but I can wail on you enough until you lose consciousness. Now, come quietly and end this pitiful crusade."

"I won't!" Was all Roxas managed to say, defiant as always.

"Why so defiant against the Organization that butters your bread?"

From his window, Xinck raised a finger, "I'm more of a Jam man myself." Aerokinetically, Xaldin shoved one of his lances into Xinck's stomach from afar, "Ow! Quit it." The Lancer then pulled it back up leaving it to float above Xinck out of his reach.

"Now, Roxas." Xaldin continued, "Luxord may have failed at bringing you back, but you'll find that I'm much more persistent. There isn't a thing you can do to escape me."

"Why are you so bent on catching us? We're not hurting anyone, we're just looking for Axel! We've got information, he was kidnapped and we know we're close to finding out who!"

"Axel? Kidnapped?" A cooked grin spread across Xaldin's face, followed by a boisterous laugh, "Impossible. Ha ha ha..!"

"Not probable." Xinck said, followed by a Lance stabbing into his stomach once more, "Okay, that's starting to piss me off!"

"What's impossible about it?" Roxas asked.

"Oh, perhaps Impossible isn't the word I wanted." Xaldin said, " No..., Here's a thought: Maybe if he was dumb enough to lose in a fight that _resulted _in his kidnapping, then he deserves to be kidnapped. Sorry I couldn't find a shorter word for that."

"Wha-How can you sat that? We're all on the same team!"

"You forget! Axel is a grown man, not some depressed teenager!" He motioned for Xinck and stabbed him again, "He's also a Warrior, a spy, an assassin and anything else the Organization requires of him. He knew the job was dangerous when he took it and you need to understand that. Suffer no illusions of having this existence, and leading a life like this and still maintaining the same comrades day in and day out. If none of us is strong enough to stay alive, then we die. That isn't just my rule or the Organization's rule, but the Law of Nature. Survival of the Fittest. Axel obviously wasn't fit enough and was kidnapped, and the Organization isn't going to waste time or devote any energy into finding such a weak link in the chain. He will die, life will go on, end of story."

Roxas only stared up at the Lancer, he didn't blink or move his eyes. All he could think of was how to get away.

Xaldin continued, "You asked me why I was so bent on capturing you, well I'm not, but orders are orders. I suppose, hypothetically speaking, if I were ordered to search for Axel, then I would." A sadistic grin crawled across his face, "But I doubt such an order would fall from Saix's mouth."

"Oh, my God!" Xinck proclaimed, "You take forever to say Nothing!"

Rolling his eyes, Xaldin willed his Lance to pierce Xinck again, but only heard metal on metal as the lance tip marked the metal of the window frame. "Mmm?"

"_Brazos." _A black portal fist appeared above Xaldin and punched his front, smashing into the senior Nobody and sending him stumbling back in a heap.

Xinck appeared next to Roxas, grabbed his arm and helped him up. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm...I'm fine."

"You're not upset are you?"

"No...I just-"

"God, Roxas! Every time someone says something about Axel you get all Mopey! Here's something, Axel's skinniness makes him seem a little effeminate, there, I said it!"

"I'm not mopey!"

"You're not mopey, fine, but you get mad, angry-whatever, _then _you get mopey. Why don't you just skip the mopey altogether and stay mad and take your anger out on him!" He pointed towards Xaldin, who was cradling his bleeding, healing nose.

Roxas looked at Xaldin, then at Xinck and with a scoff, said, "Fine. But I'm not mopey!"

"You two talk entirely too much!" Xaldin charged with the wind pushing against his back, all six lances pointed for their flesh. Roxas and Xinck followed suit, blades at the ready. They clashed, the sound of their metal cutting the air, clashing with each other and scarcely piercing flesh. They moved around the restaurant with every strike, destroying whatever remained of the decimated establishment.

Xaldin stabbed downward, Roxas sidestepped as the Lancer swiped at his head with another attack. Xinck stabbed straight for Xaldin's head, but he was blocked and forced back. Roxas struck Xaldin in the stomach, drawing blood that splattered the two younger warriors. Xaldin yelled, but didn't let up, stabbing straight down with four lances. Distracted by the attack, Roxas couldn't avoid a kick to the gut. Xinck jumped and aimed for the top of Xaldin's head and the Lancer responded by leaning back, stabbing two Lances in the floor for leverage and kicking straight up into Xinck's abdomen, sending him flying in an arch away. "Ha Ha! Two on One and I'm still winning!"

"Xaldin!" Charging from behind with Light shining from both Keyblades, Roxas collided with No. III, Oathkeeper grating against a single Lance. Xalidn, in an effort to retaliate with another lance, was distracted by Xinck's charge on the other side, locking sword and lance with him.

Oblivion was pointed directly underneath his chin, while Xinck's right sword was carefully grazing his neck. But Xaldin was not entirely trapped, having his four remaining lances floating above the heads of his foes. No one moved.

"Seems like we've reached an impasse." Xinck mused.

"Fatty's right." Xaldin said.

"Don't call him fat!" Roxas said.

"Don't call me fat!" Xinck said. "Son of a bitch. That joke is getting so old."

"Why don't you two simply give up and come back quietly like good little children, mm?" Xaldin's arms began to shake as they strained to keep the attacks at bay.

"Why don't _you _simply give up?" Roxas said. "Besides, aren't you too old to be fighting so much?"

"I'm 35."

"You're basically dead after thirty." Xinck said.

"Right, you're 15 and your life is going nowhere, so what's that say about you?"

"Hey, hey, I've got big things going on. BIG things."

"I'm sure that's what all future fellatio-giving, lazy, drug addicts say."

"Okay, now you're just trying to hurt me. And if I do end up giving fellatio, I'll at least charge for it, unlike you who'll take it in the mouth on any day ending in a 'Y'.

"How dare you insinuate-"

"You guys smell that?" Roxas asked.

"Don't try to distract me, Roxas. It won't work. Now, Xinck, you gluttonous piss-worm, you-"

"No, really, what's that smell? It's..Ugh!"

"Yeah, I smell it, too." Xinck said, "God! It's terrible!"

"Xaldin, that was you in the bathroom! I know it was!" Roxas said.

"You were in the bathroom, as well!" Xaldin yelled, "It could've just as easily been you."

"No." Xinck said, "That doesn't smell like anything that came from Roxas."

"And how would you know?" Xaldin asked.

"..." Xinck paused and cleared his throat, "...Mind your damn business..."

"Oh, god!" Roxas retched, "It's getting worse!" Soon the oxygen became thin and a putrid, foul odor wafted through the air to their noses. Xaldin coughed and hacked, his grip never loosening on his lances. Xinck's eyes began to water, he tried holding his breath, but to no avail as he took in the smell.

"Gah!" Xaldin gagged, "Zeus' Pimples! What is that stench!" Mutually, unable to stand it, all three Nobodies dropped their stances, covered their noses and mouths as they coughed and gagged for pure oxygen.

"Ugh!" Roxas hacked, "It smells like-"

"Shit!" Xinck said.

The door to the bathroom creaked and buckled as a weight strained behind it. Metal tore, wood and plastic exploded and clattered to the floor, and the sound of wet, sloppy foot stomps splattered against the linoleum floor.

With a horror stricken voice, filled with shock, appall and disgust, Xaldin muttered, "What the hell is that thing!"

A voice that sounded as if it was being filtered through a swamp answered back. "Not Born, SHIT into existence."

"Oh, my sweet Zombie Buddha..." Xinck awed.

It lifted it's leg, took a step, lifted its other leg and continued coming closer to the Three, its smell and visage growing stronger with every inch. Over 300 pounds of living, human fecal matter moved for them, malevolent and foul in every conceivable way. Fecal brown in color, eyes dark brown and glassy and two, horn-like protrusions on it's head.

"Friend of yours, Xaldin?" Roxas asked.

"Never!"

The foul creature raised it's poopy hand, it's digits dissolved into themselves and left a hole, similar to a cannon barrel and fired loose two filthy projectiles at the Nobodies.

"Over the counter, go!" Roxas yelled, pushing on Xaldin and Xinck and forcing them over the front counter into the kitchen. The projectiles collided against the stainless steal fryer behind them, splattering crap and bile against the nearest wall.

The three Nobodies crouched under the counter, knees pulled up to their chests and Xaldin in the middle. "This is ridiculous!" The Lancer reasoned, "I've fought monsters, mutants, televangelists, but never have I had to fight..fight..what the hell is that thing!"

"An Exremental." Xinck said.

"A what?"

"A Shit Demon!" Xinck raised up to see the slow moving Demon coming for them. Xinck gripped his left wrist, and straightened his palm, "Fira!" Three consecutive blasts fired from his hand and impacted the Demon, but it didn't slow down or take any noticeable damage. It just smiled and laughed and kept coming for them. Xinck sat back down, tore off the magical sack around his neck and began scrambling through book after book.

"Where'd that thing come from?" Roxas said, "What's it want with us?"

"Ever seen the movie _Dogma_?" Xinck asked back, flipping though his books. "Starring Chris Rock, Alanis Morisette and Alan Rickman?"

"No." Xaldin said.

"No." said Roxas.

"It's a great movie, if we live I'll have to show it to you." Xinck said, "Anyway, Golgotha is the Hill where Christ was crucified. Hundreds of people were crucified up there, excluding Christ, they were all evil, murderers, rapists, thieves, what have you. When they died, they spilled bladder and bowel all over the place, and all their evil, negative energies gave birth to that...WALKING PILE OF SHIT! The Golgothan Shit Demon. Seriously, _Dogma_'s a good movie, they should make a sequel."

"Who would send Something like that after people!" Xaldin bellowed.

"Someone who wants us dead, obviously."

"What if it was the people who took Axel?" Roxas asked.

"Then when we find them, we...uh..Shall Shit On Their Lawn!"

"How do we kill it?"

"I don't know, I'm looking!"

As if struck by lightning, the Whirlwind Lancer seemed to have found his lost nerve, "Fie and Foo on your magic textbooks! We are warriors for the Infamous Organization XIII!" He stood up before the two younger Nobodies, Lances re-summoned and spinning about him in a vortex of wind. " You, Foul Creature!" Xaldin brandished three of his Lances at the Golgothan and prepared to jump for it, "Have at thee!"

"Don't do it!" Roxas yelled.

"Moron!" said Xinck.

The Lancer vaulted over the counter and fierce roars and yells followed. Roxas and Xinck shuddered under the counter, as their superior began his bout. Rumbles shook the restaurant, tables snapped in half and winds blew fiercely, Xaldin screamed his warrior's cry, the Golgothan roared monstrously. The wind suddenly stopped, Xaldin began to yell, scream and curse. Roxas looked over the counter to see Xaldin covered in fecal matter and being swung about like a rag-doll. The Golgothan let him go, and his limp, screaming body flew through a broken window, collided with the metal structure that was the adjoining playground. Bars, pipes, swings and slides pelted the unconscious, poo-covered Lancer.

Roxas went back under the counter. "Please, PLEASE tell me you got something to...kill crap."

"A septic tank filled with a shit-eating enzyme? Nope, nothing like that." Page after page, he turned through a random book he pulled from the knapsack around his neck. "I need time. Distract him."

"What!"

"Distract it!"

"Why me? No, no! I'm not fighting that thing!"

"Just keep him off me long enough for me to find something to kill it with. I think I can freeze it, but I need to find a—you know, the longer you sit here gawking at me, the less likely I am to find it sooner."

"Grrr! You rotten-!" His words seemed to leave him as the approaching Monstrosity slammed it's soggy arms on the counter and wailing from the hole in it's face. Reluctantly, Roxas leaped from the counter, pass the Monster and into the open restaurant.

"Hey!" He called, "Look over here! Hey! Walking pile of crap!" With a twitch of his hands, Oblivion and Oathkeeper shined into his grip. The foul smelling monstrosity turned on him, away from the counter and stepped forward, starting his trek for Roxas. At this point, as Roxas began to breath though his mouth to keep from passing out from the smell, his one and only thought was keeping a nice distance so that he didn't get dirty.

Before he knew it, the Golgothan was on him, raising its fist above his head. He was faster than he looked. Roxas jumped back, just dodging the strike, followed by several others.

"He must be Diarrhea!" Xinck shouted from the Counter, "Get it? 'Cuz, he's fast, like diarrhea?"

"Shut up and look in your books!" Roxas shouted back. Another punch, he spun out of the way, raised a sword and brought down a searing laser to cleave the demon in half. The Light passed straight through the Golgothan, it laughed as its body healed itself in less than a second.

"Ugh!" Roxas seethed as he stepped back. There wasn't much he could do except keep his distance and keep it distracted. Physical attacks are too risky, he didn't want to get that close, and non-physical attacks seemed to just make him laugh. "Xinck?"

"Just a second!" Xinck replied, "You're doing good!"

The monster made another lunge for Roxas, throwing it's entire body forward with it's arms out to grab and tackle. Instinctively, Roxas fell backwards against the floor, he slid along the linoleum and under an undisturbed table covered with food and stopped when his head hit the wall. The foul monster landed on top of the table with a sick, wet flop, then it slowly slid down, leaving a trail as it went. It bent down and smiled, looking eyes with Roxas.

"Get away!" Kicking straight up, the table turned over, food slid down the surface and pelted the monster in the face. On the lifted up end, Roxas jumped out and over the chocking creature. He turned around, ready to dodge out of the way of another possible attack, but found the Golgothan hunched over, hands over its stomach and retching.

"What the-?"

"You say something?" Xinck called.

"I-I think it's sick."

"Roxas, its a living ball of crap, Crap doesn't get sick."

"But it just threw up!" A puddle of baby-poop-spinach-green had fallen and spread around the floor. Coated in the green mess were partially digested Krusty fries, nuggets and a cup of Krusty Partially Gelatinated Non-Dairy Gum-Based Beverage. "It can't take the food." With that in mind, Roxas looked around, focusing on any food that wasn't destroyed during the fight. He only saw a few items still intact, but he knew there was more than enough food in the kitchen. "Xinck! The Food! It doesn't like the food! Throw me some!"

"Really? Oi, well, I guess it's better than my plan." The Deviant got up and went deeper into the kitchen, finding boxes of freshly cooked Krusty fries and other morsels. "To be honest, I stopped looking for that spell, like, 3 minutes ago." He grabbed two arm fulls of crappy food and ran them over to the counter.

Finished evacuating its insides, The Golgothan recovered and was greeted by the sight of Roxas and Xinck with their arms filled with Krusty-brand food. Fries, nuggets, burgers and drinks, all drenched in fatty grease, carbohydrates and various other heart attack/stroke-inducing substances. They each gripped an item in their throwing arms and took careful aim for the mouth.

"Don't miss." Roxas said. The Demon snarled and began his run for the two, a box of fries sailed through the air and bombarded its front like missiles exploded in the open ocean. It staggered back, snarling and growling while the food seemed to dissolve, smoke and disrupt its body. With another snarl, it rushed for them, ignoring the assault, and they scattered about the monster, jumping away and they continued throwing.

Xinck landed far back then jumped to a table. He was almost out of food so, in a bold, slightly not very well thought out move, placed his remaining stale french fries in between his fingers like kunai and let them fly as the demon turned to face him. As it did, half a dozen fries implanted themselves in its brown eyes. "HA HA! Get fried in the eye!"

"Not your best quip!" Roxas said.

The Golgothan roared, screamed and grabbed at its blinded head. Its body was already weakened and half gone, its size and mass had been decreased drastically, but it still posed a threat. Xinck jumped down off the table, but slipped in a pile of the monster's putrid trail and fell back against the floor. The Golgothan turned on him, unable to see, it headed in the direction it heard Xinck hit the floor. It roared, arms outstretched to tackle and consume its prey.

"Xinck!"

"Save me!"

Roxas only had one thing left in his arms, the infamous Krusty-brand item called The Clogger, the same burger Roxas had ordered and failed to finish. He gripped it and grease flowed from its very center. "If you can find a greasier sandwich..." He jumped, clearing the demon in one bound and landed between it and the fallen Xinck. He readied the foul burger in hand and proclaimed, "...You're in Mexico!" With all his force, he shoved the food into the the monster's open maw, grabbed Xinck and ducked behind an upturned table. It's body bubbled and melted, it's limbs and consistency became loose and liquid. A final roar tore through the air followed by the explosive sound of matter hitting walls and floors.

"Is it over?" Xinck asked.

"Yeah." Roxas said. "It's gone."

Cautiously, the two came out from behind the table, watching where they stepped and covering their noses. The restaurant was no more, the ceiling was gone, the windows destroyed, the walls cracked with holes everywhere, broken and shattered debris coated the floor and, to add insult to injury, crap oozed against every solid surface.

"Well, Roxas, my young friend, using my superpowers I have vanquished our foe!"

"You? You tripped and almost died!"

Ignoring his reply, Xinck wrapped an arm around Roxas' shoulders and proclaimed, "I say we dub this adventure _**Strange Encounters of the Turd Kind!**_"

"Oh, get off it!" Roxas removed Xinck's arm, "I'm just glad it's over, you know. That whole thing was getting..."

"Intense?"

"No, just really stupid! I mean, think of it like this, if someone was writing this as some kind of story, then they are obviously running out of ideas."

(A/N: …*ahem*...*cough*..Oopsy )

Roxas turned his attention to the far wall of the restaurant where the adjoining playground lay in ruins around the Whirlwind Lancer. Xinck asked, "What should we do with him?"

"Leave him." Roxas said.

"Oooh, why so cold, Lucifer?"

"We can't help him get back to the Organization, he'll just chase after us again. Besides, he wouldn't do the same for us. "

"So we'll just leave him here, broken, beaten and covered in poo-poo?"

"That's the plan." Roxas added with a nod.

"And the rest of the plan?"

Before Roxas could answer, a familiar sound made it to his ears. It was a sound that Members in the Organization tried to avoid if it could be helped, usually because this sound was always brought unwanted attention: The sound of police sirens.

"Let's steal a car. That's a plan." Before they moved for the backdoor, a loud, nasally voice shouted over a bullhorn.

"Alright, you two. Come out with your hands up! And in those hands I expect to see three Krusty Burger Meals, with Fries and three medium drinks! Oh, and bring extra salt, please!"

"You wanna steal a car?" Xinck couldn't believe his ears, "Oh my god, I am such a bad influence on your fragile, young mind! My crazies have finally rubbed off on you!" He made a move to bring Roxas into an embrace, but Thirteen sidestepped out of the way.

"Cut it out, I'm serious! If we get a car it'll at least be faster than walking, right?"

Xinck folded his arms and shook his head, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. First you want to leave Xaldin half-dead, and now you want to commit grand theft auto? Okay, okay, Roxas, you're the boss. What kind of car would you like to "acquire"?" He added air quotes.

"First we have to get past the cops." Roxas looked through a window on the front side of the restaurant, where three police cars were situated on the street. Six cops with guns pointed right at them. "1..2, 3-Six cops with 6 guns. That's not so bad, right?"

"Not if you like getting shot, I suppose."

* * *

The plan was to find a car, but Roxas wasn't that great a planner, despite being the appointed leader of the two-man group. This thought was evident was both he and Xinck jumped from the restaurant window and into the streets, where they were fired upon. What would've been a bit easier, Roxas thought, was if they just went through the backdoor, since there were only three cars and they weren't surrounded. But, of course, it was much too late to think of that now since bullets were firing over their heads.

Xinck smashed onto the black and white vehicle and kicked a cop's wrist, knocking away his gun. Then dropped down and kicked the side of the cop's face, knocking him unconscious. "Sorry, Lou the Cop." Then he jumped down, dodged several more bullets and ran across the street.

Roxas landed closer to a larger cop, one with a portly appearance, blue hair and a pig nose. He landed before him, ready to disarm him, but the cop dropped his gun and gasped, "Gah!" Roxas heard no one else trying to shoot at him, they were too scared and this one in front of him, which Roxas could tell seemed to be the captain or Chief, definitely wasn't going to do anything. He jumped away, over the police and their cars and joined Xinck as they scampered across the street and out of sight.

The police chief turned and shouted, "Hey! You guys didn't get my food! Oh, and you're under arrest for making a police chief go 'Gah!'."

Roxas and Xinck weaved in between the buildings and came out onto the next street. "We need a car, we need a car, we need a car." Roxas kept chanting as he scanned the zooming cars in the town streets. "Oh, there's a car, let's get that one!" He pointed to a sedan coming down the road.

"No! I am not driving a family sedan, especially a pink one." Xinck said, "And look at it, it's all dented and I bet the fat guy driving it left his scent all over the seats."

"What's it matter? Oh, look it's gone! Thanks a lot, Xinck!"

"Get snarky if you want to! Hey, there's one!" Xinck pointed to a classic-style limousine coming down the street. It had the letters M B printed on the front grill. "_That _is luxury. Let's go before we miss it!"

"You complain about smell and I bet that car has some smelly 104-year-old man in the back."

The limousine sped past, much to Xinck's chagrin, "I hope you're happy."

"You know, it doesn't even matter, let's just get a car." Throwing caution to the wind, Roxas ran out into the middle of the street and stopped a common station wagon.

"Goddammit, Roxas..." Xinck hung his head in shame.

The car stopped in the middle of the street, Roxas forcefully beat on the windshield, and, in a very uncharacteristic manner, shouted, "OUT OF THE DAMN CAR! NOW!" At first he expected the car to simply drive away, but instead the door opened and a man wearing a green sweater, glasses and a mustache stepped.

"Well, hiddly-ho, new friend. What can I ding-dong-diddly-do for ya?"

"Get out of the car! Like he said!" Xinck shouted, joining Roxas at his side. "And take those freaky twins in the back with you!"

"Daddy, we're scared." One of two of the cowering children in the back chimed. Small boys, curly brown hair, nothing special.

Their father merely smiled. Roxas didn't know what to think of a man who seemed happy to give up his car to two low-rent teenage carjackers. Xinck, on the other hand, hated him instantly. "Now, don't you two fret, if you need the car, all you needed to diddly doo was ask."

"Stop saying words!" Xinck shouted.

"Give us the keys!" Roxas shouted and the man instantly complied and dropped them into his hands. Xinck peeked inside the car and looked at the two children inside. He pulled his cheeks, rolled his eyes into the back of his head and flailed about his large in front of them. He howled, "_Get Out_!" They squealed and scrambled out of the car to join their father as Xinck took his place in the passenger seat.

"What are you doing?" Roxas asked, appearing on the passenger side.

"What do you mean?"

"You're driving!"

"Why? It was your idea to steal a car!"

"I don't know how to drive a car."

"You can pilot an interstellar space vehicle that travels close to the speed of light but a station wagon is a mystery to you! You're a bad planner, Roxas! You plan things badly!"

"Shut up, take the keys and scoot over!" Roxas forced the keys into Xinck's hands and pushed him behind the steering wheel.

"I'm getting sick of your physical abuse." The Deviant said, starting the car and adjusting the seat. "I bet I'm just a few Shut Up's away from a Bitch Slap and getting burned with a heated up wire hanger." The engine turned over, Xinck stepped on the gas and the car went forward, down the Axis Mundi.

"Okay, I'm sorry, but-"

"Oh, no, no, no. don't be sorry, be watchful, VIGILANT, even. For I-Will-Have- REVENGENCE!"

"That, uh, that's not a word, is it?"

"No it is not."

* * *

This world was once a lively one, but now it was a desolate place where the sun never shined and the moon didn't rise. It was neither dark nor light and the sky was forever cast in the purple haze of early morning or light twilight, the land was dark and mountainous, it was nearly impossible to distinguish one hill or peak from another.

In the exact center of this empty world was an unnaturally created mountain range, with it's highest, thickest mountain reaching well into the clouds above, and the exact center of which housed an impossibly enormous Castle Fortress, or possibly a Temple. In fact, the Fortress seemed to contain within itself several smaller structures all around it. It was built into the mountain, but also built around something else.

In an office, the woman who wore a mask over her face-the mask itself moving as if it were her true face. Her attire was form-fitting, black and dark blue with a disturbing aura of neon blue billowing off her shoulders and a cloak shielding the rest of her body, sat with her legs up on her desk, reading a comic book. A tall man with dark hair stood in the corner, wearing round sunglasses, a dark green fedora and a matching green trench coat.

"I have to say." The woman with the mask said, "I wish I had a Bankai. I bet it would be better than Ichigo's. Super speed just isn't that interesting to me."

"Personally, _cher." _The man spoke with a slight Cajun accent, but his voice was cool and wicked to listen to. "I like Byakuya's better. Them Cherry flowers are quite the sight, no?" He added with a smile.

The woman gave a slight chuckle. "Baby, you would go for the Cherry Blossoms. I-"

Before the woman in the mask could continue, the door to her office opened and a mysterious figure in a black coat and hood barged in.

"Oh, you're back already?" The woman in the mask asked.

"Yes I'm back!" The figure shouted and pointed a finger at the man at the corner, "No thanks to Baby, who left me there and I almost got my ass kicked!"

"_Moi_?" The man pointed to himself, "Go to Bed! I did nothing of the sort, friend. I played my part, very well, might I add."

"Yes, you cross-dress into an old woman, give The Bastards a book to lead them to Veridis Quo and leave. You were supposed to wait for me after I point them in the right direction!"

"What can I say? I had other things to do." The man shrugged and gave a smile.

"What could you possibly-"

"I have to stop you right there." the woman in the mask said, "You see, I wanted Baby to bring back some fast food. I heard McDonald's now sells 20 Chicken nuggets for $4.99."

"What the-Oh, come on, Masq!" The figure took down his hood, revealing his face and anger. "They almost cut me in half!"

"You've survived worse, I'm sure."

"That's not the point! He left me!"

"Alright, calm down." He voice was calm, but authoritative. She got up and walked around her desk to the mysterious figure. "No that isn't the point, neither is that he left you. The point is The Bastards are on their way and should be on our doorstep in no time at all. We should all be prepared to greet our guests."

The figure scoffed, "Speaking of 'we', where is Princess Sunshine? I haven't had a touch of depression all day because I haven't seen her."

"She's resting, but never mind her."

"Don'tcha think we should get a better name for her, eh?" The man in the corner called Baby asked, "I'm sayin', 'Princess Sunshine' just don't fit."

"Baby." The woman in the mask ordered, "Go down to Dr. Goodbar and tell him I want updates and status reports every thirty minutes."

"I thought he was Dr. Professor?"

"Dr. Goodbar is funnier. Besides, Dr. Goodburgers's part in our plan has almost run it's entire course. He will soon not be needed."

"Then can I get rid of him?" The mysterious figure asked.

The woman in the mask moved over to her window, pale, purple light from sky filled in as she grew closer to it. "You can, but only after we're sure we don't need him anymore. I'll give the order." Then she turned around to face him, a smile on her face, "Until then, feed Neri. I don't think he's eaten today."

* * *

_The World That Never Was_

"Oh, my God! That's foul!" Xigbar gripped his nose.

"That is...that...I don't know what it is!" Luxord said, "There are no words for...this!"

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Demyx chocked.

"Oh, I've seen worse." Saix shot back at all three. "I seem to remember a person by the name of 'Rosie O'Donnell who was much grosser than that. This...this thing, this 'Snooki' is, if anything, a possible relative, at best.

"I heard Rosie O'Donnell wears underwear with dick holes in 'em." Xigbar said.

"Still," Demyx said, "You have to admit, Snooki is pretty gross."

"Yes, obviously." Saix said.

Saix was confident in his plan in having his Golgothan attack and bring back the fugitives, so much so that he didn't mind the other three slacking off and looking up celebrity pictures over a laptop and ridiculing them. Although Saix had no idea how or why this 'Snooki' is considered a celebrity: it would seem they just give that title away these days.

The air popped as a Corridor opened up and Xaldin stepped out.

"Hey, Number III." Xigbar greeted him blindly, "How's it-HOLY SHIT! HAH HAHA HA!"

"Good Lord, man, what happened?" Luxord gasped, barely able to hold back his laughter.

"Ugh!" Demyx chocked, "It's all in his hair and..UGH!"

Xaldin stood in front of them, his face bloodied, bruised and slowly healing. He was, for the most part, covered head to toe in fecal matter, the stench was nigh-overpowering. "Xaldin." Saix started as he stood, "What happened?"

"You." He snarled, trying to hold back his anger, "You summoned that Golga creature, didn't you?"

"Golgothan, actually. Why, did it attack you?"

The Lancer easily closed the gap between him and Saix. Xaldin grabbed Saix by his collar and tried to haul him up, but Saix's feet stayed planted on the ground. "Yes, it attacked all three of us!" Xaldin shouted into the face of an unfazed Saix, "Why didn't you command it to only attack Roxas and Xinck?"

"I informed it to attack the blonde one and the one with black dreads in his hair."

"Xinck doesn't have dreadlocks, those are twists, that's why it attacked me! Why didn't you tell it to attack the white one with blonde hair and the black one with twists?"

"I try not to see race in that way, Xaldin." Saix smugly, yet apathetically added. "The Golgothan attacked you, that was unfortunate, but I assume because you're hear and they aren't that the Demon was unsuccessful?"

"Humph!" Xaldin scoffed, releasing Saix, "I was knocked out, I couldn't move, but I heard things. After they killed it, the authorities came and they ran, screaming something about stealing a car."

"A car? They have wheels?"

"It would seem so." Xaldin brushed past Saix and made for his room, leaving a trail of filth as he went.

"Wait, Xaldin." Saix said, "Where did you confront them? Which world?"

"Springfield."

"Which Springfield?"

"The one where the Simpsons live."

"Ah, yes, of course. Your services are done, go shower. You smell like a barn."

"Ass." Xigbar added. "He smells like Barn Ass."

Then, a thought came to Saix and he called for the Lancer once more. "Xaldin, wait!"

"What now!" The Lancer bellowed, halfway through the door, "As you can see, I've got this stuff in my hair!"

"Just one more question. When you found them, did they say anything, anything at all?"

_How dare he impeded me and my shower. It's leaking into my coat! _Xaldin thought. He said, "No." He went through the doorway leading out of the Gray Area, "Just some dreck about Axel being kidnapped, preposterous, really." And with that, he was gone.

"Kidnapped?" asked Luxord, "Oooh, the plot thickens."

"Like so much Jell-O." Demyx added.

"Enough."Saix snapped, his voice and mood suddenly harder, "Xigbar, Demyx, you're up."

"Finally!" Xigbar yelled, jumping to his feet, his trademarked cocky grin on his face.

"Go to the Springfield where the Simpsons live and start from there." Saix said, "If they have a car, then your best bet is to keep to the road."

"So, we can..?"

"Yes." Saix nodded.

Xigbar's face twitched into a more malicious grin, "I'm gettin' Murcielago."

"No!" Demyx whined, "Let's get Tiburon! I like Tiburon!"

"No! I'm in charge so we're getting the Murcielago!"

"It doesn't matter, just go!" Saix bellowed. At his words, Numbers 9 and 2 opened Corridors of their own and were gone, leaving Saix alone.

"Kidnapped." Saix spat, turning back to the window. "Lea, you careless idiot."

* * *

Murcielago was Xigbar's pride and joy. Took him a lot of trouble to steal it after seeing it in action and after he saw it, he knew it had to be his. Of course after getting it he had to get rid of its original owner, not an easy task. The fact that Xigbar could finally use Murcielago on a mission made him twitch with anticipation. He just couldn't wait to see the look on their faces when he finds them.

A small, hidden Passageway opened up in Nothing's Calls, the only exit and entrance for people who weren't in the Organization. From that passageway, Xigbar's prized black Lamborghini Murcielago screeched out onto the smooth white metal.

In the passenger seat, legs pulled up to his chest and Sitar in lap, Demyx scoffed, "I think we should;ve taken the Tiburon."

"I don't drive Hyundai." Xigbar replied.

"It's a good car!"

"True, it is, but, regrettably, I enjoy the finer things in life and Hyundai isn't one of them."

Demyx scoffed again, "Well, excuse me, Mr. Uptight. Would you like some cavier or champagne? Perhaps a laser beam to scratch your ass from space?"

"Keep talkin' and I'll put you in the trunk!"

"Can I at least pick the radio station?"

"Fine, go ahead. It's XM."

Demyx made a reach for the radio when Xigbar floored the gas pedal, forcefully pushing him into the leather seat. The car zoomed out of Nothing's Call, down the translucent blue pathway and into the Dark City.

"Wait! Wait!" Demyx screamed, reaching for his seat belt, "I'm not protected."

"Seatbelts are for losers, baby!" Xigbar screamed and laughed back, "Time to go Vroom!" He turned a sharp corner, down an alleyway and into an open Corridor of Darkness.

* * *

Next chapter will be the start of the end of this...Arc, I guess you could call it that.

Just give me some time and i'll have it up soon.


	42. Redux Profile I

Alright, this is NOT the next chapter, BUT, since it is taking some time for me to get the next chapter up, I've decided to do something new. From now on, anytime it takes a little longer for me to get up the next chapter, I will post a Character or Redux Profile page. The Redux profile is meant to give a little insight into what each Redux can do, what it looks like, it's limitations and weaknesses. I'll also discuss how I came up with each Redux in detail.

It'll be easy for me to churn one of these out since it only takes an hour or two (three-four if I'm watching TV. What, you think I just sit in a dark room and write this?).

So, here you go

* * *

**Roxas**

**-Archangelus Exitum et Creatio, Lucifer**

-"Reign in the Light and Revel in the Twilight"

-The name is in Latin, loosely translated as "Archangel of Destruction and Creation, The Bringer of Light."

When Roxas activates his Redux, he is consumed in a divine burst of light. Emerging from the light, he dons a form-fitting black suit with matching shoes, gloves and undershirt. He has a golden tie with a shining, silver Nobody sigil in the center. Draped over his shoulders is a blinding white trench coat with a silver outline of a Nobody symbol in the bottom left. In this form, Roxas has a halo, which is actually just his hair smoking a light golden color. Both Keyblades become their respective solid colors (Oblivion is a shimmering purple and black, Oathkeeper is shining white and gold) and fly around him via telekinesis. At his own will, Roxas can convert his trench coat into a pair of large, silver white wings.

-In this form, Roxas is nigh-invincible, super strong and has Supreme command over Holy light. He can create enormous explosive outbursts with his element. He can Create spears, lasers and even solid constructs out of light, he has even demonstrated the power to manipulate Heavenly objects. He can actually Master the Keyblade through his powers as a Nobody, but still isn't technically a Master. His wings also have abilities, they are extremely light despite being tougher than titanium and being very large, he can use them to shield himself and/or others. He can also fire off the the feathers and cause massive damage all around him, but they do grow back.

One side-effect of being in this nigh-omnipotent form is that it makes Roxas noticeably more Arrogant, much like his Redux namesake.

**Powers-**

Superior Speed- Roxas has the power to ride on waves of light, drastically increasing his own reflexes.

Speed of Sound Flight- Roxas's wings allow flight exceeding the speed of sound.

Summoning- Roxas has the ability to summon creatures to fight for him. Mindless, random in appearance and winged, these 'Angels' follow only his orders.

Super strength- Roxas is strong enough in this form to stop a non-Redux attack from Xemnas with a single hand.

Unmatched Lumokinesis- Roxas constantly radiates light in this form, he can even create light or destroy particles of darkness.

**-Attacks-**

**Paradise Lost-** Attacks his opponent with a flurry of punches, totaling 21. His final punch summons a giant, white arm and fist from a portal to decimate his enemy.

**Eyes of St. Lucia**- Turning to the sky, Roxas snaps his fingers and two, eye-shaped portals open and rain down beams of golden light.

**Path of Light**- Allows Roxas to skip from enemy to enemy and attack in a flurry.

**The Moment of Creation**- Causes an immensely devastating, yet small explosion, destroying even the earth Roxas is standing on.

**Grand Cross**- Roxas opens his arms and the sky around him reveals outer space and several Heavenly Bodies (it used to show 9 planets, but..you know) the planets spin around and shrink as the form a cross or spear, then Roxas grabs the construct and hurls it at his enemy.

**Tower of Babel**- Roxas throws both Keyblades to the ground and they become buried up to their respective hilts. As he grabs them, a wide, glowing circle with intricate designs become burned into the ground. He pulls on the Keyblades and flies into the air, pulling out a fully developed, 100 ft+ tower with him, damaging any and all in his way.

**Unending Judgment**- A continuation of Tower of Babel. Roxas raises the tower over his head and slams onto the earth, causing a massive explosion as energy and stone shrapnel shot and damage his enemy.

**Empyrean**- From space, Roxas summons a burst of undeniable light that burns through everything and everyone in its path.

**I Am The Lord of Light**- Opening his eyes, Roxas can fire a highly destructive beam of energy.

**Divine Atonement**- Opens his hands and fires a blast of White Lightning.

**No Mercy For Sins**- Roxas flexes both his wings and fires off each and every last one of his feathers, each one being stronger than Titanium and surprisingly light.

**Reach Forth Your Hand And Conquer**- Roxas bows to one knee and appears to be chanting. A forcefield of lasers rotates around him. Appearing above the heads of his opponents is a Godlike hand, draped in living flame and holy light. The hand grabs his enemy and slowly brings it into the clouds above. The resulting outburst of power will either incinerate the enemy or cause near-death damage.

**Roxas the Arrogant- **A battle stance. Floating a few inches in the air, hands in pockets, Roxas lets Oblivion and Oathkeeper telekinetically fight for him. Their attack power is only at the Roxas's pre-Redux level.

**Rapture Fist**- A quick finisher. A blinding white light will envelope Roxas's right fist, he grabs his enemy and the light expands until both Roxas and his opponent are consumed by it. Several black flashes of energy can be seen and when the light fades, the enemy is dead. This attack will kill any enemy no matter how strong they are, as long as Roxas can grab ahold of them.

**Weakness-**

Roxas's powers, his defense and offense, his intelligence and overall presence are tremendously increased. Finding an opening to do damage would be truly difficult, so the best way to do enough damage is to trick him. In this form he is Arrogant and his Hubris could be used to his enemy's advantage. But he is smart and, if not careful, he will catch on quickly.

While he is almost invulnerable, his invulnerability has it's limits. He has a small glow over his body that absorbs most damage, but if too much damage is taken, the shield can fail and Roxas is vulnerable.

* * *

Originally, I thought I would have Roxas wearing a blue and gold armor with a blue cape, but...you know, come on. What is that? I knew I didn't want Roxas just to have wings and wearing a toga, or whatever the hell Angels wear, so instead, I took the appearance of his Redux from an Angel in a show called "Supernatural". On that show, there is an angel named Castiel who is always wearing a suit and trench coat and as soon as I saw that, it hit me that that could be Roxas. As for the name, I knew that I wanted it to say Lucifer, since it means Bringer of Light. As for the Creation and Destruction parts, I just thought they sounded right together.


	43. Get Your Kicks On Route 6-6-6

This took forever because I was stuck in the planning stage and I had to cut parts out. This was going to be a bit longer, but I thought the fight took up too much of the chapter. So, look forward to the next one ( which will be shorter). Also, contrary to popular belief, I am not just making this all up as I go along, I actually have all of this planned out, the only problem is that I have the habit of including TOO much detail and confusing everyone. I'm trying to work on that.

Oh! Another thing, I have a NEW picture of Xinck up. I drew it in thirty minutes at Three in the morning after having two cups of coffee (surprisngly, I was still tired) Go to my profile for the link. Its a much better picture, compared to the last two. I'm also thinking of drawing pictures of Reduxes just for the hell of it...

Can't think of anythingelseto blab on about right now, so...yeah. I don't Own anything.

* * *

Axel wasn't Axel and Xinck wasn't Xinck. These people before him were not the people who he looked up to and cared for. They sounded like them, had the same basic body shape, but they weren't them. The man who Roxas knew should have been Axel stood with his hood partially covering his head, but his hair and face was exposed. His silver/white hair was messy, his ember eyes shined like pyres and the symbol of the Organization was a large tattoo on the side of his face. Dangling from his neck was a silver chain with a crown pendant on the bottom. His eyes were cold and focused with death as he stared with an unending hatred at the one who looked of Xinck.

He was cowering, his back against the stone wall of the catacombs they were in. His hood was off, exposing himself. Xinck had blonde hair, one blue eye, the other eye being his normal black and white one. Underneath both eyes were inverted, purple triangle marks, like the real Axel's.

Roxas couldn't speak, only watch. He wanted to scream at them both, cry out and ask what were they doing and why, but he opened his mouth and nothing came out.

The man who looked like Axel raised a hand and snapped his fingers, the man who looked like Xinck had his eyes burst into flames, as well as his legs. He screamed and wailed and in a high pitch, his eyes melted and he fell to the floor on all fours.

"I can see you now, and what I see is such a small, aberrant little nothing. " Axel said.

Recovering, eyes and leg skin healed and glaring daggers at Axel, Xinck spat, "You goddamn waste of space. YOU ALWAYS LOOK DOWN ON ME!"

"Shut your mouth." Axel said in a voice that wasn't his. He snapped again, Xinck exploded on the spot in a large inferno. He was thrown back against the wall, his skin disappeared, he wailed and moaned as the fires subsided. He lay against the wall, parts of his skull and inner muscles showing as his fully exposed eyeballs swirled in his head. He began to heal.

"You won't get the chance." Axel snapped again, consuming Xinck in a lasting red blaze. He wailed and screamed and thrashed about in the flames. He was nothing but a silhouette with red eyes, his limbs flailing about in every direction, his cries easily dwarfing the sound of the flames. Axel didn't let up, he snapped with his left, he snapped with his right, the flames grew bigger and hotter until they were nothing but a blinding yellow sun. Axel, blinded with a rage Roxas had never seen, growled as his eyes became lighted with the reflected fires before him.

Axel stopped, but for only a moment and the flames shrank only a little. Xinck's wailing stopped and his image disappeared. He was still there, Axel knew it. "People like you,Xinck, feed off the despair, envy and hatred of others. And when you get one ounce of Hope, you die inside when it's ripped away from you. You are the weak, wretched and ugly coward I always knew you were."

"And you?" Xinck's voice echoed from the flames, his body slow to regenerating itself, "You are no better than me! Traitor, fraud, you feed off of the same misery as I do! The only difference is that I can admit it. You're lucky that's all, you can hide it better than I can." The fires began to rustle and disintegrate. "So..you'll Suffer just like ME! IN HELL!" Xinck jumped from the flames, his face, torso and lower body only half healed. Swords in hands, he entered Axel's chest, producing a geyser of blood, soaking them both. Axel screamed and grunted as Xinck drove each blade deeper and deeper into his body. Xinck drew close to Axel, Axel raised a flaming palm and pressed it like a hot iron against Xinck's face.

Beneath them, a smoldering circle of red and black flames wrapped around them like tentacles. These flames were created by neither of them, but were summoned by Xinck. His face was becoming nothing more than a blackened skull, scorched skin and burning muscles. Even through the pain, he smiled at Axel's pain as they sank into the inferno. "Hell will have no surprises for me, but you..."

This was a dream, it had to be. Roxas ran those words through his mind over and over again. He knew it was a dream, but he couldn't do anything but scream helplessly, watching as his two friends killed each other and were being burned alive as they fell into hell. He watched them struggle with each other, heard their screams in his head, but in his ears, all he heard was the real Xinck's voice as an echo.

"_...How much turn signal do I need to cut across eight lane highway?...None? I turn now. Good luck everybody else!"_

Roxas, in the passenger seat of a stolen station wagon, was awakened by the force of the vehicle veering far right and Xinck's mad cackling. Roxas was thrust against the windshield, bashing his head against it, he heard the sound of tires squealing, cars tumbling over and metal grinding against the highway.

"Hey!" Xinck shouted out the driver side window, "We should exchange insurance information! I have none."

"Xinck!" Roxas recovered as the car straightened out on the road.

"Oh, you're awake."

"What are you doing?"

"Driving."

"You just caused a wreck!"

"And you're surprised _why?_ I don't have a license, I have no formal driving education, we stole this car, AND we have no insurance. Are you that surprised that I caused a wreck?"

"...I..I guess not, no." Roxas settled down and leaned against the side door and peered out to the road. He wasn't sure how far they had gone, but they weren't in Springfield anymore, evidenced by the translucent, neon blue line that guided them on their way: The Axis Mundi. At least, Roxas thought, they were getting closer to Axel. That was all that mattered. But that dream, Axel, Xinck, the fighting, the way they looked, the burnings...

He sighed listlessly and ran a hand over his face, "There has to be something wrong with me..."

"Oh?" Xinck asked. "My dementia finally rubbing off on ya, eh?"

"No, it's not that. I had this terrible dream..."

"Another Gorillaz dream? Oh! Was it "Stylo" this time? I love "Stylo"!"

"No, no. There wasn't any singing. It was just you and Axel, fighting, killing each other, only you didn't look like yourselves."

"Sounds exceedingly boring."

"Hey! I'm being serious! I'm having these dreams and I have no idea why!"

"Is it possible that that particular dream was just a result of eating at that crappy restaurant?"

"No..."

"Or maybe it was a stress dream. You haven't had any sleep since we left the Underworld and you found out about Axel. Obviously, your anxiety-stricken mind cooked up an interesting little show for you."

"What if it meant something? Don't dreams have meanings?"

"Yes." Xinck answered. "And No. Maybe, but wouldn't you rather solve one problem at a time? You don't want to be cursed with an overabundance-OH! Look at this lady on her cellphone!" Xinck swerved into the left lane, floored the accelerator and drove up the offending car.. He rolled down Roxas's window and screamed at the top of his lungs."You drive like an old bitch!" He sped off.

The elderly woman in the car presented her middle finger.

"I think she's trying to point at you or something." Roxas said, looking back.

"_Nein_, she's just flipping me off. God, I love driving." Xinck did not have a license to drive, but he had been a getaway driver for Xigbar a few times and subsequently knew how to drive a vehicle. He was known for going through yellow lights, not letting pedestrians go first, and he had never heard of the phrase 'right of way'. His outlook on driving was 'I'm the one driving the big, metal death machine, now get the hell out of my way.'

"Hey, Roxas, wanna drive?"

"But I do-"

"It's easy. I'll show you." Xinck slowed and and veered onto the left shoulder of the highway. "Okay, get into my seat." He said, unbuckling his seat belt, leaving the car to re-enter on the passenger side. Roxas obeyed and scooted into the driver's seat as Xinck sat in the passenger seat. "Alright, so the car's already on and just have to get back on the road. That pedal is for stopping and that one is for going faster, yeah, like that. You're doing good." The car veered onto the highway at Roxas's command, starting out slow.

"Wow, this is great!" Roxas laughed. His eyes looking from the road to Xinck and back again, then out the window and behind him.

"Keep your eyes on the road!" Xinck warned. "Okay, that lever there turns on your turn signals. Don't hit any cars and you won't draw attention to yourself. Now, we just have to-"

"Floor it?"

"No. We're on the Axis, all you gotta do is-"

"Floor it?"

"No! Just follow the blue line and-"

"Gonna floor it."

"Roxas, listen to me, if you floor it, I swear I'll screa-"

"Flooring it." His foot nearly broke through the bottom of the car. All that was heard was Roxas excited shouting, Xinck's high-pitched squeals and the screeching of the tires of the car as it zoomed forward.

* * *

"Oh, shit!" Xigbar cursed, jerking on the steering wheel of the stolen Lamborghini Murcielago. He and Demyx had been driving down the highway, on the trail of Roxas and Xinck.

"Go left, go left, go left!" Demyx shouted. A large crash up ahead caused by a driver switching multiple lanes without signaling made Xigbar swerve left to avoid it, driving up on the shoulder. They passed twisted metal and small fires that occupied a large portion of the road. Some of the destroyed vehicles held on to the mangled bodies of their occupants, but most of the people seemed to be alive.

"Whoa." Demyx marveled from the window. "Who do you think made all of this?"

"Who do you think?" Xigbar fired back, driving back onto the road and rejoining traffic.

"Well, how're we gonna find 'em?"

"We'll just have to-"

"There they are!" Demyx nearly jumped out of his seat. He pointed far up ahead, a station wagon had stopped on the left side of the road and Demyx saw the Fourteenth stepping into the passenger side. The car slowly started up again.

"Let's go, take the wheel." Xigbar ordered. Demyx leaned over and steered the car while Xigbar rolled the window down, the winds whipping around his ponytail. He summoned a single Arrowgun and began to take aim when the station wagon ahead smoked and screeched as it fired down the road, out of Xigbar's aim. "Dammit!" He cursed, sliding back into the car and taking the wheel.

"Follow 'em!" Demyx said.

"Well, duh!"

* * *

"You know," Roxas started, after his speed was reduced to normal. "Axel told me that in some worlds people drive on the _left _side of the road. Is that true?"

"Yes." Xinck said, adding,"Those people are wrong and will be judged accordingly."

"Mmm.." Roxas mimed. He kept his eyes on the road and watched the traffic around him also while keeping an eye on the blue line that would lead them to where ever it was they were going. All the while, Xinck put his shoes up on the dashboard and leaned back while he examined his gloved hands.

"Hey." He asked, "You ever wonder why we're all, like, wearing gloves?"

"Oh, that. It's because-" An engine revved to life and a car rear-ended their station wagon. Xinck screamed, Roxas swerved to regain control as the back of the car went left and the front went right. "Gah! What happened?"

"Damn female drivers!" Xinck yelled.

"What hit us!"

Roxas was quickly presented with his answer. Rolling up on his left was a black sports car, both it's windows rolled down. "Hey, Roxas! Hey, Xinck!" Demyx shouted over the wind.

"Hey, pull over!" Xigbar shouted, his cocky grin plastered on his face, "Let me see your driver's license!" He called one Arrowgun and unloaded a barrage of crimson bullets into their car.

"Agh!" Roxas jerked on the wheel, sending the car right and into a pickup truck.

"Damn female drivers!" Xinck shouted. The station wagon swerved out of control, turned over and bounced along the pavement, nearly taking out two cars in the process. Roxas and Xinck were tossed around like trash inside the car until it came to a stop on all four wheels near a rest area on the side of the road.

Xigbar, after some clever maneuvering through traffic, parked his car on the side of the road to confirm the kill. He parked the car on the side of the road, he and Demyx hopped out and made their way to the ruined station wagon. Xigbar peered into the driver's side window and tapped the glass with the tip of his weapon. "Ha ha ha ha! What's up now, bitches!" Roxas had been tossed around in the car and laid jammed up against Xinck, who wore his seat belt and hadn't moved. "Open the door!" Xigbar yelled.

Barely conscious, Roxas took his foot and kicked the door-lock button. "Nuh-uh."

"Hey!"

"Mm-mm." Roxas shook his head.

"Open this door right now!"

"I said 'Mm-mm'."

"You better open this-"

"Nuh-uh."

"Gah!" Xigbar opened fire on the window, scattering shards into the car. He reached in and grabbed Roxas by the ankle and pulled him out. Demyx on the other side opened the door, undid Xinck's seat belt and began pulling him out. Xinck was dazed and a little confused, he didn't put up a fight when Demyx dragged him across the grass to sit him next to Roxas.

There they sat on their knees, backs to the road, wobbling back and forth, side to side. Their faces were bruised from rattling around in the car during the crash, but that made no difference to Xigbar. As he paced in front of them, left to right, one Arrowgun in hand, he thought of how easy it was to catch them. The Nobodies, Luxord, and even Xaldin, a born fighter, couldn't catch them and now here they were at Xigbar's feet. And all he had to do was hit them with a car.

Xigbar clicked his tongue. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen!"

"Fallen hard!" Demyx added, for once in his life standing perfectly still behind Xigbar.

"Can't wait till X-face gets a load of this. _I _succeeded where everyone else failed. How great am I, really?"

"Why don't you just let us go?" Roxas asked, slowly recovering. "Xigbar, we know how to find Axel! We were on our way to him and-"

"Bup!" No.2 silenced the younger Nobody. "Don't care, kitten. All I know is, since you left Heart quota's gone down and that's bad for our Orgy."

At that simple wording, the Deviant perked up and said, "I have a joke for that."

"Keep it to yourself, skulls." Xigbar ordered, waving the gun in his face. While Xigbar had his back turned, Demyx leaned down to Xinck and whispered, "You can tell me later."

"Yeah, I'll do that." Xinck replied with a sarcastic roll of the eyes.

"Demyx." Xigbar called the Melodious Nocturne over to him, leaving the fugitives by themselves.

"Alright! So, yeah, we caught 'em, now what?" Demyx asked loudly.

"Shhh!" Xigbar hug an arm over Demyx's shoulder and they leaned down, Xigbar spoke in a hushed tone. "We're gonna hold them for ransom."

"What? How? Why?"

"If we-"

"Who?"

"If we-"

"Huh?" With that, Xigbar delivered a smack to the back of Demyx's head. "Ow, man, that hurt!"

"Didn't I tell you being stupid was gonna start getting painful? Anyway, haven't you noticed that ever since they left, Saix hasn't assigned us any good missions?"

"Define 'Good Mission' for me."

"Missions where we can get rid of Heartless and collect munny or eliminate people and collect money. I've been losing a lot of cash ever since they left and I've got bills to pay!"

"Munny...Money...Cash...you mean Currency, right?"

Xigbar's single eye twitched 10 times in 2 seconds. Sometimes dealing with Demyx was very trying and rarely worth the effort, other times Demyx was entertaining to a degree. But once, Xigbar had asked Saix why he was in the Organization and his answer was that Demyx excelled at Recon. Then, Xigbar asked Xemnas the same question, and he answered that Demyx was the only one who knew how to fix and maintain the water heater. So, in short, Xigbar conceded on the fact that he liked hot water when he bathed.

"Yeah, kid, it's currency." Xigbar answered.

"What kinda bills do you pay anyway?"

"Do you see that car I stole?" Xigbar motioned toward the black Lamborghini Murcielago on the road.

"You stole it, why are you paying for it?" Demyx asked.

"Would you believe me if I told you that when I stole the car I also accidentally stole all the paperwork?"

"That's...kinda dumb." Demyx said. Before Xigbar could reply, Demyx delivered a smack to the back of his head. "Didn't I say that being dumb was gonna start getting painful?" He added with a smile.

While Numbers II and IX discussed their ransom plot, Roxas finally recovered from the wreck and was already thinking of the best to escape. "We could just run for it, it's not like we're tied up."

Xinck replied, "I'm not giving Xigbar the opportunity to shoot me in the butt. Oh-I mean 'ass'."

"You always do that. You can't go five minutes without saying a bad word."

"Yes I can, dammit!"

"Mm-mm." Roxas replied with a soft smile.

Xinck cleared his throat and looked away,"...What's done is done, let's be solution-oriented."

"Working on it." The Key of Destiny took a goof look around. He saw Demyx and Xigbar conferring a few feet ahead of them, too wrapped up in their talk to notice anything else. At first, Roxas thought of attacking them directly, but that might take too long if they decided to take it seriously. They had to lose them, but how?

Coming down the highway and luckily catching Roxas's eye was a large tank truck, barreling down the road with the words SHELL printed on it's oil cylinder.

"Idea!"

"Huh?" Xinck asked. "You say something, Roxas?" Before Xinck received a worded answer, Roxas stood up triumphantly and shouted.

"Later!" With that, Roxas reached down, grabbed Xinck by his hood and with all his muster lifted the Deviant into the air then threw him onto the top of the passing road tanker. Roxas followed, jumping backwards and landing next to Xinck on his stomach.

"Hey!" Xigbar panicked. "Hey, get back here, goddammit!" He turned on Demyx, "Why didn't you tie them up!"

"I didn't have any rope." He shrugged.

"You can't make magical ropes!"

Demyx shrugged. "Guess not."

"JUSTGETTHEFUCKINTHECAR!"! Xigbar shouted, expelling saliva as he yelled. He and Demyx ran to the parked vehicle. Demyx slid into the passenger seat and Xigbar performed a Dukes of Hazard-esque slide over the hood and into the driver's seat. Ignition started, pedal to the floor, they followed the road tanker.

Demyx chanted, "Go! Go! Go! GO!"

* * *

Driving any vehicle is dangerous, being behind a large machine that has the potential to explode and being in front of a a tank of highly flammable liquid. Of course, car companies try to downplay those features and it is generally believed to be safe inside the vehicle. So one could easily imagine the dangerous situation one would be in if someone were to stand on a speeding cylindrical vehicle filled with highly flammable liquid zooming down the highway at 96 kilometers an hour.

"If we weren't going to die, I'd kill you myself!" Xinck shouted over the rushing winds as he tried to stand up next to Roxas on the oil truck.

"Oh, come on! All I did was think like you!" Roxas reached down and helped to pull Xinck to his feet.

"And this is the conclusion you reached!"

"Yeah, pretty much." He replied with a shrug.

"Oh, my god." Xinck groaned. "Axel's gonna stick his foot so far up my ass..."

"No He-well, he might if he's in a bad mood, but I wouldn't worry too much about it." Red Bullets whizzed past their heads, penetrating the air and ricocheting as the hit the metal of the truck. "But first." Roxas said, blades in hands. "We deal with them."

Xigbar's black car followed the oil truck with matching speed. The Freeshooter hung out the driver's side window and fired a barrage of bullets at the top of the oil truck. Demyx was reaching over and holding onto the wheel. "Dammit!" Xigbar cursed, slipping back into the car, "I can't get 'em. The angle's off and they're too high."

"Can't you just make a wormhole-portal thingy?"

"No. I can't unless I can actually see where it's going. It's a sucky drawback, but there it is."

"So what are we gonna do?" Demyx asked. Up on the top of the truck, the two saw Roxas waving at them with a small, sheepish grin and Xinck attempting to lower his pants in an attempt to moon them.

Xigbar scoffed with disgust. "Showing off his pale, yellow ass..."

"Ew!" Demyx groaned.

"Take the Wheel!" Xigbar howled and in a moment he was gone with a _pop! _He reappeared on the hood of the now out of control car. Demyx screamed with the skill of a small girl as he jumped over to the Driver's seat, punched the accelerator and took over the wheel. Xigbar stooped on the car hood, his ponytail whipping about him and tapping the windshield as the winds blew against the car. He turned his head, smiled at Demyx, then turned and disappeared again, reappearing on the top of the oil truck.

"Well, well, well." Xinck said, weapons in hand, "Xigbar, darling, it's been ages. How _do _you do?"

"Cut the crap, Xinck." Xigbar replied, both Guns appearing in hand. "Usually I can spare a cackle or two for whatever shit that comes from your head hole, but not today."

"Xigbar, just leave us alone!" Roxas said. "It's obvious the Organization isn't going to help find Axel so we're doing it ourselves!"

"That's fine!" Xigbar shouted. "That's all fine, go and find Axel, bring him back! Hell, he's one of the only entertaining people in that damn Castle. Or, don't bring him back, more Kingdom Hearts for me. But, _WE _need _YOU, _you gotta come back, kid. We're not getting anymore hearts and that's putting a thorn in a lot of sides. You wanna find Axel, fine, but do it on your own time."

"I'm not coming back until I find Axel!"

"Then I guess you're never gonna find him, kitten!"

"I have an odd feeling of wanting to 'meow' right now." Xinck said, but his comment went ignored as Xigbar engaged them. He fired upon them and disappeared after the assault. Roxas and Xinck blocked and reflected the bullets around them. Xigbar reappeared behind them, guns aimed at their bodies and fired. They dodged and twisted around the bullets and returned with strikes of their own, but Xigbar jumped and flipped around to Roxas and aimed at his face. He fired and missed, the bullets missing Roxas and flying past Xinck. A beam of light fired down to cut through Xigbar, but he moved away and the laser faded into nothing. Xigbar disappeared again, this time behind Roxas, he fired again but Roxas ripped apart each bullet with swift sword strikes, leaving Xigbar open. Roxas rushed for his front and Xinck for his back, Xigbar disappeared and their swords collided with each other. Roxas wasn't surprised, he knew how Xigbar fought and how tough he was despite preferring to keep his distance between him and his enemy. Taking on two people at the same time didn't deter him at all, if anything it made him even more excited knowing he had more targets to choose from.

"Whoa-ho! Almost got me!" Xigbar called from farther down the truck.

"Stop running away!" Roxas shouted. Xigbar only smiled. "I'm gonna wipe that smirk off your face!"

Xigbar laughed, nearly crouching over and slapping his knee. "Oh, man, that look on your face! It's always that same look!"

A growl escaped Roxas's throat. He hated Xigbar's random taunts, especially that one. He began to charge for the Freeshooter, but was stopped by Xinck. "Don't try to stop-"

"Blah!" Xinck threw open his mouth and a great black blast erupted forth, headed for Xigbar and caught him off guard.

"Holy shit!" Xigbar panicked, throwing up his guns to block. The blast collided with his makeshift shield, sending him back along the truck. Xinck closed his mouth, coughed and the blast ceased. "Ugh." Xigbar said. "Damn, dude."

"I know, right! I just learned that a few days ago!" Xinck said.

"Hey, guys!" Demyx shouted from behind Roxas and Xinck. The two shouted from shock and jumped away, landing in the center between Xigbar and Demyx. "What, you two act like you've seen a ghost."

"Demyx!" Xigbar shouted."What're you doing?"

"Helping you. You looked like you needed help." As if on cue, he called his Sitar into his hand. "Normally, you know, I wouldn't volunteer for something like this but-"

"What about my car!"

"Oh, don't worry about it." Demyx said, pointing behind him, "I just-" All four heads turned to see the black Lamborghini Murcielago spin out of control, collide with a minivan and tumble away down the highway where it rammed into several other cars and exploded in a burst of gas and fire.

"Uh-do wha-.." Xigbar stammered, his single eye consuming his yellow pupil as it shrunk. "My precious."

"Ha ha ah!" Roxas laughed. "That's what you get!"

"Oh. "Xinck groaned, "_Mala Suerte_, _Shigubaru-san_. HA!"

"Raaaggh!" Xigbar charged, not just for Roxas and Xinck, but Demyx as well. Demyx assumed it was two on two and charge them from behind. Roxas and Xinck turned back to back, Xinck on Demyx and Roxas and Xigbar. Xigbar attacked indiscriminately, firing at and around Roxas in an attempt to hit Xinck and Demyx. Xigbar jumped over Roxas and levitated horizontally and fired straight down, Roxas backflipped down the oil truck and out of the way as the bullets noticeably dented the hull of the oil truck before disappearing. Xigbar followed after Roxas, running for him, firing and keeping his distance. On the other side, Xinck easily gained the upper hand on Demyx. Number IX was at a disadvantage, he couldn't pull the water from the air to make his clones because the air around him was moving too fast, he knew he needed a stable liquid source if he wanted to fight back.

Xinck bit him right on the shoulder.

"AH-YA-YA-YA-YA! Get off! Get off! Get Off!" Demyx's Sitar arm was wagging with Xinck at the shoulder, holding on for dear life. "Oh! Ew! He's licking me!" With all his might, Demyx pulled on the closest liquid source he could feel. Piercing through the metal of the truck, a small, but powerful torrent of gasoline shot for Xinck and pushed him away from Demyx.

"Hey!" Xinck protested, picking himself up, "There's a gas shortage! Until there's peace in the Middle East-"

Demyx cracked a smile and strummed his sitar. "Dance, Gasoline, Dance!" Out of the small hole he had created, streams of gas jumped out and readily formed into translucent musical notes, jumping and dancing around him.

"Wait, Demyx, don't!"

"What? Why?" Demyx asked. Just behind him, Roxas dodged more bullets from Xigbar that sailed past him, past Demyx and struck the gasoline Demyx had summoned, igniting it.

"Uh-oh." Demyx said.

"Oh, no." Roxas said.

"Crap." Xigbar said.

"Crap." Xinck said.

The explosion instantly destroyed the Oil truck, splitting it in half as it was consumed in orange flame. The surrounding cars turned over and swerved from the shockwave as the ground underneath tore and shook with the force of the explosion. Four smoky bodies were thrust from the explosion. Roxas and Xigbar flew together, far ahead of the destroyed oil truck and landed on two separate cars. Roxas, with a thud, hit the top of a white Double-Decker RV. The people inside would say it's just a dead bird.

"Oh!" Roxas pushed himself up and coughed. He bruised his shoulder when he hit the RV. He sat up, let the wound heal and tried to get a look at where he was. He was still on the Axis, the RV was following the same road, for how long he didn't know. He didn't see Xinck anywhere, but he was sure he was fine. He's _always _fine.

Roxas heard the piercing of the air and rolled out of the way of four red bullets. He got onto his feet, recalled his Keyblades and deflected another strike. Over in the far left lane, Xigbar stood on a minivan, his black coat singed and smoky from the explosion. "Hey, Rox." He called with a salute and opened fire. Roxas dodged, reflected every bullet that came his way, but he and Xigbar he wouldn't be able to keep it up. He needed to go on the offensive. Gripping Oblivion, Roxas hurled it across the road at Xigbar, aiming for his leg.. Xigbar jumped and dodged the strike, the Keyblade struck the car and carved deeply into the metal before it returned to Roxas's hand. He prepared for another strike when he noticed the people in the car panicking. A family of four, a father, mother, two kids in the back seat. They were trying to drive away, but the RV Roxas was on was unintentionally keeping up. They couldn't escape, Xigbar knew it and used it to his advantage. He knew Roxas wouldn't attack if people were in the way.

Xigbar tapped the roof of the car with his foot and smiled. He was baiting Roxas.

"Fine!" Roxas called. He readied himself, took a step back then jumped, using his powers to gain height. He sailed through the air, kicking his feet as if wanting to fly.

"Dumbass." Xigbar smirked taking aim at Roxas's open chest. Three bullets forced him back, knocking him off balance. He flew back, hit the side of the RV and fell to the road.

Elsewhere, after the explosion propelled them back a few yards, Demyx battled Xinck in a losing battle. Demyx, despite trying his hardest, was unable to overcome the ferocity, strength and speed of the Fourteenth. The Melodious Nocturne had to rely on magic and risky Sitar strikes to fight, since his natural ability to command water was out of his reach. Even though the Reconnaissance specialist fought valiantly, he could not overcome the Deviant.

"AGGGH! Xinck! Get off me!" Demyx shouted, pinned down underneath the Deviant's behind.

"No! Say 'Uncle'!" Xinck hopped up some then plopped back down on Demyx's back.

"Gaaahh!" Demyx screamed, his voice forced into a high pitch. "Okay! Okay! Uncle!"

"HA HA HA HA! Now say, 'Coral Ann, don't go into the light!'."

And Demyx, in his high voice, "'Coral Ann, don't go into the light!' Now get your fat ass off me!" Demyx struggled between Xinck and a rolling black stretch Hummer. Unlike Xigbar and Roxas, the blast hadn't forced them away too far, luckily the highway was 8 lanes on either side so when the blast occurred, not many cars stopped to stare at the flames or offer assistance.

Assistance which Demyx could use. He struggled, kicked and writhed underneath Xinck but he wouldn't give an inch as he ground his backside into Demyx's spine. Demyx was so desperate for a miracle:another explosion, a meteor from the sky, a car crash or a gun, anything!

Unbeknownst to Xinck, the stretch Hummer was nearing an overpass whose height limit was 12 feet. Xinck's sitting height went to 14 feet.

"Yes, that's it! Feel my butt, Demyx, feel it!" Xinck bounced up and down on Demyx's back, hearing and feeling the creaking of bones.

"AGGHHH!"

"HA HA! Feel my-" The overpass cut him off and smashed into the back of his head at 60 miles an hour, hurling him off Demyx and bashing his front into the hard metal of the car roof. He tumbled and rolled along the stretch Hummer, bleeding and screaming and nearly fell over the end, but luckily grabbed the edge at the last second. He hung there, leaking from the back of his head a large amount of blood as his body swayed left and right with the sway of the Hummer.

As the Hummer left the overpass, Demyx got up to greet Xinck.

"Well, well, well, looks like the shoe's on the other foot." Demyx said, stepping on Xinck's hand.

Xinck moaned and feigned a chuckle. "He he, oh, Demi-kun, come on. You know I was just kidding, right?"

"I think you broke one of my ribs!" He stomped on Xinck's hand and squished them underneath his boot.

"Arrrgh! _Ayudame, Por Favor!_"

"Sorry. I don't speak Italian!" Demyx raised his foot and smashed both of Xinck's hands, launching him off the Hummer and down into the road. He smashed into the pavement, bounced into the air and ricocheted off the windshield of another vehicle, all the while screaming in German.

"_Ich hasse dich! Arschloch, verpiss dich!"_

"Sorry." Demyx called out. "I don't speak Hawaiian!"

Roxas was only hit with one car before he forced his body to the side of the road. The car in question and several cars who saw him get hit stopped to assist him, even though he was fine. Before he knew what to do, he was surrounded by cars and people concerned for his well-being.

"Oh my goodness!" A middle-aged soccer-mom-type woman that rammed into him ran over to him, confused and frightened out of her mind. Her children watched from the car as she came to him. "Oh, thank God you're okay! Are you okay? Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you, you came out of nowhere. What are you doing in the middle of the highway? Where are your parents? Are you okay? Do you need to call someone? Do you need to sit down? Oh, sit down, please sit down, your bleeding!"

Roxas scratched his head. He was a bit dazed, unable to process anything the people around him said. His forehead was bleeding slightly.

"Mom, is he okay?" One of the soccer-mom's children poked her head out of the window.

"Cynthia, get back in the car! Mommy's handling it! No, actually, get my phone, we have to call someone!"

"Uhhh..." Roxas moaned, swaying back and forth.

"Oh, hey, I saw EVERYTHING!" A man pulled up to them in a very nice car from the road and jumped out as it came to a halt. He made his way to Roxas, completely ignoring the woman. "I'm an attorney and we can sue the pant's off this woman. Now, we'll have to talk to your parents and-"

"Hey!" The woman said.

"Ugh, I don't...have parents..." Roxas said.

"Oh, well, your legal guardian, perhaps? Or your orphanage, What's it called?"

"Ugh...Axel...Xemnas...Xinck.."

Ashel Lemons Sink Orphanage? Never heard of it."

"Hey, you can't sue me!" The woman interjected, "He came out of nowhere! Sue the orphanage for chile endangerment!"

"Mommy, is everything alright?"

"Get back in the car, Cynthia!"

"Ugh..."Roxas moaned again.

The attorney chimed in, "Yes, the guilty _always _say they came out of nowhere. We both know you had ample amount of time to swerve out of the way, or perhaps you had malicious intent for this young boy? We're gonna sue you for attempted vehicular manslaughter!"

"Oh, you lawyers make me sick! I have half a mind to get my son out here to kick your ass! He's 6'3, 230 pounds _and _on the varsity football and soccer teams!"

"Is that a threat?"

"Jeremy, get out of the Car!"

"Ugh.." Roxas moaned once more. Finally, his internal head wound healed and his bleeding subsided. He finally took in the two people screaming at each other, but thought nothing of it. He still needed to take care of Xigbar. He casually walked away from the two people and walked onto the highway with no care.

"Hey, stop! What're you doing!"

"Stop! That's dangerous!"

Roxas walked right into the middle lane, the ongoing traffic swerving to avoid him, honking and cursing at him from their open windows. Roxas payed them no mind to them, their cars or the wind whipping about his hair, his clothes. He let everything sink into the background of his mind as he closed his eyes and concentrated on his breath. He placed one leg behind and one in front, taking a slight running stance. In his mind he visualized his power, his Light, moving at it's highest speed then his body being taken by it, forced into whatever direction he chose. He felt his body twitch and vibrate in response. He was ready.

One step forward and everything around him seemed to melt into a blur. He moved past dozens of cars in seconds, pumping his legs, moving them one in front of the other. He heard the cars honking and beeping, but ignored them. He jumped over a Chrysler, flew over a Ford and when he came to an 18-wheeler, he dove under it, slowed down and let the truck move over him, when he exited on the other side, he sped up and it was all a blur once again.

Up ahead, he saw Xigbar in slow motion, picking his teeth with the point of his gun. He stood on top of the same car, minding his business. Roxas jumped and sailed over three speeding cars. He clenched his fist, connecting it with Xigbar's chin.

"Ah! Dammit! What the hell?" Xigbar screamed, taken aback by the tiny fist to his face. He looked down to see Roxas glaring up at him. "Damn!" The Freeshooter readied to fire when Roxas ran behind him and struck him against his back with Oblivion and Oathkeeper, forming a bloody X shape in Xigbar's skin.

"GAHHHH!" Xigbar roared, stumbling to his knees.

"I told you I'd wipe that smirk off your face!" Roxas said.

"You fucker!" Xigbar snapped back, his arrogant and proud smirk gone and replaced with a furious one. "You never could take a joke, could you!"

"Oh, I can take a joke." Roxas said, "Wanna hear one? How does Dr. Suess answer 'Why does the chicken cross the road?'"

"Uh...I-I don't know."

" 'Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, why he crossed it, I've not been told!'"

Xigbar tried to hold it in, but he found himself laughing, cracking a smirk as he did, "Okay. That was pretty funny." With a gesture, Xigbar's eyes glowed and his smirk faded, "Well, maybe you'll like my joke !" Arms in hand, his presence shining off his guns, Xigbar hollered, "Declare! Judge! And Shoot 'em Dead! _**Tyr**_-"

"No good!" Roxas delivered a kick to Xigbar's chest, hurling him off the car and into the road. Xigbar had no time between stopping his Redux and teleporting to safety. Instead of feeling the pavement scrape against his back, he collided with a metal bar, the sound of a wild engine ringing in his ear.

"Hey, Xigbar!" Demyx called, revving a stolen motorcycle. Xigbar sat on the handlebars, looking back at Demyx, confused, but only for a second.

"What-? How did you get this?" He yelled over the roar of the engine.

"I borrowed it! Don't worry, I told 'em I'd bring it back!"

"What about Xinck?"

"I killed him!"

"You what?" Roxas yelled at them from atop the car ahead.

"Scoot back!" Xigbar ordered. Using some quick maneuvers, Xigbar took over the motorcycle, pushed Demyx to the back and summoned both Arrowguns, tossing one to Demyx. "Shoot to kill, Demyx, shoot to kill!"

"Alright! Finally!" The Nocturne grabbed the Gun and unloaded it on Roxas, firing with one hand and holding onto Xigbar with the other. Roxas jumped off the car and onto another green one, dodging and avoiding fire. Xigbar and Demyx weaved in and out of Traffic, not letting up on Roxas, chasing him as he went.

"He's moving too fast!" Demyx shouted.

"Keep shooting! He'll tire out!" Xigbar said.

"Can't you just cut off space or whatever it is your power does!"

"Can't! Everything's moving too fast!"

Roxas hit the top of a van and screamed, "Fira!", Generating a ball of flame aimed for Demyx's head. As it went, it fizzled out with the wind. "Oh, come on!" Another barrage of bullets forced him into a run down a row a row of vehicles driving in the same lane, stopping when he hit an enormous 18-wheeler truck hauling dozens of giant tree logs chained to its flatbed.

"Yeah, you better start runnin'!" Xigbar hollered and laughed.

The sound of an oncoming, honking car caught Demyx's attention. He tried to wave them off. "Go around! Go around!" The honking car didn't stop and drew closer. "Hey, Xigbar, I think this car behind us has a problem."

"Show 'em the bird, we don't have time for 'em."

More honking. "Are you sure?" Demyx asked, the car maintained a long, drawn out honk.

"Oh, shut up, dammit!" Xigbar turned to deliver a strong, justified middle finger when the car in question rammed into the back of the motorcycle, throwing them both into a screaming, unintentional wheely.

Xinck screamed a cackling howl, flooring the gas pedal of his stolen black Lincoln SUV as he cut the wheel, cruised into the next lane and rolled up next to Xigbar and Demyx. He screamed at them, "Oh, I'm sorry, officer! My license is expired and I don't have INSURANCE!" He cut the wheel and broad-sided them, smashing into Demyx's leg and knocking them off balance.

"Gah! Dammit, Demyx!" Xigbar struggled to regain control of the motorcycle. "You said you killed him!"

"I thought I did!"

"You almost did!" Xinck yelled from the open window. "But then I ran into this lovely family!" He motioned to the backseat of the car where a family of 4 sat huddled in a close ball of fear.

"Daddy." The little girl whimpered, "Are we going to die?"

"Yes, honey." The father replied.

The mother cradled the boy in her lap. "Okay, this is it kids, take your suicide pills so you won't suffer!"

"Hey, I said shut the hell up back there!" Xinck shouted back.

"No time for this crap!" Xigbar aimed and took fire on Xinck. The Deviant swerved out of the way, reduced his speed as the motorcycle sped up to the distance. Xinck turned on the family in the backseat. "You! Female Woman! Get up here! NOW!" He barked at the mother, but she didn't move. Keeping one hand on the wheel and switching between looking at her and the road, Xinck grabbed her, kicking and screaming and hauled her into the front. "Drive the car, keep it going at this speed and when I saw stop, you slam on the brake! Got it?" She whimpered silently, then nodded. Xinck got out of the driver's seat and hit a button that opened the sunroof. The woman took his spot and slammed on the accelerator per Xinck's orders. Xinck stood right in the center of the vehicle, his upper half positioned out of the top of the car.

As the car increased I speed, Xinck could see the silhouette of Roxas nearing. "Get ready, get ready..." He said. Xigbar and Demyx were coming back into focus, Xigbar firing at Roxas, Demyx aiming at Xinck. "Get ready.."

"Gotcha now!" Demyx fired.

"Stop!" Xinck screamed. The vehicle stopped in it's tracks, Xinck flew from the top like a bird. He heard the sound of crashing metal behind him, but that racket faded as he flew closer to Roxas and the 18-wheeler truck he was on.

"AGGGGHHHH!"

"What the-Xinck?" Roxas heard Xinck before he saw him, his screaming oscillating to his ears. He came, his jaw clenched and his cheeks flapping around his mouth. "Whoa, stop, stop stop!" Roxas took Xinck in his gut, stopping him and breaking his fall with his own body. "Agh! Why'd you do that! That's the craziest thing you've ever done!"

"Is it?" Xinck asked, his face wedge firmly in Roxas's side. "What about that time I tried to start that cult?"

"No, that was just stupid!" Roxas said, standing up and pushing Xinck off him, "All 5 your followers tried to kill themselves because of you!"

"That's what happens when you proclaim yourself the living God of Despair." Xinck stood up and stretched, "Your believers get depressed and suicidal."

"Hey, goddammit!" Xigbar shouted from below. "Don't ignore us! We're still fighting!" He opened fire on them once more, accelerating from behind the 18-wheeler to it's side to get a better angle.

"No we're not." Roxas said. In an instant he took in the surroundings: the giant wooden logs tied down by chains, the moving truck that was coming to a large bridge suspended over a body of water. It only took him a second to think of something to get rid of them. Turning to Xinck, he said. "Keep them busy. I'll think of something." With that, Roxas jumped down in between the logs, out of sight.

"Wow, since when are you the boss of-oh, wait, you're my superior. All right then." Xinck jumped from Roxas to the very edge of the 18-wheeler, overlooking Xigbar and Demyx. "_Brazos!" _He shouted,_ w_ith his words, two enormous arms of Darkness reached out from black portals and flexed. "Welcome to _my _fantasy zone! Get Ready!" He raised a fist and punched straight down for the motorcycle, Xigbar swerved out of the way.

"Ha! Missed us!" Demyx chanted.

"Shut up and keep firing!" Xigbar said. "Aim for Roxas, Xinck is a distraction!"

"No I'm not!" Xinck raised his fist again, preparing for another punch, when a wormhole opened above him, Xigbar's gun fired and its bullets sailed for Roxas. "Shit!" Xinck spun around and threw one arm out to block the bullets.

"I got him!" Demyx had a clear shot of Xinck and prepared to fire.

"No you don't!" With his closest arm, Xinck punched straight down at an angle, Xigbar swerved and the black fist collided with the moving concrete and broke through for a split second.

"Gotcha!" Xigbar revved the engine, sped up and pulled up on the bike, jumping onto the dark arm and riding it onto the 18-wheeler. Xinck cursed and jumped away, dismissing his arms as the motorcycle fell onto the truck. Demyx screamed and The engine sounded with a mechanical screech as it sailed onto the truck, the rubber of it's wheels hit the top of the giant wooden logs that were bound by chains.

"Oh, that's not fair!" Xinck shouted.

"All is fair in love in war, Xinck." Xigbar shot back.

Demyx, shaking as if he were in the middle of a terrible seizure, gripped onto Xigbar for dear life. "Please...never..do..that again..."

"Get your wits, Demyx!" Xigbar revved the bike's engine and took off along a single log, ready to run Xinck over as the Deviant charged. Xigbar opened fire, unleashing a deadly stream of bullets. Xinck blocked and shattered each one as he ran for the motorcycle. At the last second, Xigbar skidded to a halt and turned into a lean at ramming speed. Xinck jumped over Xigbar and spun in the air to dodge bullets from Demyx. He landed behind them, ready for another attack.

"Get off." Xigbar said to Demyx.

"What? What did I do?" Demyx asked. "I told you we're just friends, it was just the vibrations!"

"No, not that. Go find Roxas and take him out! I told you Xinck is just a distraction."

"No I'm not!" Xinck chimed in.

"Yeah, you totally are!

"No I'm not! Everything you see me doing is the main part of my ingenious plan to...annoy you. Is it working? By any chance?" Just then, the sound of the metal flatbed beneath the tons of logs on the truck creaked and moaned, the chains binding the wood loosened and whipped about freely, then the logs themselves began to move slightly with the sway of the truck, knocking the three off balance. "Whoa..I..uh..did that on purpose?"

"What the hell?"

"Oh, this can't be good.." Demyx whined.

"Xinck!" Roxas called out. All the way at the very front of the 18-wheeler, standing on the roof, Roxas held Oathkeeper in the down position, a shimmering point of light at the tip. "Run!" The light shined and generated a beam that shot down into the bowels of the truck, destroying the lock mechanism connecting the flatbed and the main car. Before the rest could react and before the flatbed slowed down, Roxas jumped, as he sailed downwards for Xinck, he threw Oathkeeper at an angle and the blade curved and slashed 6 of the tires, causing a bang as the flatbed spun out of control. With his free hand, Roxas grabbed at Xinck's hood and dragged him along as they jumped off the semi truck. The 18-wheeler jackknifed, it's logs and chains flailing out of control, Xigbar and Demyx were caught in the chaos as their motorcycle bashed against 5 wooden logs, shattering it into pieces.

"Goddammit!" Xigbar shouted after being flung from the bike, Demyx still gripping him, "Roxas!"

"Save me! Save Demyx!" Demyx screamed in Xigbar's ears. Their bodies were flung from the flatbed like dolls, they bashed through the metal railing of the bridge and descended into a freefall for the river below.

The jackknifing of the 18-wheeler brought traffic to a standstill. A 25-Car pileup resulted with, surprisingly, little casualties. Unfortunately Roxas's plan didn't work out exactly as he had planned. First, he needed to sever all of the chains holding down the logs. That way, when he caused the crash they would be able to move better. Second, by breaking the lock between the main car and the flatbed and by destroying the wheels, the entire 18-wheeler would turn on itself and fling Demyx and Xigbar off the bridge. The part that went wrong, the part Roxas is currently regretting, was the logs. Originally, he wanted them to hinder and damage Xigbar and Demyx and follow them on their way down to the river to make sure they wouldn't be able to follow them. But, the logs didn't go the right way and instead went straight out into the road, spreading out and damaging cars. And, as Roxas had grabbed Xinck on his way out, they both suffered as dozens of cars stopped in view of the logs and once in the air Roxas could not stop falling...

In short, they were hit with a car. Again.

* * *

"Alright, check his pulse!"

"I'm not getting anything. Prepare the paddles."

"Charging! Clear!"

Every molecule, every atom and every fiber in Roxas's being shook violently as hundreds of volts of electricity shot through him. "AGGGHH!" His body shot up on his own, his surroundings came into focus. He was on a stretcher in a cramped, metal space surrounded by men and women in white and blue uniforms.

"He's alive!" One of the male EMTs proclaimed.

"Ugh! Whoa!" Roxas winced, his head was killing him. He thought it must have been an internal injury. "Where-where am I?"

"You're in an ambulance." One female EMT said. "What's your name? Do you remember your name?"

"Uh...where am I?" He asked again.

"We found you in the road after the pileup. You looked pretty beaten up, but I guess it wasn't so bad now that we're taking a look. Here, you need to lie back down and rest." The woman reached over, placed her hand on Roxas's shoulder to lightly force him down, but he shrugged her off. He stared out the open door and determined that the ambulance had stopped at the very start of the bridge, since he could see the logs and the car fires of the explosion in the distance.

"Come on, you need to lay down." the woman said. "We still need to test you before we get you to a hospital. " She reached for him again, but he shrugged her off.

"Where's my friend? Is he Okay?" He didn't know why he asked that, since Xinck was always alright.

"He's in another ambulance. I'll check on him for you, but you have to lay down and let me take care of you."

"No, no, I gotta see him." Unsure why, Roxas laid down on the stretcher as the woman forced him down "Ugh..where am I?"

"He might be suffering from amnesia." The male EMT said.

"You don't remember?" The woman asked. "The other young man with you in the road, you and he were hit with a car."

Roxas was taken aback by this. "Ugh, again?" He thought it over, a quick feel over his body and decided he was fine, but he worried about Xinck. He had to see him, to make sure he was okay. He knew Xinck was tough, but Roxas had to see it for himself. He just had too. He sprung up from the bed, nearly pulling the determined woman with him.

"You need to rest!"

"Lay back down, kid!" The male EMT grabbed Roxas's other arm and tried to pull him down.

"Get off!" Roxas shouted. With ease, he flung both EMTs to the side and jumped out of the back of the ambulance. His body felt fine, a bit shaky, but fine. As he hit the ground, he turned to see dozens of other ambulances around, parked on the highway and the side of the road. Dozens of EMTs were shouting and yelling and Roxas didn't know which one to look into. That is, until he heard the one phrase that he knew would lead him to Xinck.

An EMT shouting, "Oh, my God! Look at his teeth! He's like that kid from _Soul Eater_!"

"I'm not getting a heartbeat!" said another.

"That's it. We'll have to cut him open."

"Hey, Kid! Can you hear me!" No answer.

Roxas ran to the farthest ambulance where the voices were. The image of people in white surrounding a figure in black came into view. "Xinck!" Like a bolt of lightning shooting through his spine, Xinck sat straight up, a dazed, confused and annoyed look on his face. The EMTs gasped and froze in response.

"Oh my god." Xinck said, rubbing his weary eyes and trading awkward looks with each EMT. "We didn't...do _it _did we?" He asked a male EMT and got no response.

"Xinck!" Roxas appeared in the open doorway. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." He replied. "But I think this guy might've had his way with me."

The male EMT began to say. "I assure you, sir, I did noth-"

"We got hit by a car, no one had their way with you." Roxas interrupted. Before Xinck could reply, an important that made itself known. "That Axis thing! We have to go now! Can you move?"

"Yeah, yeah!" With that, Xinck turned to the male EMT, reared his fist back and punched him in the groin. "That's for not buying me dinner first!" Then, he vaulted off his bed and joined Roxas at his side.

The pair of Nobodies dashed away from the camp of parked ambulances, ran onto the road and weaved in, out, and in-between stopped wrecked cars. Police sirens could be heard in the distance, but their wailing noise faded as they cleared the bridge and continued onto the road, onto the Axis Mundi.

"You know." Roxas said, huffing with every word. "I'm getting kinda tired of running. First chance we get, we're stealing another car!"

Xinck replied, "Let's steal some gas, too. These prices are insane."

* * *

…..The 18-wheeler jackknifed, it's logs and chains flailing out of control, Xigbar and Demyx were caught in the chaos as their motorcycle bashed against 5 wooden logs, shattering it into pieces.

"Goddammit!" Xigbar shouted after being flung from the bike, Demyx still gripping him, "Roxas!"

"Save me! Save Demyx!" Demyx screamed in Xigbar's ears. Their bodies were flung from the flatbed like dolls, they bashed through the metal railing of the bridge and descended into a freefall for the river below. As Xigbar fell, his body wounded from the incident, the thought of teleporting away to safety occurred several times in just a few milliseconds, but the fervent clawing, screaming, grabbing and squirming of Demyx prevented him from doing so.

Sometime later, after pulling themselves out of the river, soggy and dripping wet, Xigbar and Demyx limped along the side of the road, looking for a ride. The battle had worn them out and neither of them could muster enough strength to summon a Corridor and keep from losing themselves in the dark, so they had to hoof it. They didn't know which way Roxas and Xinck went, so it would be futile in trying to find them.

"You know what?" Demyx said. "You should've brought a back up Xigbar-Mobile. Then we wouldn't have to walk."

Xigbar said nothing, but continued to walk. He had long since reached his limit of being around Demyx for a day. Demyx, in his good nature, was trying to be helpful, but truly all he did was spout random, useless comments. "We didn't try try had enough, that's the problem." He said when they were wading through the water on their way to the road. Of course, that was Xigbar's breaking point and he responded by trying to drown Demyx in the river ( unfortunately, he found that it was impossible since Demyx was involuntarily buoyant and is incapable of drowning).

Finding an acceptable spot, Xigbar stopped on the side of the road and stuck out his thumb. "What're you doing?" Demyx asked.

"Getting us a ride." Xigbar answered. "If we can get to the nearest town we can charge up or at least find a payphone and get out of here."

"I didn't know they still made payphones. Hey, when was the last time you saw a phone booth, eh? You know, I don't think I've ever seen one. You think they-"

"Demyx. Every unnecessary word that comes out of your mouth only shrinks your penis."

"Hup!" Demyx's mouth sucked into itself, stifling all noise. Just in time, too, since Xigbar was close to committing roadside murder. Cars passed and not a single one slowed down at all, even though Xigbar was fervent in his thumb-signing. Demyx started, "I can-"

"Penis."

"I know, but I can-"

"Demyx! Penis! Shut up!"

Demyx huffed then brushed past his superior as, what appeared to be, a van came into view from the distance. Demyx pulled back the fringe of his black coat, folded down his knee-high boots and pulled up his pant leg all the way to his lower thigh, exposing his tan, flawless and hairless leg.

"Ugh..I-I didn't know you shaved your legs..." Xigbar muttered, shocked.

"Shh!" Demyx said. "Don't tell anyone. People might think I'm gay."

"_Think _you're gay?"

The oncoming van slowed and came to a stop in front of Demyx. It was a large blue van with green designs and orange words on the sides. It was the type of van a child molester might drive in, blasting the "Entertainer" and tempting children with the thought of ice cream. From what Demyx and Xigbar could see from outside, there were 3 people in the front seat and two shadowed figures in the back. The side window rolled down and a plain girl with an orange sweater, burgundy blouse, glasses and brown hair.

"Hey, there." She said with a smile. "You two need a ride?"

"Sure!" Demyx said.

"Thanks." Xigbar said, playing the part of the stranded citizen.

The male at the wheel, a blonde young man with a white shirt, blue color and an orange ascot. In between Him and the girl with glasses, was another woman with orange/red hair, a purple outfit and the face of a pinup model. A short green scarf was wrapped around her neck.

The blonde young man said, "Groovy, guys, just hop on in back."

"Thanks so much!" Demyx said. "I'm Demyx and this is Xigbar."

"Yo!" Xigbar nodded towards them.

"Oh!" The glasses girl said. "I'm Velma, that's Daphne and that's Fred."

With introductions finished, the duo headed towards the backdoor of the van, noting the words "Mystery Machine" in orange on the side. As they went to the back, they heard the tail end of a conversation.

"Jinkies, Fred! I'm starving." Velma said.

"Just eat a Scooby snack." said Daphne."

"Then I'll be hungry even more."

"Ok," said Fred, "We'll stop at the Carhop on our way to that haunted cornfield."

"'Jinkies'?" Demyx whispered to Xigbar. "What is that, some kind of breakfast cereal?"

"I dunno." Xigbar shrugged. "Sounds more like crabs to me. 'Oh, man, that prostitute gave me the Jinkies, I've been scratching all day!'"

"Eww!" Demyx gagged.

"Hey, Demyx, you think that douche with the orange ascot shaves his legs, too?"

"Probably." Demyx shrugged. They came to the back of the van and knocked twice, per "the douche with the orange ascot" instructed. The double doors swung open and the 'ole, familiar smell of Jamaica wafted to their noses as a thin, wiry man in brown pants and a green short stopped next to his large, brown dog with black spots. Their eyes were red and bloodshot.

"Uh...Hi?" Demyx waved awkwardly.

"Like, 'sup, guys." The filthy hippie said. He thrust a blue and green box in their faces with a picture of his dog on the front. "Like, you guys party?"

"With doggy treats?" Xigbar asked. "Hell, no."

"Then surprise, surprise!" The filthy hippie said, giggling with every syllable. He pulled out one of the brown treats, revealing a greenish substance in the food. The hippie threw one in his mouth and one to his dog. "We 'bout to go to the Moon, dudes!"

"Yeah! Za Moon!" The dog barked.

"You wanna hop on this rocket ship?"

"Hell, yeah!" Xigbar jumped into the van, pulling Demyx along with him.

* * *

"_...You see how powerless you are to save them? SAVOR that rage and Despair! LET IT EMPOWER YOU!..."_

"_...XEHANORT!..."_

"_...Let your whole Heart blacken with anger!..."_

"_I won't let him hurt you...!"_

"_Your Body Submits, Your Heart Succumbs! So Why Does Your Mind Resist!"_

Like a hammer weighing a ton, Xemnas felt a terrible force rack his stomach. He shot up from his desk and fell to his knees. He clutched his stomach and a terrible moan left his lips, followed by a stream of vomit. He coughed as the last of it left him and he wiped his mouth on his sleeve. "Ugh." He coughed, as things returned to normal. "I thought I was done with all that business."

Random, unknown voices in his mind. He thought they stopped years ago, but occasionally they would resurface, like ripples on the water. They used to only surface when his guard was down, like when he would sleep. But Xemnas rarely let his guard down.

The Superior stood, his body, use to these episodes, healed almost instantly. He thought he would pay a visit to an old friend.

* * *

One stolen, broken down pickup truck later, Roxas and Xinck road down a lonely dark road. The purpose of the Axis Mundi was to take its riders to wherever they needed to go without their knowledge, but both Roxas and Xinck knew very well where they needed to go and how the Axis worked.

The farther they went, the more the landscape changed from world to world in just a matter of hours, flawlessly changing from mountains, to tundras, to plains, and desserts. Xinck was driving. Roxas slept in the passenger seat. The clock on the dashboard read 6:50 A.M. Xinck had been driving for more than 13 hours. Opening his giant mouth, he yawned, tired and trying not to doze off and drive off the road into a ditch.

"I wish energy drinks worked on me." He said to himself. "I drank 3 Red Bulls in a row one time and nothing happened."

"Maybe you should get some coffee." He replied (to himself)

"Where! We're in the middle of nowhere." Xinck said

"How odd. Starbucks usually has at least 5 stores in nowhere."

"Are you complaining? About Starbucks?"

"I just don't think its necessary to have three stores on the same corner. It's just coffee."

"That's called Supply and Demand, a cornerstone of Capitalism." Xinck said. "People like different types of Coffee, ergo, Starbucks."

"No one in the Universe should like coffee _that _much. That's not a routine, it's an addiction."

"You know what, Xinck?" Xinck said, "Shut up, you just like to complain!"

"Of course _you _do, Xinck. _We _like to complain. Of course you wouldn't have to complain to your crazy psyche if your Axel-appointed charge would wake up and keep you company."

"Wow, Xinck, that is damn fine logic! Damn fine!" Xinck exclaimed. "Wake up, ya lousy drunk!" He gripped the steering wheel and jerked it violently to the left, then back into position, throwing the car and Roxas around. The sleeping Roxas bashed his head into the glass window and awoke.

"Gah! Xinck! Agh! That hurt!" No. 13 gripped his head and cringed. "What was that for?"

"How'd you sleep?"

"Fine, until I woke up picking glass outta my hair."

"I'm Sorry."

Roxas sighed, rubbing the sore spot on his head. "It's ok. You alright?"

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you just bashed my head into a car window, that's usually a sign that you want attention."

"It's almost 7'o'clock." Xinck said. "I thought you might want to see the sunrise."

"Oh?" Roxas turned his attention to the scenery. There was none. A pale, indigo fog was around them, only the lights from the car penetrated it. Roxas could only tell it was morning because of the purple haze in the sky. There was a light in the horizon, a pale indigo light that illuminated the land around them. It was barren, flat land that had the no other color besides a pale, dirty mauve. There was no real road, only a dirt trail. The line of the Axis Mundi was still visible, but it had changed from it's neon blue to a solid obsidian black.

"The line, It turned black. Do you think that means-"

"We're outta gas."

"What?" Roxas's question was quickly answered. The engine sputtered, the car quaked and came to a stop. The headlights were extinguished and Xinck, out of habit, put the car in park.

"Damn OPEC." Xinck muttered. "Well, "He sighed, "End of the Line, Roxas. Hey, Rox-" He stopped talking to see the empty seat next to him and the opened door. The Thirteenth stood outside the truck, silent and staring into the abyss of fog before them.

"End of the Axis." Xinck explained, taking his place at Roxas's left side. "The line turned black, meaning it was ending, then it disappeared. We are right where we're meant to be."

Roxas spoke, "Axel's in there, isn't he?"

"I'd place Luxord's entire fortune of cigarettes on it." The Fourteenth took in a breath and tried to force down whatever tiredness was in him. "Our enemies will be bearing down on us. They probably already know we're here."

"Good. I want them to. They took someone very important to me and I will get him back. I don't care who gets hurt, I don't care who gets in my way. We'll cut 'em down and we will get him back."

"Spoken with true Avarice, I like that." Xinck closed his eyes, acting as if he were holding back tears. True, he was a bad influence on such an innocent soul, but his Vanity made him appreciate his own reflection, " Ready?"

"I was ready 5 seconds ago!" Roxas called back from several yards ahead.

"Dah!" Xinck shrieked as he broke into a run, "You couldn't warn me?"

"You were getting that weird look on your face! You looked busy and I didn't want to bother you!"

* * *

"Masq." The mysterious figure in the black coat walked into the masked woman's office and closed the door behind him. "Baby has reported seeing them just beyond the mountains. They're here."

"Excellent." The Masked woman replied from her desk. "They will be at our doorstep soon. We would be horrible hosts if we did not receive them at the door. Professor." She turned her attention to the corner of the room. "Would you like to meet them?"

From the corner, standing like a statue, was a tall man in black boots, a dirtied white lab coat, gloves and goggles/glasses on his nose. He was bald and elderly, his face hadn't housed a smile for years, partly due to unhappiness and senility. He was a self-proclaimed 'Mad Mad Genius of Mad' (it was believed that one or two of these mads stands for anger and not insanity, but no one was sure). "I don't care to meet them, as long as you use them as promised, I see no need to meet them. Bastards."

"Very well, then, Doctor Goodbar."

"It's Dr. Professor, you masked trollop!"

"Rude. Very rude."

"Why don't you just die already, old man?" The figure in the black coat said. "You're so useless, no one wants you here!"

"Kiss my sagging ass!"

"Now, you two, enough." Masq said. "Play nice children." She turned toward the figure in the black coat. "You know as well as I do that if He wasn't here, then our plans wouldn't have come to fruition as quickly as they are. Everyone plays a role in this and everyone gets their reward. If Dr. Goodba-"

"Dr. Professor, it's Dr. Professor!"

"Yes, sorry. Doctor Goodburger is just as important in our plans as you are."

"Speaking of my reward for taking part in this abomination unto the Lord, "The Doctor began to walk to the Masked Woman, standing in front of her, with no fear. "You will keep your promise? You will bring them back?"

"Yes, my good Doctor. You have my word. I never break my promises." She bowed in a respectful manner and smiled, her mask moving its lips as she did.

"Very good." The Doctor said, heading for the door and walking past the one in the black coat. "The one called Axel. He is almost done, so I shall remove him from the machine." With that, he left and the one in the black coat closed the door behind him.

Masq kicked off from her desk and walked for the door, "When I give the order, kill him."

"Oh, finally!"

"Now, let's go, and call the others. Roxas and Xinck are nearing, as is our revenge."

"Speaking of, Princess is sleeping, should I wake her up?"

"No. If her motives were truly important to her, then she would already be prepared."

"Cool, cool." He said. "Then I'm taking first pick."

"What if Baby wants first pick?" She asked.

"That's tough. He can have the leftovers."

"What if I want first pick?"

"Oh, you're not gonna do this to me, are you?" He asked.

"I just might. We'll see how this goes." With that, they closed the door and headed for the front door of the fortress.

* * *

REVIEW.


	44. Redux Profile II

Had another one of these laying around and I didn't see the harm in posting it.

* * *

**Xinck**

-1. Inugami, Kage no Ryouken.

-2.?

Release(1)-"Cry Havoc and Slip, my Dog of War!"

Release(2)-?

-The name is Japanese in origin, meaning "God Dog, Hound of Shadows".

With the activation of his Redux, Xinck becomes surrounded in an enormous tempest of Darkness. Everything in the immediate area is taken out to make room for the 3rd largest Redux in the Organization. When started, a white, torn scarf ties itself around Xinck's neck(He claims it doesn't do anything, it just looks good.), the actually Redux takes the form of an enormous 3 headed Hound with two black fire tails billowing behind it. On it's underbelly is white fur that takes the form of a 2 dimensional mouth and eyes that can actually eat. Xinck stands on top of the middle head and uses his chains as leashes for the left and right heads. Each head has a spiked collar decorated with skulls and Nobody symbols, but each head differs in appearance and has it's own special ability.

Xinck also has the option to summon his Redux a second way. Since he uses the surrounding Darkness to construct it, if there is not a sufficient amount available or certain magics prevent him from calling it, Xinck can produce Inugami from his mouth. The hound will rush from his mouth in a great gaseous vapor and quickly take shape upon clearing his head. Doing this does leave him considerably weak and vulnerable, and thus will allow Inugami to rampage in order to give himself cover until he heals.

Note: Xinck claims that his dog is composed of 4 (4 being a number of Death) dog breeds. These breeds include Husky, Doberman, Rottweiler and German Shepard.

The leftmost head is named Tristitia for Despair. It has long, thick black mane that droops over it's thick neck and the side of it's head, partially covering it's face. It takes on a sad, melancholic appearance and screams a horrible, ear-piercing screech rather than a howl or roar. It's scream is powerful enough to release a soundwave that can cause mild damage to enemies. It's special ability consists of it "disappearing" from the main body (the main body also vanishing and returning when Xinck calls it) and reappearing as one of Xinck's swords. In it's special ability form, it takes on an enormous serpentine appearance, nearing 10 kilometers in length. Xinck can use Tristitia as a whip, or as a long range attacker. It can also wrap around enemies and apply over 1000 Megatons of pressure.

The right head, possibly the most normal looking, is named Erebos for Darkness. It is the only head without mane, but it's ears are constantly pointed upwards, giving it the look of a demon. While dogs are not able to smile, Erebos's mouth is partially open, showcasing it's teeth as if trying to grin. On it's forehead is a white mark in the shape of a three pointed crown. It's special ability allows it to open it's mouth and deliver an instantaneous blast of dangerously dense dark energy thousands of times more powerful than any dark blast Xinck can produce himself.

The middle and final head is dubbed Ender by Xinck. Xinck named the middle head Ender to represent Death, but it's namesake comes from Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, the main protagonist from the book "Ender's Game". Out of the three heads, it seems to be the most serious, not weeping occasionally like Tristitia or trying to smile like Erebos. It's appearance consists of a ghostly, pale green mane billowing like fire down it's neck. It's only special ability is the most powerful out of the three. At Xinck's command, the entire Redux transforms into a titanic bipedal creature. The left and right heads shrink and appear lifeless as shoulder adornments and the living mouth on its stomach grows larger. In this form, Ender, if given permission by Xinck, can act on his own accord, other times, any move Xinck makes, Ender will repeat. (Punches, kicks, biting, etc.) To activate this form, Xinck only needs to give Ender a command. These commands can be anything from "Ender, bring misery." to, "Ender, sic balls." (He is a dog, after all).

As a result of Xinck's Redux having three separate names, and it's real name being rather long, Xinck developed a nickname for the entire creature, Kurayami (meaning 'Darkness'). If Xinck wants one head to do something specific, he must call its name followed by a command, but if he wanted the entire body to do something, he'd have to say it's full name then a command, but saying it's nickname is quicker.

**Powers and Abilities-**

Physically, Xinck gains no boost in strength or speed, as his Redux is a living creature and has its own powers. Super Strength and Endurance are common for Kurayami due to its size, but Super speed is a trait that is less than obvious. Despite its size, Xinck's Redux can move about quite easily and strike even faster. Kurayami is alos capable of moving and acting on its own, the center ehad usually taking command of the other two if Xinck gives the order.

**Hellmouth**-The living mouth on Kurayami's stomach opens and fires off a quick burst of dark energy.

**Xinck the Voracious**- The ravenous mouth on it's stomach, while mostly for show, is still a mouth and will eat anything that comes near it. This attack also applies to Xinck and the three main heads' tendency to bite and use their teeth.

**One Thousand Tears**- Tristitia's ability to separate from Inugami and be wielded by Xinck as a long-range weapon.

**Erebosian Reign**- Erebos's ability to generate an instantaneous blast of highly dense dark energy.

**Ender's Shadow**- Ender's ability to take control of the entire body and rise as a bipedal titan to attack and decimate anything Xinck targets. This form can either be controlled by Xinck or set loose on its own.

**Dark Saviour**- Taken into Ender's mouth, Xinck's wounds can be healed if he cannot heal himself. If given the order, Ender will take any ally into his mouth in place of Xinck.

**Framed In the Depths Of Our Jaws**- The entirety of Inugami vanishes and on Xinck's command, a dark portal will appear, one head will shoot forth with an open mouth and attempt to devour any enemy in the way.

**Divinity of Darkness**- Xinck will stand on Ender's head and Inugami will stand back on its hind legs, reaching for the sky. A great ball of darkness will condense on Ender's nose and expand in to the sky. On Xinck's command, it will explode in the clouds, raining down a hell storm of darkness and obliterating the immediate area.

**2****nd**** Redux Stage**- Unknown. Xinck has not revealed his second stage to anyone, although he boasts that he has one, not many believe him. He claims that It has an incredible ego and that he hasn't named it because it hates all the names he tries to give it. In truth, while the 2nd Redux can rival the power of Roxas's Redux, it drastically falls short due to the fact that it has yet to be named. As a result, it will be forever less powerful than Xinck's first stage Redux until a proper name is given.

**Weaknesses-**

Because Inugami is a living creature, it is susceptible to damage, it's weakest spots being it's hind legs. But it's large size makes damaging it noticeably difficult. Another weakness _is _it's large size. Inugami is meant to take on large opponents or a large group of enemies, the less numerous or smaller the enemy, the better advantage they have. Of course, Inugami can cause mass destruction so it never needs to worry about finishing a kill. A more efficient way of weakening Inugami is by cutting off communication between him and Xinck. Xinck's Redux only listens to Xinck and responds to his verbal commands and pulls on its chains, if an enemy were able to prevent Xinck from talking or Inugami from listening, then its efficiency would be cut by a good 50%.

**Inspiration-**

To explain the origin of this Redux, I would have to go ALL the way back to the beginning concept of Redux. After playing KHII and seeing Xemnas with his Dragon stages, then after playing Re:Chain and seeing Marluxia's final fight, I thought that maybe everyone in the Organization could do something like that. Xemnas called out a huge monster _after _absorbing Kingdom Hearts, Marluxia did the same _without _Kingdom Hearts, so I thought I would be the same for every member and bam! Redux was born (well, not entirely born). The reason why his Redux is a dog is because I originally had a chapter idea of Xinck stealing Cerberus from Hades, keeping him as a pet and calling him out if he were in a fight. But then I thought that would make no sense if they actually went to the Underworld.

* * *

Next Chapter should be up in less than a week.


	45. Veridis Quo, Red and Black

For the remainder of these chapters I'm thinking of just doing a "PREVIOUSLY ON..." thing, you know? Like they do on tv. Yeah..I'll start that next chapter.

* * *

This world was a hollow, barren wasteland. There were no trees, no rivers, for they had all dried up and died long ago. There were only mountains, gorges and valleys. There was barely any light, as the world was trapped in the first dusk of morning, casting the empty place in a purple/indigo haze. After Roxas and Xinck left their last stolen vehicle and walked into an abyss of fog, the duo crossed over a small, jagged mountain range with Roxas in front, leading the way. He couldn't describe it, he even went so far as stating that he didn't understand it, but there was a pull leading him over that mountain, leading him to Axel.

Ever since he and Xinck began this trek for Axel, Roxas could feel his thoughts of Axel waning from his mind, losing their shine and fading into the back of his brain. The visions and dreams of people he didn't know that have been plaguing him for months, he could do without and put those out of mind until he got Axel back. Then, maybe finally they could both try to figure out what they mean.

And that voice, that woman... _"Bring it, baby."_ Is what she said. Those words still sounded in his head, bouncing back and forth like an echo bouncing in a cave. Roxas would kill her. He didn't care who tried to stop him, he'd kill them, too. He didn't care if his body was bruised, broken or destroyed, he would save Axel, because he knew Axel and Xinck would do the same for him.

Later, after crossing the mountain and descending its deep slope, they came to a flat plain that seemed to go on forever. A range of mountains surrounded the plain against the horizon in what seemed to be a circle. At the very center, 3 miles away from where they left the mountain, was a large structure, a fortress or castle that was built in and around a single, sky-piercing mountain. It was titanic from where they stood, so they could only imagine its true immensity when they drew closer. They began the 3 mile walk.

As they went, they did not speak, an understandable silence. Roxas lead the way, his fist clenched, his eyes never wavering from the fortress far ahead of them. All he was concerned about was Axel and he was so close. Xinck understood, so he took advantage of this silence, taking in the ill feeling associated with walking on these lands. He doubted Roxas noticed it at all. There was a massive amount of malevolent intent in this world and it didn't sit well with Xinck. It was thick in the air, radiating from that mountain fortress.

Another thing Xinck took into account were the unnatural features of this circular, abyssal plain. The mountain they had descended seemed to have been cut in an unnatural location, making it odd in appearance and the titanic mountain fortress in the center of the even larger circle was _too _circular to have occurred by nature. And there were markings, shallow etchings on the surface of the plain that appeared to start from the fortress and stretch to the base of the surrounding mountains in a symmetrical pattern. It was like a start of a spell or ritual, but Xinck wasn't sure, he couldn't make heads or tails if he couldn't see the entire thing.

"Roxas." Finally, Xinck broke the silence. "I should probably tell you that-"

"Ugh!" Roxas exclaimed, stopping just ahead of Xinck. "How long have we been walking! Why is that thing so far!"

"It could be an illusion. Its so big from just a distance that no matter how close you get to it, its gonna stay the same size."

"That big, huh? Wow, its gotta be bigger than The Castle That Never Was." A hand to his forehead t o shield his eyes from the weak sunlight as he look up the mountain, trying to see the top, but failing. "Who needs a fortress that big? I mean, if they're kidnapping-"

"Mannapping."

"Mannapping, right. If they're mannapping, then they wouldn't need a place that big, right? Unless they were doing something else."

"Glad you noticed. Look." Xinck raised a foot and kicked the dust off one of the etchings below him. "These lines are all over the place. Whatever they're doing, they're doing it with magic, _powerful _magic."

Roxas knelt down and wiped away the dust and took in the lines, seeing them stretch on out of sight. "Do you know what they mean?"

"No." Xinck shook his head. "Never seen anything like this, I don't think so anyway. If I could see the whole thing, I might be able to understand it, but until then..."

"So, they are up to something, you're sure of that?"

"_Oui."_

"And whatever it is, it has to deal with Axel and us." Roxas stood up and turned to the fortress again. "They obviously wanted us here, baiting us on with Axel's Mannapping, that Golgothan thing and that mystery guy who wore our coats."

Xinck's hand made its way to his chin and, for once in his life, offered something new. "I think we should come up with a plan. These people wanted us here, it's obviously a trap, but they have Axel and if we want him back, then we need to formulate a plan of action to minimize the effects of the trap. Now, instead of going through the front door all 'willy-nilly', we might-"

"The front door! That's it!"

"What's that you said?" In one swift motion, Roxas grabbed Xinck by the arm and broke into a run and cloaked himself in light. In an instant, Xinck felt as if his entire being was forced into an extremely small tube for a short amount of time, all he heard were his screams, the whooshing of light all around him and Roxas's impossible to count footsteps. Then it all stopped, just as soon as it had ended. A great, oval-shaped doorway stood in front of them, made of intricate metal details.

"Wow. Big door." Roxas craned his neck skyward. Xinck struggled to keep his balance, grabbing Roxas by the shoulder for support. Roxas heard Xinck start to wretch and gag. "Oh, don't worry about that, it's normal." He started throwing up and Roxas pat him on the back. "It's okay, okay. Get it all out, get it all out. It's alright. It happened to me the first few times, too. There you go. Better?"

"Ugh." Xinck re-situated himself and spat out what was left. "Yeah, I'm good. Thank you."

"Breath mint?" From his pocket, Roxas tossed Xinck several breath mints, then went to the door. Without a doubt in mind, Roxas could tell this Fortress was larger than the Castle, probably because it was built into an already enormous mountain. The door itself was something to marvel at, being at least 20 feet tall. Silver-colored details worked their way from the outer edges to the inside portion of the door, followed by a bronze-like inside. There was no lock, no latch, no gate of any kind, but the crease in the middle made it obvious that it was a door. Roxas pushed on the door with all his strength, but to no avail. "It won't budge."

"Where the hell did you get breath mints?" Xinck asked.

"The door won't open!" In a fit, Roxas delivered kick after kick to the silver-bronze door, but not even a dent formed. "Hey! Open up! It's the police! We know you're in there! I know you hear me! Agh!" A final kick and a hollow ringing permeated the air, but it did not open. "We might have to go around. Or find a window..or something.."

"Fuck that." Xnck said. "I'm not walking around this monster." Now he walked up to the door, all the while digging in the magical Knapsack around his neck. "If this won't get the door open, I say we do what I said earlier: Take a shit on their land, then run like hell."

"When did you say that?"

"Awhile ago. Now watch me amaze you." From his magical knapsack around his neck , Xinck produced a corked vial with a sparkling blue and white, misty essence inside. From where Roxas stood, he could feel its cold aura chilling the air around him and Xinck.

"What is-"

"Ice Tears of Ptolomaea." He said, shaking the vial, producing a hushed scream. "One of the 4 rounds that make up the 9th Circle of Hell, the frozen lake of lamentation, Cocytus."

"Where did you get that?"

"Internet." Xinck replied. With a careless toss, the vial smashed against the door and shattered, the glass was obliterated by the ice it unleashed. Almost immediately clear, white crystals took over and consumed the door, crystals protruded outward, shattered and reformed. The ice worked its way behind the door, into the locks, the gears, and every latch. Frost grew on the outer edges as the ice stopped and on the exact center of the frozen door, a face appeared in blue, twisted and malformed into an expression of horror.

"Whoa..."

"Yeah, I know, right? Pretty cool."

"No." Roxas said. "I mean 'Whoa, why didn't you use that when we were fighting a giant, walking piece of crap!'"

"Forgot I had it." He replied with a shrug.

"You forgot!"

"You really wanna argue about this _now_? Now, when our enemies are right next to us?"

"Tch!" Roxas huffed. "Fine. Now what?"

"Kick away, _mon ami._"

* * *

"Failures, all of you." Saix spat out as he scolded the remaining members of Organization XIII. "It is a simple task: find and bring Roxas back and none of you could accomplish this." He came to Luxord. "You foolishly placed a bet with Roxas and lost disgracefully. Why do we even bother calling you the Gambler of Fate?"

"None of you have an appreciation for what I do!" Luxord exclaimed, "None of you know the burden of being Luxord!"

"Shut your gob." Xaldin sighed, irritated as always.

"And you!" Saix started again, "You are supposed to be the Organization's top combatant and you lost to two children? You're even worse than the sleazy, drunken slob."

"I was assaulted by a shit demon!"

"I'm not sleazy or a slob!" Luxord retorted.

"And you two." Saix, finally, came to the just arrived, red-eyed Xigbar and Demyx. "A two-on-two fight, even odds and you both are blown off a bridge? And, to add insult, instead of continuing the chase to complete your mission, you obtain a ride from a band of filthy, filthy hippies and their dog?"

Demyx, a smile superimposed on his face, slurred, "They had REALLY good dog treats. I-I wanna-na say that in my beefense."

"Ha ha!" Xigbar laughed with slurred speech, "Dude, you said 'Beefense.' Like, Beef and Fence."

"No, you twice-baked buffoon!" Luxord said, "It was 'Beef' and 'Defense', obviously."

"Enough! All of you!" Saix bellowed, his hair catching with blue flames, his eyes nearly bulging with rage. "You have all forced my hand. Heart quota has gone down too much for Xemnas not to notice, vacation or not. If none of you useless bags of hamster shit can handle a simple task, then I have no choice but to get him involved." Saix turned on his heels and headed for a Corridor.

"Hamster shit?" Demyx asked, only half paying attention, "What he say 'bout hamster shit?"

"Tch!" Xaldin scoffed, "Useless twaddle speak. I will not stand being lectured down to by some young pup. Rank or no!" Xaldin began his rant, just as Saix was entering the Corridor. "We all know Roxas holds the Keyblade and he is the Nobody of the Hero of Light! His powers and abilities are enhanced by his lineage! And Xinck, you said we could kill him because his is an immaterial existence, but he is the damn Energizer Bunny! The bastard won't stay down! We have all tried our damnedest to get them back here, but YOU haven't lifted a finger! Goddamn you, Saix!"

"Calm it down, Xally." Xigbar chimed in. "Take it easy. Who cares, fussy bear? It's all good under the hood, man. The little ones will return whenever they're ready, right? We tried and failed, so what, right? Think about it, if Roxas _does _die or somethin', then Sora will inevitably resurface and we use him instead. Besides, we're all the field agents here, Saix hasn't stepped out of this Castle since...since..when did Bernie Mac die?"

"2008." Luxord said.

"Yeah, like, 2 years before that."

"Dammit, Xigbar." Xaldin conceded, "I hate your Marijuana logic."

* * *

**Knock-Knock-Knock.**

"A bit too polite, are we?"

"Axel says manners make the man."

"And _now _you wanna try it out?"

"Yeah-huh."

**Knock-Knock-Knock.**

"I don't think they're home, I mean, we are kinda unannounced."

"Maybe If I knock louder?"

"Or, knock and leave a brown bag full of my poo."

"No."

"Yeah, you're right, that's dumb."

**Knock-Knock-Knock. **

"Perhaps a different approach is needed, Roxas."

"I think you might be right, Xinck. A more...aggressive approach."

**Knock-Knock-_KICK!_**

Ice cracked and shattered as metal braces bent and broke out of place as the giant, frozen metal doors fell like timber in the forest. Roxas lowered his leg.

"Lucy, we're home!" Xinck called into the open, doorless Foyer.

The Grand Foyer. The first room of this mountain fortress was a grand hall consisting of two floors, both a dark, dull golden/brown color. There was barely any light and the walls and floors were decayed and chipped away. Statues of figures frozen in mid-peril dotted the four corners of the room. The ceiling was a ripped painting of a deity surrounded by suns and radiance looking down on the world below and its people cowering in its presence. From where Roxas and Xinck stood, there were 4 paths to choose from; a door on the opposite wall ahead of them, a door on the left and right sides of them, and one door above the door ahead of them.

"Alright, Roxas, shall we see what's behind door No.1, or-"

Roxas ran into the center of the Foyer and bellowed, "Axel! Axel! Where are you! We're here to take you home!" Nothing responded, only silence. "Don't ignore me!"

The voice of a male responded from the second level, "How very uncouth." Wisps of gray and black smoke swirled into the shape of a man standing near the only door on the top level. The some settled and he was leaning on the wall, arms crossed, head down. He wore the same black coat worn by Roxas and Xinck.

"You!" Roxas shouted.

"That guy!" Xinck shouted.

"Glad you finally made it." The mysterious man said. "I was starting to worry. I was thinking about calling and leaving a voice mail." He kicked off from the wall. "But, anyway, like I said, it is very impolite to come into someone's house screaming. I wouldn't do that if I came to visit you."

"Fuck you, that's who!" Xinck shouted.

"That..has nothing to do-"

"Shut up!" Roxas said, "Tell me where Axel is! Now!"

"Do you want me to shut up, or talk? Because I find it difficult to do both."

"You know what I mean! Now tell me where he is!"

The man sighed with a chuckle that seemed to be holding back a torrent of laughter. "Ah, Axel, Axel, Axel. You know, he looked really surprised when I cornered him in Agrabah. You know, because of the coat, he didn't see me knocking him on his ass."

"That was you! You kidnapped him!"

"I believe the correct term is Mannapped." The man said, laughing. "But no, I know what you are thinking, and no, I'm not the one behind all of this. I was just following orders."

Then, another voice, this time it was a woman, "Now, now, let's not reveal everything at the get-go." She came from the doorway behind the mysterious man. She was a bit taller than him, and her dark blue cloak wrapped around her body made her look bigger than she really was. Underneath, she wore what looked like a skin-tight black outfit with jagged streaks of dark blue sewn into the radiating cloth. Her hair was neon black and purple, it was wild and styled like a character of anime. Over her face was what appeared to be a living mask that moved its lips, eyes and cheeks as her real face did.

"Hello. How do you do?" She said in a strong, yet feminine and distinct voice. "We're so glad you found our crew. Welcome to our lovely compound. Where it all goes down!" She struck a pose, one hand in the air, the other on her hip.

"Oh, what fresh hell is this?" Xinck asked.

"Was that really needed at all?" The man asked.

"Whatchu talkin' 'bout?" Another voice said from the far right, a male voice. Leaning over the ornamental railing was a man with long dark hair with wire-framed sunglasses with goggle sidings. He wore a long, broad dark green duster and a matching green floppy brim fedora on his head. He spoke with an accent. "I liked it. It was...campy."

"You would think its campy, you toned-deaf moron!"

"Enough." The woman in the masked said. "We have guests." She turned to Roxas on the bottom floor. She smiled, her eyes lighting up. "Hello, my name is Masq. Welcome to my home of Veridis Quo."

"That was you on the phone, Axel's phone." Roxas said through gritted teeth.

"Steel yourself." Xinck whispered to him. "Calm down, don't let them goad you."

"Yes it was." Masq said. From nowhere, she produced a small black object and tossed it to the ground. It was a cellphone cover, black with red flames.

"Axel's cellphone cover!" Xinck bellowed in anger. "You bitch! You broke it! That cost 3.50$! You bitch, I'll kill you! You're wasting my money!"

"Xinck, calm down!" Roxas grabbed his arms and held him back, "Don't let them get to you, remember?"

"You're right, you're right. I'm calm, I'm cool, I'm beautiful." Xinck breathed in and out.

"Ha ha!" The mysterious man laughed, "Funny guy."

"Shut up." Xinck said, "We almost killed you in Vancouver, why don't you come down here so we can finish."

"Oh?" The man's voice went up one octave. "You forget yourself. You obviously don't know who I am." The mysterious man removed the hood from his head. He was young and couldn't have been older than 19 years old. He had wild, short hair, colored a beautiful dark blood-red crimson velvet with numerous, thin streaks of black. He had a single black and red braid on the left side of his face, tied at the end with a white band. His eyes were colored a dark golden honey. A small X-shaped scar laid on the upper left corner of his forehead, partially hidden by his hair."Now do you remember me?"

"No." Roxas said.

"No." Xinck said. "Uh..Gaara, maybe?"

"Gaara? That dick from _Naruto! _I don't look like him!"

"You kinda do." The man in the dark green fedora said. "I mean, besides the eyes, the much darker hair and braid, you almost look like him. I could see you...as..cousins, maybe."

"I agree." Masq said. "Inconceivable that I never noticed that before."

"Hey, Gaara of the Douche." Xinck said. "Why do you have our coat? Seriously, is there, like a store or something? I mean you're the second person I've seen with that coat who wasn't in our Orgy."

"Grrr!" The man growled, fists clenched and voice straining. "Masq! I choose him!"

"Mm?" Masq turned to her subordinate. Since she had made her appearance, she had kept her eyes on Roxas. "Are you sure about that?"

"Yes! I want him!"

"But what about-"

"I don't care! I will not be talked to like that by HIM!"

Masq sighed. "Very well."

"Enough talking." Roxas chimed in. "This has gone on for too long. If you wanted us here by kidnapping-excuse me-mannapping Axel, we're here and I'm going to kill you now, unless you hand him over. "

Her eyes grew brighter as her smile grew wider, "You're going to kill me? Oh, I want you to. But not before you pay your dues for the wrongs you two have committed against us."

"Wrongs? What wrongs? We've never seen any of you before! Stop talking in riddles!"

"You will understand in time. Until then, please, enjoy your stay here in Veridis Quo." Masq bowed, turned on her heels and began for the door behind her.

"You're not going anywhere! I came too far to let you go!" In a fit of Light, Roxas jumped after her, Oblivion and Oathkeeper shining in his hands.

"Roxas, wait, don't!" Xinck shouted from below, but he went ignored.

His shine illuminated the dark room, casting it in a pale light as he flew to Masq. She didn't waver, turn around or even bother to feign interest. She said. "Block Up A Way Of Thou In The Name Of God." Shining into existence behind her, was a giant golden plate covered in ancient symbols. Roxas collided with the plate and was immediately repelled back in a burst of light.

He yelled out, his body falling back to the ground. "I got you!" Xinck ran underneath the spot where Roxas would fall and caught him, both of them falling back down to the floor.

Masq vanished without a word.

"Oh, yes," The man in the fedora laughed as he vanished, "This is gonna be fun."

"I'll see you soon, Xinck." The man in the black coat said, he, too vanishing from sight.

"Gah!" Roxas struggled off Xinck and staggered to his feet, "Get back here! I'm not done!"

"Roxas, calm down." Xinck said, picking himself up.

"No! I'm so sick of this! We've been doing this for how long, a week? And all because of HER they've just been baiting us on and on, keeping us running! And she's right there, I'm not letting her go!" Roxas began to break into a run, but Xinck held him back. "Xinck, I said Let go!"

"Hold on." A rumbling echoed into the Foyer, shaking the walls and the very Fortress. The sound of machinery whirring, grinding and locking sounded throughout, adding to the noise. Then, it quieted down, the noise leaving as quickly as it had come. "Okay, now you can go."

"What was that noise?"

"This fortress. I think it can move, you know, shift around."

"What? No way."

"Look up." Roxas did as Xinck said and looked up to see the old, torn picture of a deity "See the picture of that god? Look how it has suns at the bottom and top of its heads."

"Yeah?"

"Now look at its sides." Roxas looked to the pictures right and left sides. He saw half suns, their prominences barely touching the god's face. "See the large crease separating the ceiling from the rest of the walls?" Xinck asked. As he said, there were creases in between the left and right walls and the ceiling. "You can also see all the dust on the ceiling, but none on the walls. The whirring and shifting sounds we heard must be her rearranging parts of the fortress to make it difficult to find her. Either she just spent a fortune on renovations, or she has a nice understanding of architecture, mechanical engineering and advanced magics, as evidenced by that shield she used to put you on your ass."

"Ugh! Forget it!" Tired, Roxas plopped down on the cold ground, Keyblades clattering then disappearing. "You were right." Roxas sighed, gripping the bridge of his nose, "We should've come up with a plan instead of just rushing in."

"Look, we can talk about how right I always am later, but right now, we have people that need killing. You just gonna sit and mope and-"

"No. I'm not moping. Just...thinking, that's all." Taking his time, Roxas stood back up. Xinck had caught Roxas on his 'mopiness' anytime Axel was brought up, and this time he didn't want to give Xinck the satisfaction. "Alright, let's figure this out. "

"That guy in the fedora looked like Alucard, right?"

"Yeah, kinda. But what I can't figure out is what she meant by 'The wrongs we committed". What did we do?"

"Well, I..ahem.."Xinck cleared his throat, "Massacred a bunch of people, kinda."

"Uh-huh, yeah, but what did _I _do, is what I meant. These people want revenge, but I've never seen any of them before. You?"

"No. But that Red-headed guy seemed to know you, he seemed a little mad when you said you didn't know him."

"I don't care. I was looking at Masq, she's the one I want. I don't care whatever it is I supposedly did to her, but I'm gonna get her."

"She said she wanted you to kill her, but then again, that could be a figure of speech. Guess we'll just have to find out."

"She'll get her wish." Roxas said. "What about you? The red guy said he wanted you."

"I'm flattered, but I don't think he's my type."

Roxas sighed aloud. He turned into a slow 360 degree turn, fully taking in the room. He saw that every door but one had been closed and it was the door Masq had disappeared into. This fortress, it looked big on the outside and Roxas wondered how much bigger it had to be on the inside if just the Foyer was bigger than the The Gray Area and Where Nothing Gathers in the castle. "This place, she called it Veridis Quo. What's that mean? Sounds Latin."

"Um.."Xinck scratched at the back of his head, "Uh..Veridis Quo was a song on...one of Daft Punk's best albums."

"Daft Punk?"

"Yeah, the album was called _Discovery_." Xinck said. "Oh, and 'Veridis Quo' means "Very Disco", and if you turn _that_ around it'll spell "Discovery".

"Mm." Roxas scoffed. "And Masq named this place after that. Maybe she wants us to Discover something. Why she took Axel, why she's doing this, why she wanted us here and who those people were. You know, Xinck, you are really good with languages."

"Yeah, but I just Googled it on this iPhone I stole from Demyx." Xinck said. Roxas turned back around to see Xinck clutching an iPhone in a blue cellphone case, gingerly pressing on its surface. "And...just like that, all his crappy songs are gone and his wallpaper is now me in a thong."

"Gross!"

* * *

Saix rarely felt fear as a human, so why now as a Nobody was a certain anxiety preventing him from performing his duties? It was Xemnas. That man, that being who's aura could do terrible things. A situation had unfolded while he was on 'vacation' and his orders were for him not to be disturbed for any reason. But this situation had gone out of control, too much time had passed and Kingdom Hearts had not been supplied with fresh hearts in days. Saix could no longer stomach this, he had to weigh everything: either inform Xemnas and risk harsh punishment, or hope that Roxas would return soon to help in Kingdom Hearts's completion.

Hope...Believing. How ironic. The morning before Roxas left, Saix remembered chastising No. XIII for 'believing' that Axel would return just fine and that he was okay. And now, Saix learned that Roxas and Xinck had discovered that Axel wasn't okay, he was abducted. But by whom? And for what purpose? These questions and more rose inside Saix's mind.

He could no longer stomach any of this. Slowly, he removed his fist, mid-knock from Xemnas's office door. He wouldn't inform his Superior, he would fix this himself and drag Roxas and Xinck back kicking and screaming if he had to. Saix turned on his heel and ran into a corridor of Darkness.

Too bad he didn't know that Xemnas wasn't there.

* * *

Determined to give chase to the masked woman, Roxas insisted on following the same path Masq went when she vanished through the doorway, even though Xinck warned him about the shifting nature of the fortress. Not long after they made their way through the door, did they find themselves running up and down numerous flights of stairs, down through ivory white corridors and black marble hallways. The entire fortress had no single theme, but seemed to be composed of several themes juxtaposed together. But there was one constant in every area visited thus far, jagged holes in the walls filled with machinery, wires and circuits. The deeper they went into the fortress, the grander and more intricate the circuits became, the bigger the wires got and soon they were no longer just inside the walls. Giant wires and cords sailing and weaving along the walls to some unknown destination.

Xinck couldn't tell if Roxas noticed or not, or if he even cared. He had been running behind Roxas for a while and was beginning to slow down, but Roxas kept going, kept running, looking for Axel. Roxas had a one-track mind and Xinck was sure he could care less about the ulterior motive that Masq so obviously had.

"Xinck, hurry up!" Roxas said, running even faster. "Why're you going so slow?"

Huffing, puffing and close to passing out, Xinck shouted ahead between breaths, "Why...you..going...so fast! Slow down!"

The dimly lit corridor they were currently running through was coming to an end, a lone stepladder bathed in a patch of pale indigo light from above stood against the farthest wall. "Hey!" Roxas yelled back, "I see a light!" He came to the rickety, rusted metal ladder and craned his neck upward into the glow above as he placed both hands on the upper steps. "It's coming from outside." Xinck replied with a cough, followed by him hacking up a lung. "You okay?" Roxas asked, Xinck coming to the ladder and bending over.

"I'm...fine. Just...slow down, dammit.." He panted. "Come on, let's go, get up the ladder." He shooed Roxas up the ladder as he was soon to follow.

Climbing up through the square hole in the ceiling, Roxas stood up onto what he could only describe as a roof of stone, about the the same size as an average office building in a city..It was gray, angular and bordered with white brick. Roxas looked up to the sky, only to see the encompassing mountain and its surrounding and numerous peaks. On the other side of this roof was a bridge, connecting to the ledge of another part of the fortress. Large chunks of machinery and tech and cables and gears jutted out in every direction. Electrical nodes crackled with energy from towers in the distance, randomly striking both the fortress and the rocks of the mountain, but more importantly, Roxas noticed, was how little progress they had made in ascending the fortress. From their current position, Roxas could still see the ground without squinting and guessed that they had to be only 120 yards up.

"A little help!" Xinck shouted from the ladder, his hand reaching for the sky.

"Do wha-Oh, hold on." Roxas knelt down and brought Xinck up onto the roof. "Look at this, we've been running all over the place and this is how far we've gone?"

"This place is too big." Xinck said, walking over to the edge. From this height, he thought he could see the markings he saw on the ground better and make out their meaning, but to his surprise he saw nothing, no markings, no etchings, just purple earth. "Shit." He cursed.

"What's wrong?"

"The markings, the one's in the ground that we saw earlier. I can't see them. They're gone. I won't be able to tell what she's doing if I can't see it."

"Don't worry about it. If she's up to something then we'll just stop her before she gets a chance."

Xinck scoffed and gave a half smile as he turned to face Roxas. "I hate how optimistic you are."

"Yeah." Roxas replied, raising his hands and placing them behind his head, "It's a great relief from your cynical attitude. Come on, I saw I bridge close by."

* * *

The Organization's Vault held thousands of objects obtained from hundreds of worlds over the course of the Organization's history. Both magical and non-magical objects alike, weapons, artifacts and items of value, all of them were housed in a lone tower in the Eastern section of The Castle That Never Was accessible only by bridge. If needed, the objects were used to assist members on certain missions, or used as a means of trade. The only Nobodies who needed no permission to enter were Xemnas, Saix and Xaldin.

Saix entered the Vault from its only entrance after imputing a code at the front door. He came into a square, metallic blue control room with a single computer on the control board. There were no other doors in the Control Room and only one window, a large bay window that over looked an enormous, metal and white landscape, in the center of which was the Vault. A large, incredibly wide cylinder that stretched to the very top of the tower; giant, obelisk-shaped doors covered the cylinder, 10 columns going up and 5 rows going across. The Vault. On the outer wall that surrounded the vault were a series of vertical and horizontal metal rails that allowed the Control Room to move around the vault.

Saix came over to the computer, which automatically comes online when anyone enters the vault. The computer had only three options on its screen, as there were only three things anyone could be doing: "Browse Catalog", "Add New Entry", and "Retrieval". Saix clicked on Retrieval and a new screen prompt presented itself, "Item(s) to Retrieve?" And in the space below, Saix began to type:

"HUI, FOUNTAIN OF; SCOPE, EAGLE."

Pressing ENTER, the process started. The Control Room jerked to life and moved swiftly to the left, catching Saix off guard and making him stumble as it moved faster than he thought it would. Finally it stopped abruptly and moved up along the wall for 4 floors. When it stopped again, this time in front of an opening, obelisk-shaped doors, the door began to fall forward until it laid perfectly parallel to the floor.

With the door opened, Saix caught a brief glimpse of the true inside of the vault: items of all shapes and sizes hanging from metal rods and held in time-suspending green orbs. A white, mechanical hand extended out from the depths of the vault holding two green orbs. As it passed the threshold of the vault and came for the top of the Control Room, the green orbs shattered into nothing, revealing the two objects Saix had ordered. The white hand came to the top of the Control Room, a hole opening, as it was part of the process. The hand turned upside down and dropped the items onto the floor with a clatter.

Saix often wondered _why _it ended like that. The items could be fragile and break, making the entire process an exercise in futility. Why bother putting up a protective, time-suspending field and locking them in a highly secure vault if they are just gonna be dropped on a hard metal floor afterward? Xemnas was a bad planner when it came down to it, Saix thought.

* * *

**The Bridge.**

The walls of this fortress were, despite having wires, cords and electrical nodes sticking out in random places, fairly modern and awe-inspiring. The entire fortress was something to be admired for its sheer immensity and design.

Granting that the fortress was a technological marvel, the bridge that Roxas and Xinck were crossing was old and worn, and it was leading them to a part of the mountain fortress that looked to be in ruins. The bridge was old, rusted, but sturdy with metal carvings of the sun on each side, its prominences acted as support beams holding up the arches on the side of the bridge.

"I just had a thought." Roxas said as they crossed over the bridge, "When this is over and we go back to the Castle, if anyone asks, I made you come along with me. Everyone probably already told Xemnas about us and there's no point in both of us getting in trouble."

"Uh-huh. Okay." Xinck replied.

"Hey!"

"Mm?"

"You agreed to that WAY too easily!"

"How do you mean?"

"We've been on this amazing trip across the worlds, against the orders of the Organization and you're just gonna let me take the fall?" Roxas exclaimed.

"Yup."

"You jerk!"

"Hey, it was your idea." Xinck said. "And technically, you did order me to come with you. Remember that night? Then you started singing _Life is like a Boat _and you know I like that song."

"You could at least take some responsibility." Roxas said, "Yeah, I _ordered _you to come with me, but you told me to Piss off. You never listen to me when I try to outrank you."

"I'm not listening to you now." Roxas punched Xinck square in the arm. "Ow! God! That stings!" Xinck returned the punch, Roxas yelled and they walked on in silence, rubbing their bruised shoulders.

**The Ruins.**

The bridge let out in a desolate, worn out place made of dark blue stone, not marble, ivory or any other material that seemed to compose the rest of the Fortress. This place seemed to have been carved from the mountain itself and had the appearance of a bombed out balcony, 10 times the size of a normal balcony. One wall was nothing but large holes and thin, worn out pillars, two of which acted as doorways leading out to a small, dead garden filled with dark dirt and dried,flowery remains. Overhead, the ceiling kept out what little light inhabited this world. On the farthest wall was a mural or painting of a god, in the shape of the sun being bowed down to and worshiped by people. It was decrepit and ruined by time.

Roxas took a look around and took noticed the thick layer of dust on the stone floor. He stomped his foot and a thick cloud of it rose to the hair and fell soon after."Look at this place. Its so old. I'm thinking that most of this fortress was here long before Masq was."

"The Foyer had the picture of a god on the ceiling, the bridge had the suns, common symbols of godliness and over there is a mural." Xinck said, "This mountain could've been a temple or monastery, or..some other...godly-worshipy-thingy...place."

"But why would she make a temple her base?"

"Maybe she's a religious freak or something."

"We might have to turn back around." Roxas said, "I'm not seeing anywhere else to go."

"No way, we're not going back. I have a thing about crossing bridges."

"What? No you don't, we just crossed over a bridge and you didn't say a thing!"

"What I meant was that I don't cross bridges twice. It's bad luck." Xinck said.

"You're not superstitious."

"Alright, alright, but-"

"Shh!" Roxas clapped a hand over Xinck's mouth and moved both of them up against a wall around the corner, out of sight. "I heard something." He whispered.

"Mm?"

Roxas waited a moment, trying to hear the same sound he just heard, but when nothing happened, he motioned for Xinck to follow him as he skulked around the corner to get a better look. As they went, Roxas kept a firm eye on the outside garden, where he was sure the noise came from. They inched farther and farther into the ruins as a dead tree came into view in the gardens, then Roxas heard the noise again.

"That wasn't me." Xinck whispered.

"Well, yeah, I know its not your stomach, but someone's hungry." Roxas said, he and Xinck standing still as the noise grew clearer. Walking into view under the dead tree, apparently unaware of their presence, was a creature having the loose appearance of a Leopon (Leopard and Lioness). It had fine, shiny white fur hair tinged with a small hit of blue. Small purple markings in the shape of ancient script dotted its back and sides randomly. It had a tail, roughly 3 feet long that split off into three distinctive thinner tails. Taking the shape of a V, two rows of small spikes started from the back of its neck down to its back side. On the top of its shoulders were three vertical eyes, closed shut. Its neck was thick, bound by an intricate metal color. Its head was normal with a few, stray purple markings here and there; a normal nose, dark and actually adorable; a mouth, presumably filled with the viscous teeth of a carnivore. Overall, it was a beautiful creature, serene, but its eyes gave way to its sadness.

Roxas looked at the creature in silence. Where he and Xinck hid, it could not see, but Roxas could clearly see it and he stared into its eyes. "It..looks so sad. What kind of animal is that?"

"I've seen that before." Xinck whispered, "I read about them in one my books. Its called a Lumophage."

"A whatifage?"

"Lumophage. A Light Eater."

"Oh, like a plant. Axel told me about that, he said it was called, uh, Photosinning."

"Photosynthesis and, no, that's not it. Plants use light to make food, a Lumophage _literally _eats light. Oh, oh, look, its doing it! Look!"

Watching the creature, they saw the three large eyes on its shoulders open, revealing black sclera and white pupils. The air around the creature's mouth began to waver and shine. It opened its mouth, released a mighty roar, its eyes shining momentarily. Then the light disappeared, leaving only a large, orb of blackness beside its head, blocking and making everything around it unseen: darkness. Soon, like water filling a cavity, light filled in the darkness and all was visible again. The Lumophage bent its head down and whined, its stomach growling once more.

"See?" Xinck said. "It ate the light, leaving darkness. Lumophages are supposed to be very rare and impossible to find, let alone catch. What's it doing here, I have no idea."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, obviously, they live in the Realm of Light, but they stay in worlds where the sun shines the most, you know, where their food is abundant. But this place doesn't look bright enough to keep it going so-"

"It's starving." Roxas said.

"Yeah, just interrupt me in the middle of my knowledge-giving."

"And it doesn't eat anything else? Just light?"

"Well, some reports say that its an omnivore, but it only eats when its bored, or after killing a threat to its being. But its diet mostly consists of photons and slow moving mammals."

"It looks so sad." Roxas said.

"It's just hungry."

"I've seen you get depressed when you're hungry, once you even tried to kill yourself. I can only imagine what he's thinking about."

"Yes, yes, I'm complicated."

"I'm gonna go over there, try to pet it." Before Xinck could protest, Roxas left him and casually walked across the ruined space, skipped over misplaced floor tiles and cautiously strolled into the garden. The Lumophage looked up with its large eyes, seeing Roxas for the first time. "Uh, hey there. Hi, I'm Roxas." He reached his hand out for the animals head and slowly stroked it, the Lumophage twitched in response, its nose sniffing the air. It purred and rubbed its head against Roxas's palm.

"Roxas, no!" Xinck whispered loudly from the ruins.

"It's okay!" Roxas laughed, he could feel its whiskers through his gloves and it tickled. "He's nice. Come over and pet him!" XIII bent down and viewed the collar around the creatures neck, it's name printed on the side. "Ne..ri? Neri. That's your name, huh?" Neri purred in response, opening his mouth and licking Roxas's gloved hand, then passing up his sleeve and licking his bare wrist. He plopped down on the dead grass, laughing and petting the Lumophage while it began to lick his face.

"Roxas, get away from him!" Xinck, now fully exposed and shouting. "It eats light!"

"So?" Roxas shouted back.

"You reek of it!"

Neri bit down on Roxas's wrist. "Gah!" He shot up, kicking Neri in its side and ripping his arm free. Neri growled as Roxas hopped away, landing next to Xinck. "Agh, my arm." He turned up his sleeve to see his bloody wrist drenched in saliva. "It really is hungry, huh?"

"Yup." Xinck said. "Then again, you are delicious, so I can't blame him."

"Well, maybe I should feed him you, see how much he likes that." The Lumophage recovered and began to skulk around them, keeping its eyes on them while the eyes on its shoulders opened wide. Roxas opened his palms, a flurry of black and white shined and delivered Oblivion and Oathkeeper. Neri looked even more thrilled. "Then again, you might give him diarrhea."

Shadows leaped from the wall and gathered at Xinck's fingers, taking the form of two swords. "Leave the poopoo jokes to the professionals."

"Yeah, you're a professional alright. You destroyed all the toilets on the 77th floor, remember?"

"Okay, quit it! You're starting to upset me." Xinck squealed.

Roxas laughed, ready to keep going, but then took notice of the big glowing cat ahead them, ready to pounce. Neri's teeth and claws were bared, a shining white aura covered its body and its two front eyes turned to slits, eying Roxas.

* * *

"I found it necessary to change the layout of the fortress, I knew that Roxas would try to give chase if I didn't."

"And?" The black and red haired man asked, "Where are they now? More importantly, where's Xinck?"

"Why the sudden interest in him?" Masq inquired.

"Hmph!" He scoffed, "In Vancouver, he said something that caught my attention. My curiosity won't die down until he tells me what he knows."

"Curiosity killed the cat, mind you."

"Well, luckily I'm smarter than a cat. Plus, he's an arrogant ass that I'd love to take down a peg."

"You just want to kill him because he said you looked like Gaara."

"That, too."

The door to Masq's office opened and the old Professor came in. "It is done, everything is ready." He said.

"Excellent." Masq said. She rose from her chair and stood ahead of her desk.

"You have the Omphalos stone with you, I presume?"

"It is with me," She said, reaching into her cloak. In her hand was an orb the size of a shotput ball, black as ink, but a glowing light inside it, shaped like a spiral galaxy, pulsed with radiant energy. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yes, but a pain in the ass to get." The black and red-haired man said. "I'm never going to the Underworld again."

"Your efforts were not in vain, friend." Masq said. Her eyes shining with the orb in her hands until she hid it back into her cloak. "Professor, I believe you have something for me."

"Yes, indeed." The Professor produced a device from his coat: a remote control in the shape of a handle, black and silver with a tab on top. "It is very simple to operate." He began to demonstrate, "Squeeze" He gripped the side and the tab on top unlocked itself, "Flip." Using his thumb, he flipped the tab open, revealing a red button. "Press the button and hold for 3 seconds, that will start the sequence, but only after the final transformation of the Fortress and the Cannon has reached its full height. Holding the button will initiate the Cannon's fire."

"Squeeze, flip, press and hold. Excellent, thank you, professor. You are a credit to our cause." Masq reached for the trigger, but the professor retracted his hand. "What?"

"There is...one more thing you should know."

"Don't tell me the damn thing needs batteries." The black and red-haired man said.

"What is it, Professor?" The masked woman asked, a temper noticeably taking place in her voice.

The Professor smirked. "A failsafe."

"What kind of failsafe!"

"In the event of my murder by your hands, the Cannon will self-destruct, taking you all with me." The Professor had a grin on his face the size of his large forehead. "In fact, if you, Him, "He motioned toward the black and red-haired man, "Baby, or that infernal girl or your pet kill me, the Cannon will also explode. This is to insure that you fulfill your promise to resurrect my family when this is all said and done."

"You do not trust me?" Masq inquired.

"I don't trust anyone who dares hide behind a mask." With that, the Professor dropped the trigger in Masq's open hand, turned on his heels and left the room.

The Black and Red-haired man whistled in astonishment, "Check out the big balls on Dr. GoodTimes."

"Goddammit." Masq whispered in anger, gripping the trigger and trembling. She made her way back to her desk.

"I'm guessing I won't be able to kill him now, huh? Oh, well, what's the big deal? Just bring his family back when this is done."

"I will not waste time bringing back that arrogant, prideful human's family!" She said, "Dr. Professor Gooden's family's death is his own fault. He ignored them his entire career, then when they died, oh, now he suddenly cares!"

"How did they die, anyway?"

"Oh, I had Baby kill them. Dr. Good'n'Sexy doesn't know that, of course. I needed his assistance in constructing the Cannon, but now that its done, we don't need him anymore."

"But none of us can touch him now."

"Correct." She replied, sitting at her desk. She tucked the trigger into her cloak and began to type away on her computer. "I'm changing the layout again. If you want Xinck, now is the time."

"Excellent." He replied, putting up his hood. "So, if you don't plan on raising his family, that you had killed, what do you plan to do then?"

"I'll think of something." She said, "I always do. If _we_ can't kill him, then perhaps we can find a third use for Axel. "

"Alright, tell me what you come up with." He headed for the door and was preparing to leave. "One more thing. What you promised me when this is done..."

"Yes, yes, you'll still get yours." She said, waving him off.

"Sweet." He closed the door behind him and broke into a run.

* * *

Neri, despite its being hungry and a bit tired, was proving to be an interesting match for both Roxas and Xinck. He not only ate light as a form of sustenance, but he also used light for offense and defense. Neri could fire off beams of light from the eyes on its shoulders, weave temporary illusions, and had super speed bordering on teleportation. In fact, it could move so fast that it could combine its mild illusion powers and produce temporary clones of itself. It mostly ignored Xinck and kept the Deviant at bay by blinding him, its main interest being Roxas. The Key of Destiny was finding it harder and harder to land a hit, as his offensive attacks would be devoured by the Lumophage, making him larger.

Black spikes, generated by Xinck, shot from the ground around Neri as he dashed around the spikes, easily closing the gap between he and Xinck. The Lumophage jumped and tucked into a spin as he collided with Xinck, scratching and tearing at him with his claws.

"Dammit!" Xinck jumped back, hand on his chest. Neri hit the ground, opened its mouth, revealing an intense bright light with its roar, causing Xinck to stagger in a blind fit.

Roxas appeared, right above the creature and raised Oathkeeper. He brought it down for a strike and Neri caught the Keyblade right in his mouth. "No way!" Neri pulled and spun Roxas around, wringing the Keyblade from his grip and Roxas went flying into a wall. Neri tossed the Key away and dashed for Roxas, mouth open and teeth bared.

"No you don't!" Roxas kneed the Lumophage in its jaw, closing its mouth, then he kicked upwards into the creatures stomach, throwing it into the air. Roxas jumped and bashed the creature in its stomach, throwing it across the ruins and slamming him into the mural of the deity.

XIII landed next to Xinck, rubbing at his eyes. "You alright?"

Xinck's eyes were bloodshot and swimming around in his head. "I'm okay." He rubbed at his eyes, his vision retuning slowly. "Let's try neutering it, that would calm him down."

"I'm not touching his-Watch out!" The pair split apart, Neri jumping between them and missing. From behind, the creature was open and instinctively, Roxas fired a blast from his open palm. Quickly, Neri spun around and caught the blast in his mouth, taking it in and growing larger.

"Dammit, Roxas, I thought we agreed to NOT do that!"

"It was an accident!" Roxas shouted back, cutting off the blast and jumping away. Neri now neared 7 feet in height, nearly dwarfing the two Nobodies. He started slowly, placing one paw in front of the other, and switching its sights between Roxas and Xinck, wanting to disable one and eat the other. Its eyes flicked on and off, yellow, white, blue, green. Thick gobs of saliva dripped from its open maw, over its quivering lips and splashing the floor. A lick of the lips, Neri opened its mouth again and released a mighty roar that shook the ruins, even reducing some of the decayed columns and pillars to rubble.

But when Neri closed his mouth, the rumbling did not cease. The ruins shook, the ceiling and the roof began to crumble under the strain. Following the rumbling was the grinding of gears, whirring noises and locks unlocking, twisting, turning and re-locking into place. Looking out past the Ruins, Roxas and Xinck could see the rest of the fortress and even the mountain changing its layout. Large sections of Fortress moved out of the way by gear, moved up and down the mountain and re-situated themselves elsewhere. The bridge that brought them to the ruins collapsed as the two separate ledges between it began moving towards each other.

"The Fortress is moving again." Xinck said.

"And I don't think these ruins are gonna move with it. Run!" Finding only one way to go, Roxas and Xinck dashed for the closest ledge, hoping to find a surface to land on. Neri growled right behind then, giving chase while a fresh, new wall came bursting through the floor behind him, completely destroying what was left of the ruins. The roof finally collapsed and in the ensuring chaos and destruction, Neri pounced for Roxas and meet both Keyblades in his mouth as Roxas defended. "Gah!" Roxas bellowed, "You are not gonna eat me!" Neri, Roxas's weapons still lodged in the depths of his jaws, bounded out of the destroyed ruins and into the mountain canyon below.

"Roxas!" Xinck cried, loosing his balance as the floor collapsed.

"I'm okay!" He shouted back, his echo dying the farther he went. "Just keep going...Find Axel...I'm Okay..!" Both Neri and Roxas disappeared into the abyss of clouds around the Fortress.

While Xinck kept his eyes darting back and forth around the abyss of clouds hoping to catch a glimpse of light or yellow hair, he failed to notice the ground give way under him and he fell through a small gap and into the Fortress's changing infrastructure. He fell into a dark space and could hear the inner mechanism of the fortress and feel the vibrations of its locks and gears grinding into place. A dim light and a metallic thunk told Xinck that he hit a metal surface and started sliding down, shimmering metal structures moved above him.

A dim light shined ahead, an opening, but it was closing fast. Number XIV sat up as he slid, he reached up and quickly grabbed a metal rod, he spun around it and gained enough speed then kicked off with all his might, flying straight through the opening just as it closed.

* * *

Neri struggled with Roxas as he tried to pry his weapons from the creature's giant maw. The Lumophage flung Roxas about, trying to unhinge him, but the Nobody would not let go. Neri jumped from one side of the mountain to the other, trying to maintain its balance as they fell. Finally, Roxas ripped Oathkeeper from Neri's jaw, took aim and fired a beam of light in the creature's left eye, destroying it in a spray of blood. Neri hissed and screamed, loosing his balance and releasing Roxas from his mouth. Neri tumbled and bashed into the mountain, Roxas stood on Neri's nose and prepared to jump off onto a nearby cliff, when Neri whipped its tail and snared Roxas's ankle, pulling him down as well.

The transformation of the Fortress above finally settled as the two hit the very bottom of the mountain, a dark area, large and square and dimly lit. Surrounding the outer edges were stone tiers leading down to a pit in the center. Neri hit first, colliding with the edge of the pit, his head hitting the stone. Roxas came next and landed on his feet, Neri released him from his tail.

"Ugh! Really!" Roxas stood up and was greeted by a Neri, glaring at him with his right eye and bleeding from his blind left eye. His head was also bleeding from where he had hit the stones in the room. "You still want to eat me after falling off a mountain? How about this, if you leave me alone, I won't hurt you and I'll find a way out for both of us?"

Neri took a defiant stance and growled.

"Dumb animal." Roxas sighed. "I can't stay down here, but _he _won't let me leave." Regrettably and unintentionally, Roxas called Oathkeeper and Oblivion to his hands and took up a stance. "I wonder what Axel would do in this situation." He thought for a moment, then heard Axel's voice saying. _"Kill it before it kills you._" But Roxas didn't want to kill it, even with one eye missing, he could still see its sadness. Even during the fight in the ruins, Roxas tried to feed it with his light, much to Xinck's chagrin, but Neri was never satisfied and wanted more.

"Instead of thinking about what others would do, I suggest you start thinking for yourself." Roxas turned around to see Masq leaning against the wall behind him. "Hey, you."

"You!"

"Oh, don't mind me, I'm just watching, and-"

"I do mind!" Roxas made for an attack, jumping from the pit over to her. The Masked Woman raised her hand from underneath her cloak and snapped her fingers. A crystal clear force-field erected itself around the outer edges of the room, sealing Roxas and Neri inside and cutting off Roxas from Masq. "Why don't you stop using magic and just fight me right here!"

"Oh, all in due time, my new best friend," Masq said, " But really, I'm just here to kill some time and I wanted to make sure my pet got the nutrition he needs."

Roxas shot a glance over to Neri, the Lumophage was dividing its gaze between Roxas and Masq. Its eyes were sad, but its mouth told a different story. "Are you making him do this?"

"No." She said. "Its just animal instincts to eat in order to survive. Did you know that if a dog owner dies and is unable to feed its pet, the dog will begin to eat the owner if no other food is available?"

"You're sick."

"I'm sick?" She looked offended. "Oh, don't give me that. You hang out with that psychopathic sadist and you don't call him sick. What is truly sick, _TRULY _twisted and depraved is the world and what you would call God's design, human nature or whatever."

Roxas lowered his gaze, turned his eyes to slits and in a hushed, hollow voice, said. "Me and my friends and going to kill you."

"Not if my friends kill your friends first." She replied with a smile. "Get it while it's hot, Neri!" And the Lumophage charged for No. XIII.

* * *

Xinck landed on his feet in a large square room made of light blue stone. A single window was to his left and a metal door to his right. On the farthest wall was a fixed alter, old, brittle and adorned with red and gold decorations, two melted down and burnt out candles, and a golden carving of the sun just above it.

As Xinck looked around, he noticed that this room was considerably brighter than the other parts of the fortress he and seen. He came up to the window and to his surprise all he saw were clouds and the tips of the surrounding peaks. He had actually gone higher up the Fortress despite falling.

"I know what you're thinking." Said a voice.

"First off," Xinck started, unfazed, "No you don't. I understand that this Fortress combines Science and Magic, very interesting combo, by the way. And second, I knew you were standing there, but I didn't care because I knew you were gonna start talking anyway." Finally, Xinck turned around and greeted the red and black-haired man wearing the black coat.

"Wow. Very good. You don't miss a thing." He replied. "But I can't help but think that you are wondering why I'm here."

"I'm sure you'll tell me."

"I have some questions that I want to ask you." He said.

"Well, what a coinky-dink, I, too, have some questions."

"My question first." The man said. "In Vancouver you thought I was Zexion, then you asked how was He still alive. Is it true? Is Zexion dead?"

"What do you care?"

"Is that the question you want me to answer?"

"No, my questions actually matter." Xinck said. Palms opened, shadows gathered in the center and took the shape of his swords. "You told us in the Foyer that you were the one who took Axel from Agrabah and Roxas would be a bit sore if I didn't do anything to you for that offense. I already know that you all are planning something, I know that Axel was the bait to get us here, and-"

"Your question?"

"Who are you? Why do you have that coat?"

The man chuckled, grinned and kicked off from the wall. Hands in pockets, he strolled over to Xinck and stopped beside him. "Well, Xinck, I'd love to answer those questions, but you didn't answer mine."

"You keep using my name, but I don't know yours."

"Here's a proposition. We clash, we fight, whoever loses has to spill it!" A quick red flash of light, a metal weapon sliced upward. Xinck leaned backward in time to dodge, then back-flipped away, giving the man a wide berth.

In the man's hand was a jagged sickle, extra large with a black blade and a red handle. "You're quick."

"Thank you, now die!" Xinck charged in and met the man with a clash. Xinck raised his left sword to strike, the man ducked down, swept Xinck's legs out under him and drove him to the ground. "Cheater!"

"Whatever." The man raised his sickle above Xinck's head and brought it straight down. Xinck opened his mouth and dark energy shot out for the man's head. "Damn you!" He blocked the blast with his sickle and knocked it away out the window. Xinck spun on his back and vaulted up and took some distance between each other.

"Watch out!" A black portal appeared next to the man, a great dark fist punched forth and the man prepared to block with his sickle. "You're open!" Xinck shouted from behind, his blade connecting with the man's back as he canceled his fist attack.

"Cheater!" The man groaned. Xinck laughed, then stopped suddenly when he retracted his sword. There was no blood on it and when he looked at the entrance wound, he saw that there was nothing there and the black coat was not disturbed. "Surprised yet?" The man asked, chuckling slightly.

"No, no, not really. Just, uh, let me try again." He tried stabbing, more like poking, the man in the back again, over and over, but there was nothing happening.

"Now are you surprised?"

"Y-Yes." Xinck said, appalled. He knew the coat protected its wearer to a certain degree, but not like this, not at this close range. " What the hell are you!" The man cackled a howling laugh. With no warning and seemingly coming from nowhere, a deep red liquid shot up between the man and Xinck, cutting the Deviant up his middle and leaving a wound on his. He panicked and jumped back away from the man.

"You know." The man said as the red liquid moved with a mind of its own into his free hand and formed another, but smaller, sickle. "I think I will answer one of your questions. I'll tell you who I am."

Xinck glared at the man as he felt the wound on his chest slowly close up. _"Dammit. He's a Hemokinetic, he can control his own blood."_

With a proud and arrogant light in his eye, the man shouted and proclaimed, "My name is Xibre (Ze-bear), The Wicked Red! EX-NUMBER XIV OF ORGANIZATION XIII!"

* * *

REVIEW.


	46. Redux Profile III

I'm still alive, just give me some time...

* * *

**Xemnas**

-_"Mu."_

-"Be Born."

-In Japanese, "Mu" is Nothingness, while in Chinese, can mean "Nothing comes from Nothingness."

The beginning of Xemnas's Redux is, surprisingly, the least destructive when first activated. A large circle of light blue energy surrounds Xemnas in a ten-foot radius, small particles in the shape vertical lines flying directly upward. On his command, a line beginnings spiraling upward, surrounding and essentially acting as a barrier to protect Xemnas. The line goes higher and higher into the sky and grows larger and larger, eventually losing its blue glow and revealing its metallic appearance. Even after the main body of the Redux has formed, the tail continues to weave in and out of the sky and can be seen for miles around. The Redux is a great sky dragon with enormous hands that can easily strike and pierce the ground. A semicircle, lined with Nobody symbols, is fixed to each arm and can be placed together to form a single shield capable of repelling any attack no matter how powerful. Its wingspan is impossibly wide and when flapped create gusts capable of destroying whatever is caught in its path. Stretching above the wings on either side of the dragon are a series of energy barrels, capable of firing missiles and lasers. The immensity of Xemnas's Redux always stays in the sky, usually its tail circling Xemnas is all that is seen until he orders it to strike. It is assumed to be the largest Redux in the Organization because its exact size is unknown.

Xemnas also undergoes a slight change of clothes. His black coat is opened and torn in half, leaving only the right half in tact. Xemnas's left arm is clad in large light blue and silver armor, his hand is covered in a clawed gauntlet of the same color. On the same arm's shoulder are white, ornamental feathers. Because half of Xemnas's coat is gone, black straps on his back and horizontally across his chest connect the uncut right side to the armored left side.

In this form, Xemnas is, for the most part, perfectly protected by his overwhelming Redux. Because of its size and intimidating nature no one realizes that the Redux itself is NOT the threat. The Dragon is powerful in its own right, but it can be destroyed if enough effort can be put into it. The fear that the dragon instills cannot easily be overcome and Xemnas uses this to distract his enemies from himself. (Xigbar is, apparently, the only one to realize this.) Because of this fact, Xemnas has actually never fought anyone face to face with his Redux. The real power behind Xemnas's Redux is his self-imposed limit is removed and he is allowed to utilize 100% of his power, as any other time less than 30% is used.

In _Kingdom Hearts II_, after he absorbed whatever power was left in Kingdom Hearts, Xemnas gained even more power and acquired additional stages in his Redux, making the Dragon more powerful as a result.

Xemnas's Redux is so large that it is rumored around the Castle that its tail stretches around the entire world, waiting for Xemnas to give the order to strangle it.

**Powers/Attacks.**

The Dragon, while essentially being a distraction, does have several abilities and powers**, **but without Xemnas it will do almost nothing unless provoked. Since Xemnas's true power is unlocked in Redux, his normal attacks are exponentially increased.

**Out of Nothing**- The Dragon reaches down from the sky and obliterates a certain area into the void, taking everything (people, earth, oxygen, light, dark and even space and time) with it, leaving a zone of extremely dangerous chaos until matter refills the void.

**Odious Fate**- Should an enemy work up the fortitude to attack the dragon directly, levitating lasers will shine into existence and attack.

**Wrath and Fury**- With the Dragon's claws, it strikes its enemies from above repeatedly.

**Gail of Hatred**- The Dragon flaps its great wings and creates brief, but devastating Hurricane-force winds.

**Nihilo**-Fires laser blasts from the top of the Dragon.

**Never-ending Fallacy**- The "Unlocking" of Xemnas's full attack power, should his Dragon be destroyed or otherwise.

**Nth Annihilation**- Should the Dragon be defeated and Xemnas enters the fight by himself, this is possibly one of his most powerful moves in his arsenal. Xemnas surrounds his enemy in a seemingly never-ending void of his Ethereal Blades.

**Nevermore- **One out of three of Xemnas's final and most devastating moves. He surrounds himself and his opponent in Chaos (an inconceivable substance that is neither matter nor antimatter and is the result of stripping away light, dark and nothing.) It is a Sudden Death move and if either Xemnas or the opponent is knocked into the Chaos, then they will neither die nor live, exist nor nonsexist. In truth, Xemnas himself doesn't know what happens.

**God of Nothing-**One out of three of Xemas's final and most devastating moves. Every Move Xemnas makes, whether it be a punch, kick or strike, is copied exactly by an unseen force to obliterate his enemy.

**Door to Nothingness-? **One out of three of Xemas's final and most devastating moves. The effects of this attack are unclear and could be one of two of these moves: Xemnas, in a kamikaze move, will 'relocate' the entire Realm of Nothingness on his location, killing himself, his opponent, the world they're on and a good portion of the that section of space. Or, Xemnas targets his opponent and unless he is stopped, will completely erase them, their life, existence, and even their memory in the minds of others. Or more likely, actually more possibly than likely, that "Door to Nothingness" is just a bluff on Xemnas's part.

**Weakness.**

While it seems that Xemnas is omnipotent in his Redux, and he almost is, he does have his limits. It is never advised to fight him one on one like a man, but to take him on with overwhelming force (like a gang of thugs). This plan, while good, will all be for naught if you're not endowed with some type of power. Even then it is hopeless if you do not understand the basics of Xemnas's powers. Since Xemnas is finally at 100% power, he will burn it quicker and reach his limit if he is taking on more opponents, unless he kills them all early on.

**Inspiration**- Not much inspiration was needed for this Redux. It was the first one that I wrote up only because I wanted to end Crush My Battle Opponent's Balls with a bang. Since in Kingdom Hearts 2 Xemnas absorbed Kingdom Hearts and he was using his Dragon multiple times, while at the same time Marluxia did something akin to a giant monster _Without _Kingdom Hearts in Re:CoM. So, without Kingdom Hearts, Xemnas only summons the dragon and doesn't ride it. He gets a nice change in wardrobe. His left arm is exposed and is covered in armor, like Terra, but the armor looks identical to Master Xehanort's armor, No Heart.


	47. Veridis Quo, Vendetta

Finally! I'm back! THis would've been up sooner, but I hit a snag and I had nowhere to go, luckily I went over it, took out some stuff and the rest of it just flowed naturally. You are gonna like this one, most definetly.

Enjoy and I only own what you have never heard of.

* * *

_..."You know." The man said as the red liquid moved with a mind of its own into his free hand and formed another, but smaller, sickle. "I think I will answer one of your questions. I'll tell you who I am."_

_Xinck glared at the man as he felt the wound on his chest slowly close up. _"Dammit. He's a Hemokinetic, he can control his own blood."

_With a proud and arrogant light in his eye, the man shouted and proclaimed, "My name is Xibre (Ze-bear), The Wicked Crimson! EX-NUMBER XIV OF ORGANIZATION XIII!"..._

….Just like everyone else in the Organization, my beginnings were humble: I was minding my own business when a Heartless took me from behind and maliciously ripped out my still-beating heart. Cast from the light and hurled from the darkness, I woke up in Betwixt and Between, the artificial anchoring dimension between The World That Never Was and Twilight Town. I was eventually found by Organization XIII and, well, after that there isn't too much to say.

I went from Brie to Xibre in less than an hour.

That dickhead Xemnas ordered Zexion to mentor me, help me master and control my Sanguikinetic abilities. My time in the Organization was very short, but I knew my place, I was at the very bottom, the lowest of the low. Even though there was a zombie kid above me I didn't mind. They said they could help me get my heart back, just like everyone else, but I had my concerns about that, questions, even. But no one seemed interested in answering them, except Zexion. He was...the only one I found interesting, in fact I go so far as to say that he was the only one I liked. He was quiet and somewhat introverted, but was very knowledgeable and serene and more than willing to answer any questions I had. Of course there were some things he couldn't tell me, I know this, but I like to think that if he could tell me than he would.

Other than Zexion I didn't care for anyone else: Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Axel and Larxene were assholes, I thought Lexaeus, Saix, Marluxia and Roxas were a bunch of uppity bastards who never talked, and Demyx and Luxord were a bunch of one-track idiots. Then, there was Xemnas. I tried to avoid that terrible man as best I could, but it seemed that we were both subconsciously inclined to bump into each other. But I don't know why, I cannot comprehend the rhyme nor reason behind the motives of that man!

And it was that same incomprehensible rhyme and unknowable motive that drove him to shoot me in the head and end my life! He had Saix toss me out the window like trash, leaving me to fade away into nothing. A terrible shame for them... I could have been a great asset to the Organization, a soldier who not only does his job but does it happily!

"Damn, your back story is boring." Xinck mused, "You should have said something about samurai. My backstory had samurai and it was awesome."

"It's not a competition, idiot." Xibre replied, brandishing his sickle pair. "Anyway, back to my story, I-"

"Listen, Berry." Xinck sighed, twirling both swords by their chains "I can guess where this is going. Xemnas shot you in the head, Saix tossed you out, you lived and are now plotting to destroy the entire Organization with Masq, eh?"

"Wrong!" Xibre rushed and closed in on Xinck, bringing his sickle pair up for a struck. The two clashed with each other and their blades were locked, grinding against each other as sparks fell from the metal. "I planned on killing everyone in the Organization myself, but then Masq found me and let me in on an even better deal!" With a shove, he pushed Xinck away and he staggered back to regain his balance.

"World Domination?" Xinck suggested while he flexed his arm, as it had taken most of the force of Xibre's push.

"Mmm?" Xibre alleviated his stance, an odd look on his face as he tilted his head, "World Domination? Not really my forte, but the thought intrigues me!" A terrible grin erupted on his face as he lunged for Xinck.

* * *

In a dark pit at what was assumed to be the very bottom of the Fortress, Roxas tiptoed around the very edge of the semi-visible force-field Masq constructed to keep him and her ravenous "pet" in close contact. Since the beginning, Roxas had to rely on physical attacks to fight, as any light attacks, if aimed incorrectly, would only be absorbed by the beast and make him grow. The Lumophage, Neri, a creature so rare that its mention in myth is as seldom as actual sightings. Driven by ravenous hunger brought on by the environment's lack of light and Masq's cruel commands, it repeatedly comes after Roxas with no fear of pain or death.

Masq sat casually on the very edge of the dark pit, legs crossed, a wide smile plastered over her mask as she watched the fight unfold. She would laugh, she would chuckle and cheer whenever Neri made a snatch for the boy, grab him with its teeth and wring him about before He was able to set himself free. Eventually, Masq's laughter and chuckles turned into full blown jeering. She stood in her seat, hollering and calling out the names of the fighters as if she were a sports announcer.

"Ah-hahahaha!" Masq roared, giving Roxas and Neri a standing ovation, she howled and praised with the ferocity of a madman. "Alright now! Down on the center stage, we got the boy with the duel-wielding Keyblades!" Roxas had enough problems, he didn't need his adversary chanting at him from her sit like a DJ. "Don't stop get it get it get it, with some boom an' some boom!"

She enjoyed harassing Roxas, shouting at him, trying to cross him up in hopes of letting down his guard so Neri could strike. But, truthfully, Masq knew that Roxas was too good for such simple distractions, she learned this when she briefly removed her mask, revealing her true face so she could scratch her nose and blew a raspberry at the back of Roxas's head. He didn't take any notice as Neri had made a successful slash at his chest and nicked his ribs.

Roxas staggered up from the dirt and jumped to the farthest side of the pit to recover. He breathed heavily, one eye open as blood had dripped from his forehead and into his left eye. Neri began to slowly turn and glared at Roxas as it licked the drops of blood off its mouth.

"Oh, poor baby." Masq teased from the sidelines. "Is Neri not playing fair?"

Coughing, hacking up blood, Roxas hollered back, "Shut up!"

"Rude. Very rude." She replied. "Does baby want Mama Masq to make it all better?"

Roxas growled, beginning to charge when Neri pounced in front of him, jaws wide and snarling. He made for a bite, so fast he nearly took Roxas halfway into his mouth before the Nobody could react. Roxas raised Oblivion into the roof of Neri's mouth, stopping its descent but not before a large fang fixed itself into Roxas's shoulder. "Gah!" He moaned, his own blood jetting out from the wound and into Roxas's other eye, effectively blinding him. Roxas locked his wounded arm, keeping Neri at bay as the creature whined, growled and tossed Roxas about, unable to let him free or swallow.

All he could hear were Masq's boisterous, sadistic cackle and Neri's growling, the fang in his shoulder driving deeper into his skin and hitting a nerve.

"Yes! YES!" Masq shouted, "Struggle and fight, battle and bleed, KILL AND BE KILLED! AHA-HA-HA-HA!"

Unable to bare the pain any longer, Roxas shouted in a blind rage and raised Oathkeeper high above his head. He brought it down on Neri's snout just as he yanked away Oblivion and tore his shoulder from his tooth. Neri's snout was nearly cleaved in half from the strike and became blinded from his own blood. Still blind, Roxas tossed aside both Keyblades and mercilessly grabbed Neri's bleeding face. He snapped the creatures mouth shut as it howled, then took a stance while he dug his fingers into Neri's fur. With a quick thrust, pull and twist, Roxas snapped Neri's neck and the Lumophage's body fell limply to the pit floor, a dying howl leaving as it went.

"Damn, dude..." Masq said, uncharacteristically.

He wiped the blood from his eyes, he felt his skin crawling as his healing factor stopped the bleeding and repaired his torn flesh. His eyesight returned, he looked to see Neri's body and a terrible sinking feeling formed in his chest. "Uh..Ugh..I.."

"Yep." Masq said, seemingly indifferent, "You killed my pet, Neri the Lumophage. Did you know that myth has several nicknames for Lumophages:'Sovereigns of First Light', 'Sages of the Sun', 'Lapdogs of the Morning Star' and various others. I actually thought that 'Lapdogs of the Morning Star' was a bit odd because Lumophages are technically cats and-"

"You call him your pet and you put him situations like these!" Roxas bellowed, "YOU DON'T EVEN FEED HIM!"

"Well, yes I did. I had Xibre do it. Or was it Baby?" An inquisitive look spread across her face, brushing off Roxas's anger. "Either way, I suppose it doesn't matter now."

"I hate you." Roxas seethed, "He didn't deserve this and you made him fight."

"And you made the conscious decision to kill him. What's that say about you?" Masq replied. She stood up, her back against the wall of the pit, "Now, I can understand survival of the fittest and the concept of kill or be killed, but only after every other option has been considered. You spilled unnecessary blood, Roxas. You didn't exhaust every single course of action."

"Why don't you come down here and I'll show you another course of action!" Roxas bellowed, " You don't have a problem talking big when you're far away and protected by a barrier!"

"Ah-ah-ah!" Masq exclaimed with a wagging finger. She came to the border of the semi-visible barrier that separated Masq from Roxas and Neri's carcass. With little pause, Masq tapped the barrier with her pinky finger. To Roxas's surprise, the barrier cracked and shattered without a fuss, raining down shimmering shards of glass that faded within seconds.

"You see, Roxas," Masq continued, "The barrier was a fake. Well, not fake, but it was incredibly fragile and could have been destroyed by the simplest attack." The lips of her mask began to curl into a cruel grin. "You didn't even consider destroying the barrier and coming after me instead of Neri."

In a rage, Roxas howled with a force of light erupting from his body for Masq. The deadly light obliterated the spot where the masked woman had been sitting, the stone and metal of the wall crumbled loudly to the ground and was shrouded by dust and debris. He was sure he got her as he could not sense her. He had to have at least injured her. Roxas shook in anger, the grip on both Keyblades so intense that he thought his hands would bleed. _"How could I be so stupid?_" He thought. His grief-filled gaze moved over to Neri's fallen body, now grotesque with its jaw ripped at an angle. A terrible lump formed in his chest and he had to look away.

Suddenly, there was a pressure on the back of Roxas's neck and arms lightly wrapped themselves around his torso. Her breasts on the back of his neck, he could fell her taking in a small breath. He could smell her, her scent wasn't just in his nostrils, it was in his mind. Her scent was a force all its own, brimming with an intoxicating power.

"It is a real shame, Roxas." Masq said, speaking right in his ear. Roxas thought it impossible as he was too stunned to move. She couldn't have gotten behind him that quickly without noticing. She couldn't have been human, as no human could get the upper hand on a Nobody. But she was human, she was so close that Roxas could feel her heart beating against his back.

"Why?" He managed to say, "Why are you doing this?"

She ignored his question. "A shame for Neri. I suppose I feel something for him. This wasn't the world he was born in, but I brought him here because he fascinated me. His powers, his nature of Innocence mixed with a deadliness reminded me of you."

"Who are you? How do you know me?"

She ignored his question again, "Now that Neri is gone I'm sure those damn Heartless will start showing their faces around here again. Neri did a good job of keeping them away and out of our affairs. Oh well, our time is coming."

Roxas didn't ask another question. He was silent, as was Masq as she stayed leaning down on him. Roxas had finally caught up as he registered Masq's last words. Confusion turned to anger, and that anger released his presence, pushing Masq away. Roxas attempted to strike at her with Oblivion, but she recovered nonchalantly and wafted into the air, her arms concealed by cloak gave her the appearance of a phantom.

"Answer me!" Roxas hollered. He spun on his heel and bellowed, "What is the point of all this? Me, Axel and Xinck! What did we ever do to you people!"

Fading now, her image waning, Masq replied, "In due-time, Roxas." She was gone now, only her echo finished her words, "Just keep going...and you'll find out..."

He was alone as the echo finally faded out. The dimly lit pit that housed Neri's fresh carcass began to shake and rumble and fall apart as its purpose had been fulfilled. Dark stones from the ceiling began to fall and bombard the ground. The spot on the wall where Roxas had attempted to blast Masq had cleared of dust and debris, revealing a dimly lit corridor.

He knew he couldn't stay here and as he made his way for the corridor, dodging falling debris, he turned back to see Neri's carcass. He couldn't take it with him or save it. "I'm sorry." He said. He turned and ran into the dark corridor as rocks filled the entrance and the rumbling stopped.

* * *

Xibre was much tougher than he looked and he used his powers to enhance that aspect of himself. By hardening his blood around his limbs, hands, arms, legs, his physical attacks could be diamond hard. He could even use this blood hardening, which he dubbed "Cold Blood" to negate all physical attacks on his person, making blades and bullets useless. By softening or liquefying his blood he could move it out of his body and use it to attack, either by hardening it into spikes and firing in all directions or creating a large shield out of hardened blood. Using these abilities, and numerous others, The Wicked Crimson had the Fallen Deviant on the defense.

From the air, Xibre cried, "Blades of Blood!" Digging into a self-inflicted wound, he energized his own blood and flung it outward in an arc shape for Xinck.

"No, no, wait! Time out! Aghhh!" Xinck was blown back by the attack and surrounded by the cloud of dust blown up as a result.

Xibre landed, the wound healing nearly instantly. "Come on, Xinck, don't run from me."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Xinck shouted from the cloud, hoping to stay unseen.

Xibre shook his head and sighed. "To think that _you_ hold the Fourteenth seat. So dumb, useless really." He began to walk around the obscuring cloud of dust, looking for any sign of Xinck, "Tell me, how is it that you aren't dead yet? Dozens of members have died in the Organization before, but you..."

"My luck will do everything but kill me, apparently." Xinck replied.

"There you are!" Xibre leaped into the cloud. He raised a hand behind Xinck and struck him on his back with an open palm, "Ha!"

"Gaaahh!" Xinck hollered. The blood in his body reacted to Xibre's will and shot out of Xinck's chest as solid red spikes. _"I can't let him touch me!'_" Quickly, Xinck jumped up and away from Xibre and out of the cloud. He leaned up against the wall, raised his sword and cut the solid blood that protruded from his chest. "I didn't think you'd be able to control the blood of others." Xinck breathed heavily, "Such a skill almost puts you in the category of a God."

"Yes, yes." Xibre mused. The cloud of dust settled, revealing his form, "I can only control the blood of really strong individuals like Nobodies if I'm touching them. That hardly makes me a God, Xinck. Unlike you, I'm not that arrogant."

"Oh, please. I've got multiple souls and can raise the dead. If that doesn't at least make me God-like, I don't know what will."

"That doesn't make you a God! It just means you're talented!" With a thought, his blood gushed from his back like a torrent of water and delivered his sickle pair to his hands. "And none of those talents will work on me! But if you tell me what I want to know, I'll let you go."

"What is it you want to know?" Xinck asked, wounds healed.

"Tell me what happened to Zexion. In Vancouver, you implied he was dead. Is that true?"

Xinck rolled his eyes. "What's it matter to you, mang?" He asked in an accent.

"Think of it as...oh, what do you call it..Equivalent Exchange, yeah. You tell me, and I won't kill you."

"Not really feelin' the equality..."

"Take it or leave it, _mang_." He added with a sarcastic grin and a glare that could cut through glass.

Xinck returned the glare and stared directly into Xibre's dark eyes. Neither of them flinched or blinked as they were testing each other, their individual presences released. To the trained and perceptive, one could feel and see the physical ramifications of these two pseudo-humans revealing their true essence. One could feel them wanting the other to let their guard down, blink or twitch and fail the test of will.

For an infinitely small amount of time, less than a second, less than a milli or nanosecond, Xibre looked left. He did it in such a small amount of time that Xinck would stake Luxord's entire fortune of cigarettes on the fact that Xibre probably didn't notice it. And that was all he needed.

"I have another proposal for you, _Jiberu-kun_." Xinck explained. "How about if I kill you, you tell me what you all want with Axel, Roxas and I, and if you kill me I'll tell you about Zexion. Alright?" The black shadows underneath Xinck grew darker and rose from the ground in a great mass, tingling with instability.

Unfazed, Xibre let loose with another torrent of blood from his back. Like a levitating waterfall, his blood amassed into a large form edge with spikes. "Your proposal is flawed. You won't be able to tell me a thing if you're dead."

A laugh left the Deviant, followed by an evil grin and eyes cut down to slits. He broke into a run, his great shadows forming giant spikes that protruded before him. "WHEN YOU DEFEAT ME MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE ME A MOUTH TO TELL YOU ABOUT ZEXION BEFORE YOU KILL ME!"

Xibre engaged him and they met, blood and darkness colliding with each other in a hellish shower of black and red. Xinck thrust and stabbed his shadows at Xibre's body, but made no scratch or inflicted any harm. Xibre cackled, hardening his blood and thrusting spikes of his own for Xinck, all the while attacking with his sickle pair and taking the brute force of Xinck's sword attacks in his gut and chest.

Xibre, gaining the upper hand, forced Xinck into complete defense. The Deviant blocked, dodged and parried strike after strike and slowly began backing away as Xibre increased his speed.

"Time to ante up, Xinck!" Xibre shouted over his own strikes, "Better do it before I accidentally cut off your lips!" A quick swipe, he aimed for Xinck's face and the Deviant prepared to duck, but Xibre switched his attack midway and stabbed struck straight down into Xinck's left shoulder, cutting the skin and spraying blood on the floor.

"Gah!" Xinck shrieked, trying to ignore the pain and keep his attention on Xibre.

"Bloody Needle!" Coming alive, the blood Xibre spilled from Xinck's wound sprang up, hardened into 4 thin spikes and impaled Xinck's wounded left arm.

"Dah!" In a panic, Xinck jumped away as far as he could and fell to his knee. His left arm had dropped its sword and was terribly bloody and deformed. The blood spikes in his forearm and wrist prevented it from fully healing.

"Not so arrogant now, are we?"

"Shut up!" Xinck shouted in a rage. Raising his right arm and shouting, "_Ebenholtz!"_ A terrible force of darkness tore from his hand for Xibre.

"Well, look at that." Xibre mused. The blast struck him head on and he neither moved or flinched as his body cleaved the blast in twain and it diverged into two directions.

"_Goddammit." _Xinck cursed as he stood. He raised his right sword and destroyed the blood needles in his left arm and his limb began to heal. "_He can make his body so durable that even my Ebenholtz on full blast won't hurt him. He's not invincible, he can't be. He's a Nobody like me, he has to have a weakness. There has to be a limit to his power!"_Re-calling his left sword, he let loose with a quick burst of speedfor Xibre.

"My god." Xibre sighed, "This again? You have a lot of tenacity for someone of your...maturity level." Xinck ignored the comment and continued his run. Just as he was closing in, Xibre's blood burst from both his arms and collided together and hardened to form a jagged, dark red shield half his size. Xinck bombarded the shield with strike after strike as Xibre ducked behind it.

"You can never touch me! No matter what, Xinck!" Xibre shouted over Xinck's outrageous assault. Xibre braced himself and prepared to shove him off to counterattack, "You don't learn well, do you Xinck?"

With one swift motion,, Xibre shifted his weight forward and pushed his shield into Xinck and readied his sickle for a strike."Actually I do!" Just as quickly, when the shield was out far enough, Xinck back-flipped, kicked away the shield. On his way back up, he caught Xibre by surprise when his sword reached his face. Nearly loosing an eye, Xibre had moved his head just out of the way as Xinck's blade grazed against his open left cheek, drawing a stream of blood.

Xinck readied to deliver another hit just as the Ex-14th jumped away as far as possible, cradling his still-leaking cheek, a look of panic and anger contorting his face.

"I knew it." Xinck proclaimed, "I knew their had to be a limit to how much you could take!"

"It is true." The Ex-Fourteen explained. The small wound on his cheek beginning to close up. "In my body is where my elemental power resides, as opposed to you and everyone else in the Organization whose powers exist in the outer environment." Xibre did not like pain, he did not like being injured. Consequently, any wound to his face reminded him of Xemnas and what he did. It really only served to arouse his ire. "The blood in my body can do almost anything I will it to, but it cannot protect my skull, as hardened blood in my brain could possibly cause an aneurysm."

"You survived a shot in the head by our beloved Superior." Xinck commented. "And you're telling me you cannot live through a brain aneurysm?" Xinck scoffed, "You know _I _beat cancer with my powers."

"It isn't a contest, Xinck."

"Yes, but if it was, you would've lost. I beat cancer, I'll beat the shit outta you."

"There really is no point in arguing with you is there? You're hardheaded, stubborn, insane and..quite strong, actually."

"Flattery will get you nowhere." Xinck replied with a grin.

"If we weren't fighting and trying to kill each other, do you think we would make an excellent team?"

"No!" Xinck bluntly stated, "I don't feel like working with you and that masked whore. You guys totally pissed off my best friend and I don't think he'd be too happy with me joining up with you."

"No, no, you misunderstand me." Xibre said. With a whim he dismissed his sickle pair, "You see, the reason why I joined up with Masq in the first place is because she promised me a great position in her...well, let's just say, New World Order along with revenge on Xemnas and the Organization."

"'New World Order.'" Xinck mused, "Oh, that's rich."

"She says she needs Enforcers, agents to carry out her will across the Worlds. When our goal is realized and I personally take out Xemnas, by blasting out his brains, I will become the Superior of the Organization and we'll act as a policing force in the new world." A hand to his head, Xibre moved his bangs out the way and revealed to Xinck the X shaped scar where Xemnas blasted him. "And of course, I will need a second in command."

"Are-are you serious? You're serious, aren't you?" When Xinck saw that Xibre was indeed serious, he tried to hold back a chuckle, but could not, "You plan on taking out the most powerful being in the universe with that weak logic?"

"After Masq gets what she wants He won't be so powerful! He won't be able to threaten anyone with that-"

"And after you 'kill' Xemnas, how do you think the other members will take you as their newest Superior? Or their new jobs as a Policing Force?"

"Masq will-"

"Mas, Masq, Masq, Masq!" Xinck shouted, "That's all that comes out of your mouth! You know why Xemnas shot you point blank, Xibre? It's because you're weak, you're unoriginal and nothing about you is special! You had no place in the Organization because you can't come up with a single thought that didn't already come from someone else." He did find a brief pleasure in bringing people down, a trait he picked up from his late mentor. Every word he threw at Xibre, he added insult to injury by poking at his own head when he mentioned 'original' thoughts.

"You..you..HOW DARE YOU!" Xibre seethed.

"In honor of the Organization that abandoned, no, I shouldn't say that." The Deviant lowered his body as he took his stance, "In honor of the Organization that aborted you like an unwanted fetus, I will finish what Xemnas started."

Xibre fumed, "That arrogance..."

"Please," Xinck cracked a cruel smile at Xibre's anger, "Call me Pride the Arrogant, the First Homunculus."

Stabbing through the skin on his back, spikes of blood protruded and settled. More spikes grew along his shoulders, along his arms and his knuckles. Even more blood spikes ripped through his black gloves and replaced his finger nails. The body of the Ex-Fourteenth twitched and buckled as it settled. He opened his eyes to reveal they had gone blood red and demonic. "Your blood will boil and your body will writhe!"

"Yes!" Xinck shouted, "Come and get me, Wrath the Furious!" In a split second, Xibre was on Xinck, "Wow, you're quick." Xibre slashed Xinck across the chest, throwing his blood into the air.

"Bloody Needle!"

Xinck jumped back, dodging his own hostile blood and recovering. He brandished Thanatos in his hand and charged straight in. _"He he, oh goody, I made him angry._" He attacked Xibre head on, aiming each strike for his face, but was blocked by Xibre's hardened forearms. "I've got another reason why you were kicked out!" Xinck struck, Xibre blocked and moved his spiked fist for Xinck's throat. Xinck blocked with his other sword and it collided with Xibre's grip, "You control blood and the others were probably worried about getting AIDS. Can you do that? Give people AIDS? Super-AIDS maybe?"

"Raaggggh!" With his free hand, Xibre reached around to his back, gripped one of the blood spikes and pulled it up and out, producing a spear. "Die!" He pierced downward for4 Xinck's chest, but the Deviant turned and the spear impaled him in the back of his shoulder. Xinck ignored the pain and turned into a spin and delivered a roundhouse kick to Xibre's stomach before vanishing in a puff of darkness, the kick barely knocking him off balance. "You're the weak one, Xinck!"

"You're panicking." Xinck's disembodied voice mused.

"I am not! You're the one who is scared! By hiding, you show your true nature. Coward!"

"Blah blah blah, meh meh meh meh meh meh!" Xinck mocked, "That's you, that's what you sound like."

"Goddamn you."

"You know, that expression of fear and uncertainty on your face reminds me of when Zexion died." Behind Xibre he appeared and with a single strike, he destroyed the largest blood spike, revealing a hole in Xibre's back. He stabbed his sword inside and twisted it around as Xibre writhed and thrashed about in agony. "Interesting." Xinck said, "You don't harden all of your blood at the same time and underneath the hard blood, liquid blood is still flowing. Sucks to be you, man."

"No.." Xibre heaved, "It sucks to be YOU!" One final spin and Xinck was thrown from Xibre's back and skidded to a halt far ahead of him. Xibre, finally in a fit of rage, recalled his sickle pair and tossed them into the air. He clasped their handles with moving liquid tendrils of his own blood and spun them around in the same manner as Xinck. Wrath, the name of his sickle pair, glowered crimson as He twirled them to the ground and he cleaved a great path spanning the length of the entire room and growing wider. The path began to bleed dark globs of real blood, steam rose and the blood boiled into a stream. It was as if the Fortress itself was bleeding.

"What the hell?"

"The Phlegethon awaits!" Another twirl, Xibre hurled both sickles across the blood and into Xinck's chest hauling him closer and into the river of boiling blood. As he pulled him to the precipice, he fell to his knees and nearly went over, his lower body and legs just barely dangling above the burning liquid.

"Gah! No you don't!" Xinck dug one blade into the ground, stopping him from going any further. He turned to see Xibre struggling with all his might to pull him in further. With Xinck's free hand, he hurled his sword right for Xibre's face and struck him in the center, right between his eyes. "Ha ha, gotcha face!"

"Gyaaaaahhh!" His own blood clouded his vision, his lack of concentration released his sickle pair from Xinck's chest. He howled and screamed and writhed, Xinck found the chance to pull himself up and away from the river while pulling Xibre to his knees and to the river's edge.

"Come on, come on!" Xinck pulled and tugged, inching a wailing Xibre closer and closer to the river, "You're so close to sweet relief!"

"Aggh! No! You won't kill me with my own attack!" Before he fell to the edge, a glowing hand raised to the Phlegethon quickly dismissed it. All the boiling blood hastily receded back into the cracks and tiles of the floor, like the fortress quickly healed itself. Xinck stopped pulling when he realized it was futile. Xibre, the danger now averted, quickly pulled the sword from the center of his face.

The sword and chain slunk back into the hilt, Xinck stood at attention while Xibre laid on the floor, breathing heavily, blood streaming down his face. A silence passed between the two, something Xinck found disturbing. " Ahem..well, I, uh, just stabbed you in the face. I don't, uh, really have a comment for that. So...how's your face?"

Between breathes, Xibre said, "You are strong, very strong. I..I suppose...that arrogance of yours is well earned. Pride the Arrogant, the First Homunculus."

A sigh from Xinck, "I try not to be arrogant, vanity is more my thing. Even if they are basically the same thing, Vanity sounds cooler."

"Vanity, huh?"

"It's funny, actually. As Nobodies, we have nothing to be proud of, yet here I am, boasting about my good looks."

"I was talking about your strength, not how you look."

"I don't boast about strength." Xinck said, "I never have. Only the weak boast about strength."

"Oh. Well, interesting philosophy." Xibre said, "For a Nobody, that is. But, I guess your vanity is well-deserved, too. You look good."

"Why, thank you." Xinck said, his voice in an upward inflection.

"You're very handsome-"

"Beautiful!" Xinck shouted.

"Beautiful." Xibre repeated, "You're very beautiful. Those eyes, like a moon of darkness finally eclipsing the ever-present sun of light."

"Aww, how nice, he he." The Deviant began wiping his face of any stray marks from his fight. "Now compliment me on my-Gah!" He buckled and twitched, his body succumbing to a new wound.

"Vanity is such a terrible sin." Xibre mused. "Arrogance is fine, but you're _too _arrogant. So arrogant that it makes you dumb. How about that, Xinck? You're powerful, beautiful and dumb as a box of rocks." Xinck spewed droplets of blood on Xibre's face, as he was so close. All the blood in Xibre's arm had been hardened and he was now elbow deep in Xinck's stomach. "So vain and dumb that you let a single, deceptive compliment take away your defense."

"Guh..agh!" A waterfall of blood ran down Xinck's mouth and chin.

"I cannot believe that I was replaced by you." Xibre commented, giving Xinck a look over, watching his eyes fill with blood, "Aw, well, too late now. And to think that I would've allow you to be second only to me if you joined up. You're an idiot for refusing. So vain, so dumb. HA HAHAHAHA! I bet you don't feel so beautiful now with my arm eviscerating you from the inside! I'm in your stomach, ha ha ha! I can feel your intestines, your gall bladder, your..your..WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!"

Xinck grabbed at the arm inside him, holding it in place. Panicking, Xibre looked down to see a solid black tentacle-like tendril wrapping itself around his arm, all the way up to his shoulder.

"Gah-Agh! My hand!" His hand was gone from his body, severed and melted.

Raising his head slowly to Xibre's eye level, Xinck released a cackle that pierced Xibre's ear. "I'm dumb, huh? How dumb am I, the Fourteenth Member in the Organization, who has survived the cursed position for this long? I'm not dumb, Xibre, I'm just a good actor. I'm vain, yes, but I don't need compliments from others to prove what I already know."

"Agh! WAGGGHH!" Xibre hollered into Xinck's face. Another tendril shot from Xinck's abdomen and fixed itself tightly around Xibre's neck.

"If anything, you're the dumb one. Letting yourself get angry when you know very well that Nobodies have no emotions. But, I knew that if I got you mad enough, you'd hit me in a very...odd spot on my body. After my first strike to your face I had a feeling you'd get more offensive and-

"What the hell is this!"

"Huh?" He looked dumbstruck at the question, as if it had no place being asked, "Oh, yes, this. Well, funny story. I-" Xibre didn't want to hear it, as even more tendrils sprang out from Xinck and wrapped themselves around his legs, his torso and head. In a desperate panic, too scared to think, he began punching and slapping at Xinck, but with no result.

"The reason why you're being pulled into my stomach is because, well, you don't get to become Head Mystic in the Organization without doing a little experimentation on yourself." Xinck explained. His tendrils snagged Xibre's legs and hauled them upward and into Xinck's abdomen. "As a result I have a ravenous appetite and this...thing in my stomach, but I get a bad-ass pair of wings on my back." He started to groan and breathing heavily as Xibre's legs were completely gone up to his kneecaps. Xinck's entire abdomen had been nearly ripped apart as more tendrils shot out to pull Xibre in. The pain was too intense for Xinck to stand on his own. He fell back against the closest wall.

"Ragh! RAGH! No!" His natural defense of hardened blood could not take the strain or resist the pressure the tentacles were placing on his body. Soon, all his arms and legs were bound and sinking deeper and deeper into Xinck, broken, melted and half eaten by what was on the inside.

"Believe me," Xinck whined, "This hurts me much more than it hurts you! Gah! Oh!" Soon, All Xinck saw of Xibre was his upper chest and head, his mouth was covered by a tentacle that helped to muffle his screams. "_Sayonara_, Former Number 14."

"No! NO! NOO!" With Xibre's final scream being dwarfed by Xinck's own howl of pain, Xibre disappeared beneath the black coat and out of sight.

Xinck continued to hear the muffled screams inside his own, now mutilated and slightly deformed body, as taking in an entire being completely stretched him out. "I'll let you roast in there for another minute or two." Xinck cringed, grabbing hold of his stomach and rubbing what he assumed to be Xibre's head.

* * *

Step by step, the Key of Destiny walked along the barely lit corridor. In one hand, he held onto Oblivion in case an enemy, hopefully Masq, reared their ugly head. In his other hand was a shimmering mass of light the size of a snow globe that did little to penetrate the surrounding shadows. Even so, Roxas had no power to see in the dark and was careful of every step he took.

The Corridor was rectangular, but its monotonous bricked stone floor and walls gave Roxas the odd reminder of a tunnel. It seemed to go on forever, straight forward, and from what Roxas could tell there was no hint of it curving or changing in elevation. Another feature of Masq's monstrous fortress, Roxas thought. He had figured out, or at least thought, that his and Xinck's movements through the fortress were being controlled and monitored. Masq was toying with him and she wouldn't let Roxas leave the corridor until she wanted him to.

But, he suddenly thought, what if he were to run the corridor out? If he were to run at his highest speed, he would eventually reach the Corridor's end long before Masq was able to manipulate it into extending itself. Unless she already had magic in place to counteract that possibility, he thought. Or maybe her magic wouldn't work fast enough if he did run. But then, he considered, what if there was no magic in place and the Corridor was just extremely long? If so, then he could run, but there could be a trap or a hazard somewhere down the line.

"Ugh!" He groaned, scratching furiously at his head. Roxas hated these types of problems. All Magic did was make his brain try to consider every possibility in a futile attempt. Magical attacks he could handle, but it was the more conceptual magic that irritated him. He wished he could find Xinck, he knew more magic than Roxas did. He probably knew more magic than the entire Organization, he could easily figure out a problem like this. Roxas hoped he was okay.

He shook his head. He had to stop thinking like that. Xinck was _always _okay.

Suddenly there was a scuttling noise in the darkness ahead of him. It sounded just as quickly as it faded. Roxas jumped back just enough to see it coming if it dared attack. He heard nothing but his own breathing. He scanned the surrounding bit of the Corridor he could see and nothing happened. With a whim, he slowly increased the intensity of the orb of light in his hand, slightly penetrating the shadows further. He moved the light to the walls, nothing there. He moved it behind and around him, and saw more of nothing. He knew something was there, he knew he saw something. But he couldn't sense it.

Turning the light to the ceiling, Roxas's jaw went slack as he briefly eyed a creature looking down on him, eyes wide as the light illuminated his face. The creature hissed, "Turn out that light!" Roxas gasped and dropped the orb and it shattered like a lightbulb against concrete, bathing them both in darkness. The shattering sound startled the creature and it fell like a rock to the ground. "Ow! My back!"

Roxas gasped, "Xinck!" With little effort, Roxas recalled the orb of light and the figure of Xinck came into focus, sprawled out on the ground rubbing the small of his back.

"Yeah?" He said.

"You're okay!"

"Nice to see you, too. Help me up?" He offered his hand for Roxas, who in turn reached and pulled him to his feet. He sighed, wiping at the front of his coat to get rid of the dust, "I see you're safe. Find Axel?"

"Uh...no, no. Are you sure you're okay? What happened?"

Xinck scratched at his head, then rubbed at his back again, "I explored this place. I thought I'd try the upper-levels to see if I could find Axel and-"

"Did you!" Roxas asked, half-knowing the answer. Xinck shook his head.

"Anyway." Xinck continued, "I thought I'd see if I could find out what was happening here, and the information I came across told me that its a World Domination plot."

"World Domination?" Roxas inquired, "What's that have to do with us and Axel?"

Xinck shrugged, "I didn't get that far. What little info I got was in bits and pieces, and that was hard to find."

"What else did you find out?"

"Nothing of importance, there was something about a ray or cannon, but I didn't get the chance to finish reading it because one of Masq's associates was after me. You know, the one in the green fedora?"

"Alucard."

Xinck cracked a smile, "What? Alucard?"

"You said he kinda looked like Alucard, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. I did say that." Xinck replied.

* * *

Xinck finally, and painfully, exuded Xibre from his body. Xinck could not decided if it hurt more going in or going out, either way the pain was unbearable. Xinck's stomach had completely and utterly destroyed Xibre's defense of Cold Blood. Not only that, but it had mutilated him, ate him, chewed him, melted him and partially digested him to the point where he didn't even resemble anything relatively human.

The new shape he had taken could be considered round, flesh-colored and constantly leaking blood, pus, stomach acid and various other bodily fluids. His black coat was gone, his body was bare. There was nothing on him that could be considered a limb, except a mutated foot-like appendage that was near a pair of glazed over eyes, barely noticeable around the mounds of melted, bloody flesh. He was beginning to fade, small pieces of his being blackening and literally "bleeding" away into nothingness.

Xinck would be slow to recovery as his insides had been tortured and it would take time for them to realign themselves. He would live, Xibre would not.

Before Xibre was gone, it hit Xinck that he had gotten barely any information out of him. When the bulk of his body had repaired itself enough for Xinck to stand, he made his way over to the dying man-ball.

"You..said something about a "New World Order"." Xinck started, "Tell me, where do We fit into all of this?" A sound, or something that could be loosely considered a sound, started out low from somewhere on Xibre. "Come again?" Xinck inquired, holding a sensitive hand to his ear.

"Gurgle..gurgle gurgle...gurgle...gurg..." Xibre exuded.

"Goddammit." Xinck cursed, "I tried to leave you your mouth, but you know, the stomach wants what it wants."

"Gurgle..." Xibre's eyes were left intact, but his eyelids were no more. He looked upon Xinck with unknowable anger and inconceivable hatred. His pupils shook with a fury he wished his limps would reciprocate.

"Oh, well." Xinck said. "You've done enough." Xinck cringed as blood flowed from the slow-healing wound on his torso. His stomach had returned to normal size and closed up, but the muscles and skin surrounding it were slow to follow. He placed a hand over the large wound, hoping to keep the blood in.

There was a door to his right, it was the door Xibre probably used to come here initially. Before Xinck came to the door, a quick thought occurred, a thought the sent chills down his spine as he made his way back to Xibre.

"You know," Xinck started, gazing into Xibre's eyes as he spoke, "You put up such a good fight, I think I want to share something deep and personal with you. Something that, I think, will mean more to you than me." He sighed, and took in a deep breath to feign emotion. He didn't break his gaze as he opened his mouth and enunciated with a grim smile on his face. "I Killed Zexion." And he laughed a cruel laugh that made Xibre's fading body whine helplessly in furry, "Yeah!" Xinck exclaimed, "He had the same look on his face as you! I made sure he suffered to his very last breath! I murdered him and now I've murdered you! AHA HA HAA HAHA!"

Xibre gurgled something that Xinck thought sounded like "Goddamn you to hell." But he paid it no mind as he laughed his way to the door, opening it. "And it was the greatest murder since Snape killed Dumbledore!" The last site Xinck saw before slamming the door shut was the Ex-Fourteenth member fading into nothingness.

Xinck chuckled and sighed, obviously satisfied with himself. "He he, 'Greatest murder since Snape killed Dumbledore'. Ah, that's classic." He cringed unexpectedly, the hole in his torso became irritated and bled. He looked ahead and found himself in a dimly lit, monotonously bricked corridor.

* * *

Walking through the corridor for some time, Roxas told Xinck about his fight with the Lumophage and his brief encounter with Masq. He told him about how Masq basically fooled him, but as he told it, he couldn't suppress the feeling that he was just trying to alleviate his own guilt for doing it.

"Well, you did what you could." Xinck said, "Masq, to me, sounds...off."

"'Off'? You think she's just off? Off doesn't even begin to describe her!" Roxas hollered.

"Alright, alright." Xinck replied. "Gosh, calm down. Okay, I'll give you that she's much more than off. But, that whole Neri thing seemed unavoidable to me."

"It was avoidable, that's the thing that's bothering me." Roxas sighed, "I don't wanna talk about it anymore. I'll just put it behind me."

"That's the spirit. Besides, there's not much you can do about it now. It's dead."

They continued walking, Roxas slightly more ahead of Xinck. They were silent and the orb of light in Roxas's hand barely lit their way as the sound of their steps penetrated the darkness. Roxas eyed Xinck as he walked beside him. He was quiet, which was odd because he would usually talk about something, even if it was random and had nothing at all to do with the current situation. "Are you..sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, of course." He replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Its just that you're really quiet. Did something happen?"

"No." Xinck said, "I'm just really tired. I didn't tell you before, but there's something about this place that doesn't feel right. It's...dark."

"You're dark." Roxas said.

"This is something darker. No...not just dark, its unnatural. Shoot, I'd go so far as to say Evil. Its kinda irritating my powers."

Roxas observed Xinck as he spoke and an odd thought sprang into Roxas's head. On an impulse, he decided to follow up on this thought. He asked, "Xinck, I want to know something about your power."

"Yeah?"

"I know you have some ability to control death and the dead, and my question is this: If I could somehow get the body, could you bring Neri back to life?"

"Why do you care about it so much?" Xinck asked abruptly.

"Just answer the question." Roxas said sternly.

Xinck rolled his eyes and sighed. "Dang, you're bossy today. No, Its an animal and animal souls are different from human souls. I'd need a special spell to get its soul, but I don't know any for an animal resurrection."

"Uh-huh." Roxas replied, unenthusiastically. "One more thing."

"Yeah, buddy?"

A swift move and in an instant, Oblivion was eagerly piercing through Xinck's torso. He had a look of shock on his face that Roxas had never seen, and will never see it again. He looked Xinck straight in his horror-stricken eyes and shook his head.

"W-why?" Xinck asked.

"Because." Roxas said, "You're not Xinck."

The look of horror and shock quickly drained from his face and was replaced with a large grin. The grin added to the evidence that this was not Xinck, for the teeth were perfectly normal. 'Xinck' spoke with an accent, "An' how did you come to find I wasn't who I said I was?"

"First." Roxas started, "You were too quiet and I had to initiate everything. Xinck will almost always talk constantly about the most random things. Second, you said you couldn't resurrect animals. The first resurrection Xinck performed was on a hamster."

"Whaaatt?" The man sounded shocked, "He kill it first?"

"Third and finally, this was the biggest giveaway! Xinck can't go FIVE MINUTES without saying a curse word! I've never heard him say 'dang', or 'gosh', and the only time he says 'shoot' is if he's talking about shooting someone!"

"Well, I don't stain my lips with cussin'. Usually, I kill my targets before they take notice of something so _petits._"

"Are you here to kill me?" Roxas snarled, pushing Oblivion deeper into the man's fake-Xinck body. Apparently, it didn't do anything as the man did not even wince. He jumped and performed a quick spin that tore the Keyblade out of his torso and flung Roxas back.

"You just keep on keepin' on, _Capitaine_." The fake Xinck said, his grin pursing his lips.

"Ah! Get back here!" Roxas yelled, he scrambled to his feet. But the man faded away without a trace. "Why do you all keep running away!" Roxas bellowed, "Stay and fight!" He extinguished the light and, with little restraint, Roxas began to barrel through the darkness, giving chase.

* * *

"This tunnel sucks!" Xinck bellowed as he stomped through the Corridor. He could barely see where he was going, even with the unreleased Firaga spell in his hand to light his way, his other hand was still firmly on his torso as it healed. It was times like these that made him wish he could see in the dark, as anyone or anything could come at him in his slightly weakened state.

Despite his injury, his thoughts immediately went to Roxas. He had to think he was okay, at least for now. It was obvious that Masq had a very special interest in Roxas, and she wouldn't kill him off at just a whim. Whatever world domination plot she had, they had to figure it out before she loses interest him.

Just then, Xinck's ears picked up a brief, faint noise from behind. It started out low, then it began to grow as it got closer. It was footsteps, running footsteps. Xinck turned around and gripped the Firaga spell in his hand. He whispered "_Firaja" _and the fire increased in intensity, but did not penetrate the surrounding shadows. But from the darkness, a familiar figure came for him.

"Xinck!" Roxas hollered frantically.

"_Rokusasu._"

Roxas came to a halt in front of Xinck. He leaned over to catch his breath. "Man..you don't know...how glad I am to see you!"

"Tired?" Xinck asked in a monotone.

"Yeah..!" Roxas huffed. Taking in a deep breath, he stood at his full height. In the dim lit of the fire, Xinck could just see a large tear in his black coat, showing a part of his bare stomach and his belly button. "This place is starting to get to me. I beat Neri, and...and Masq-"

"How did you get that?" Xinck motioned for the rip in his black coat.

"Oh, this? When fighting a large cat, you're bound to get hit once or twice. But don't worry, I'm fine, but are _you _okay?" Roxas gestured to the hole in Xinck's stomach. "You're bleeding."

"It's nothing."

"That's not nothing! You're leaking all over the place!" Roxas yelled. He tried to pull Xinck's hand from the wound, but without notice, that same hand reached to Roxas's neck and grabbed hold of it. Xinck hauled Roxas up into the air then smashed him up against the wall. "Gah-What're you doing?" Roxas shocked, clawing at Xinck's wrist.

"Alright, you can stop. I know you're not Roxas. Xinck said coldly. His grip was almost too intense and the fake Roxas's windpipe was completely compressed. Xinck watched with the emotional capacity of a toaster as his eyes began to bulge and fill with blood. "I figured it out, like, five seconds after you came up to me."

"Ah-ah-ah-how!" The fake Roxas managed to say.

Xinck shrugged. "I just knew."

Sheer panic turned to a brief boost of strength. Roxas raised both feet and struck Xinck in the stomach wound and his wrist, releasing himself. Xinck withdrew his arm and looked at his wrist and apathetically said, "Ow." Roxas hit the ground and rolled away from Xinck, coughing and gripping his neck for his life. Upon closer examination, he would discover that much of his neck skin was bloodied and dangling off.

"Gah!" The fake Roxas yelled with an accent, "Ah! You motherless spawn of hell!" He hollered, glaring daggers at an apathetic Xinck, "I knew it might've been harder to fool you! But this?"

"Yeah, I'm a real kick in the pants, aren't I?" Xinck raised his foot to smash down on the fake's head, but Roxas dodge rolled out of the way and leaped into the air. He landed behind Xinck and began to run into the darkness. "Stop!" Xinck hollered, giving chase.

* * *

Three figures running through the darkness of the corridor, only one of them could actually see through the lightless environment. It wasn't the one who could actually control the darkness, for he was running in the same direction of the one who could see. All the while, the one who could control light, but not see in the dark, was running towards the other two.

The one who could see, a resident of the fortress, had a power that the other two did not. He could teleport anywhere in the fortress without being detected. He was in danger and the obvious choice was for him to disappear out of harm's way. He did so, leaving the real Roxas and the real Xinck to barrel straight into each blindly.

Before either of them could put the brakes on when they heard the footsteps and the heavy breathing, they collided, screamed and a searing pain shot through their skulls.

* * *

"Xibre is dead?" Masq inquired from behind her desk. Baby sat in the corner of her office, leaned over and breathing heavily. Masq found it interesting that a man like Baby was a bit flustered since encountering the wrath of both Roxas and Xinck.

"Yeah." Baby exhaled sharply, holding onto the 'wound' inflicted by Roxas. It crackled and sparked with loose energy. "Fool went an' challenged Demon Tooth Boy without a plan and,well, let's just say he now knows the ins and outs of the digestive tract." He winced sharply and the cut started sewing itself up. There was no blood, as Baby could not be injured like a human or Nobody.

"Oh, well." Masq sighed, kicking her feet up onto her desk. "It's for the best I suppose. Xibre's very existence was that of a tool, meant to be used then tossed away like a Phillips head screwdriver."

"Is, uh, that the one with the flat head or the X shape?"

"X shape." Masq said. "I only recruited Xibre for two reasons. The first was for his knowledge on the Organization. Thanks to him, we found the perfect candidate to use for our plan.."

"Axel." Baby nodded. His body healed and he stood, then gave Masq a joker's grin.

"Yes. And the second reason was that we needed his man-power. Before we got your assistance, we recruited Xibre and before him, Doctor Goodburger-Home-Of-The-Goodburger."

"You recruited Dr. Goodbling, oh, how long ago?"

Masq inhaled, turned to the ceiling and puffed out her breath, "20 years ago."

"Yeah, twenty big ones y'all have been at this. You, the Doctor, and the little Princess." Baby chuckled, "All for revenge?"

"Revenge," Masq said, adding,"And Opportunity. I needed a scientist who could assist me in the construction of the Cannon. While all the calculations, mechanics and engineering were all on my part, I needed the doctor to actually build it. My advanced magics could only do so much with a machine of that caliber." She spoke so casually about murder, unholy magics and infernal machines, "I killed his family at the start and I told him that if he assisted me, us, that when all was said and done I could bring them back."

"But you won't."

She raised her hands and placed them behind her head as she leaned back in her chair, "And why should I?"

"The man gave 20 years in order to see his family again..."

"A family that he wasted and didn't care for until they were dead and gone."

"And he gets nothin' in the end?" Baby asked.

"He'll get a quick death. That is his reward. Of course it would've been quicker if not for that damn fail-safe, but I'll get around that."

"Speaking of rewards..."

"Oh! Don't tell me! _Now _you want something!" Masq hollered. Baby was an odd case, simply because of his nature and the way he and Masq came to know each other. She needed as many hands on deck as possible for her grand venture, but there were only so many people out there who had the skills and talents of Hermès Andreas Babin, nicknamed Baby. And those who did match his skills were met their end at his hand. Masq found Baby a bit odd, and his name even odder. He told her his surname and his nickname were completely unrelated, but he never elaborated on _why _he had such an odd nickname. Masq had initially wanted him as a hand-for-hire, as she had several tasks and odd-jobs that needed to be taken care of. But, as time went by and Masq began to recognize his skills, she offered to let him in on her plan.

As she explained, Baby became more and more intrigued. Masq took this as meaning he had an interest in supreme power, the kind of interest that could only be satisfied by total domination of the worlds. But, shockingly, he told her otherwise. Baby really had no interest in power over others in the form of force or domination. He didn't mind taking a life, causing chaos for fun or just going out on an impulse. He told Masq that he liked her plan and would willingly work under her for free just to see where it all went and where it would take him. He just wants to see how the world changes.

A man like that is dangerous, but can serve a purpose. That is why Masq liked him, simply because he could just stand and watch the world burn.

"No, no, no, _cherie_." Baby said, "You misunderstand me. I'm workin' pure gratis, but you say the good doctor gets nothin', despite workin' and workin' for a two decades. Xibre, you promised a prominent position as head of a new policing force under you, but he's dead and now gets nothing, right?"

"Can't give a dead man power. It only makes sense. Though, I never expected Xibre to survive the final stages anyway, so its not a loss at all."

"Mmm." Baby mused, strolling for the door, "Just makin' sure. I can kinda understand not givin' a care to Xibre, since he was nothing but a tool. But, I almost feel for the Doc." Baby made face that looked almost remorseful, but he quickly abandoned the ruse and grinned madly, "Almost."

Masq rolled her eyes, irritated at the thought of the doctor that attempted to get the upper hand on her. She attempted to change the conversation. "You know, it was refreshing to see you lose your cool for once when Demon Tooth Boy started wringing your neck."

Baby showed no response to the comment. Instead, he replied with, "Well, it was interestin' seeing you crush on ole' Angel Eyes." He smiled, "You got so close to him, I thought you'd start tongue bangin'." Masq scoffed and frowned, knowing Baby had gotten her. He smiled again and turned his attention to the door, "Speakin' of Demon Tooth, I think it best for me to make myself scarce for a few minutes."

"Why?"

"'Cause Princess is on her way here."

"So?"

Baby smiled again and began to disappear into thin air, "She don't sound too happy." With that, Baby had left no trace of himself.

Masq sat up in her seat and cursed. She was not looking forward to this. "Dammit." Soon, she heard the stomping footsteps of the coming presence. The door to her office swung open.

"**WHERE IS HE!"** Came the voice of the young woman. She came into the office, clad in red cloak that concealed her body. Her eyes were alight with a fury Masq had not seen in her. She turned to Masq, who smiled in turn.

"Good morning, Star Shine, the Earth says 'Hello!'." Masq chimed.

The young woman stomped over to Masq's desk and forcefully bashed he hands on its surface, "Why was I not informed that He had entered the fortress?"

Masq shrugged, "You were sleepin'. None of us wanted to wake you."

"I was not sleeping." She replied, "I was confined inward as a deep, undisturbed rumination took place both physically, mentally and spiritually."

"Yeah, sleeping."

"You dare make light of this? To me! At this moment!"

Masq sighed and rose from her desk, "I liked it better when you were quieter.."

"And worse, you allow Xibre, an aberrant monstrosity like the Deviant to fight him!"

"That, my friend, was something I did for you." Masq finally took a tone of superiority, something she had never done to the young woman in front of her. The young woman was possibly unintentionally letting her aura leak out from her, so Masq did the same to assert her position. She moved from behind her desk and stood directly in front of her. "Xibre was weak and Xinck is strong. Would you have been satisfied if Xinck met his end at the hands of someone like Xibre, who was so blinded by the emotions he didn't have, that he went head on to face him?" The young woman's eyes did not flinch or waver, but her face muscles noticeably unclenched as she considered Masq's words. "I know that your life has been touched by the cruel hand of Organization XIII, as was mine, and I know that adding Xibre to our cause only pushed you further towards your resolve. And now your chance is here. All your training, all your sacrifice and strife, has come to this very moment."

Masq could feel the young woman lowering her fatal aura, the echos of screams that it was composed of were dying down into the background. The young woman straightened up, she relaxed her body, but her eyes did not change, for they were forever fixed on intensity. She opened her mouth and spoke, "Where is he?"

Masq smiled, satisfied with herself, and returned to behind her desk."He and Angel Eyes are in the Corridors. I'll show them the way out, then send Baby to go back and antagonize them in order to buy me some time. I'll find a way to place Xinck in the Black Bastion. Meet him there." She whispered.

The young woman said nothing, not a word. No grunt, no sigh, not even breathing was heard. Her beautiful face did not change at all as she turned to leave the way she came. Masq began to fiddle with the layout of the Fortress with the controls on her desk, linking the Corridors to an exit. As she did, she called out to the young woman, "_." The young woman turned as her hand gripped the doorknob. Masq said, "We have been at this for sometime. Me and you, since the very beginning. Our plans are here, right in our laps. I don't want to see you lose-"

"I'm not interested in your hegemony, Masq." The woman snapped in a whisper. She turned and her eyes gazed through the Mask and into her true eyes. "My reason for being, the very reason I draw breath and live is to see Xinck suffer and die. There is nothing for me in any life or existence if he is dead. So hear me, when I have bathed in his sorrow, tasted his blood and severed his life, feel free to kill me."

"So that you may follow him into hell and continue your revenge?"

"If that is how you see it, then so be it." She replied, opening the door and leaving, "After he is murdered I will have no reason to live. Kill me." And with that, she was gone.

The Masked Woman, for a brief moment removed her mask to thoroughly rub the bridge of her nose. "As you wish, my Forsaken friend." She whispered. The discerning eye might see the smallest hint of a tear fall, the distinguishing ear might hear the trace of a sniffle. But these emotions and feelings were quickly buried as she re-dawned her mask and cracked a grin, "Ah, well, more power for me."

* * *

Unfortunately for Roxas, during their small scuttle/reunion in the darkness of the fortress corridors, Xinck got the upper-hand and quickly wrapped Roxas in a cocoon of shadows and flipped him upside down, only exposing his head. At this point in time, they both realized that they had encountered a type of doppelganger or clone, but only Roxas knew that the real Xinck was in front of him. Roxas had injured the imposter, but drew no blood, but the Xinck in front of him now had a hand over his heavily bloodied abdomen. Roxas was naturally worried for him, but was more worried about the fact that Xinck had an unreleased Firaga spell in his hands to light the corridor and was also using waving it in front of his face threatening to burn him.

Xinck was paranoid, something Roxas knew well, but didn't understand. He knew the real Xinck when he saw him, but why didn't Xinck know it was him? Even worse, why was he trying to interrogate him?

Roxas struggled against the shadows that bound him upside down, trying to avoid the ball of fire being waved in his face. "Gah! Xinck, quick it!"

"_Nein!_" Xinck shouted back, but he did stop, then pulled Roxas's hair towards him and stared him in the eyes. He spoke in an accent, reminiscent of a German vampire, "You vill tell me vhy you have chosen to show yourself to me, my copycat friend. Vhere is Roxas?"

"I'm Roxas! Xinck, let me down! This isn't funny!" Roxas shouted back.

Xinck scoffed, then released his hair. "Very vell, my young friend, you vant to be stubborn till very end, _ja_? So be it, but I must varn you!" He extinguished the Firaga in his hands, then replaced it with a spark of black and purple lightning and he smiled madly, "Ve have vays of making you talk!" He leaned into Roxas, bringing the dark lightning closer to Roxas's face.

"Agh! What can I do to make you see that I'm the real Roxas!"

"Mmm?" Xinck stopped, intrigued. He replaced the dark lightning with the Firaga, relighting the Corridor. He asked, dropping the accent, "If you are who you say you are, then tell me something about me that only the real Roxas would know."

"You're a pervert and really vain about your looks!"

"Everyone knows that."

"You prank call people from Australia with death threats!"

"Not good enough!"

"You sucked poison outta my a-"

"Roxas, it's you!" Xinck shouted jubilantly. He dismissed the shadows binding Roxas and caught him as he fell and turned him right-side up. He embraced a puzzled Roxas, "Oh, I thought I'd never see you again!"

"We've only been separated an hour or two, man."

"Oh, that's not the point! Never leave me."

"Uh, alright, it's Ok." Roxas said, patting Xinck on the head.

"You know," Xinck said, "I always would have accepted 'You sell children to zoos,' and, 'you have both sets of genitalia'.

"Yeah, well-wait, what?" Roxas stuttered. "Really?"

"Nah, but it would've made me laugh if you said it." He grinned.

"Wait, you jerk! You knew it was me the whole time!"

The pair exchanged information as they made their way through the never-ending corridor. Neri, Masq, Xibre, and everything in between was shared and soon Xinck knew what Roxas knew, and vice versa. Roxas already had a hatred for these people, but when he learned that it was the one called Xibre that took Axel, it became intensified. He wanted to take it all out on Masq, since it was obvious she gave the order. Roxas didn't seem to concerned about the rest of it, Xibre's origin, his powers, his ambitions working with Masq and even the World domination plan. Axel was his first concern.

"How's your wound?" Roxas asked, gesturing towards the bloody mess on his front.

Xinck patted his abdomen, "It's healed, finally."

"You know," Roxas said suddenly, "I'm thinking that that shape-shifter might have let something slip."

"Oh, yeah? Like what?"

"Well, you said you found out about Masq's plan to take over the worlds from Xibre, and when the shape-shifter came to me he said the same thing, but he also said something about a cannon."

"Cannon? What kind of cannon?"

"I don't know, he didn't go any further." Roxas said, "He was disguised as you, and he said the information was sketchy."

"And you believe him? Some stranger who masquerades as other people?"

"He said Masq was planning world domination and you confirmed it." Roxas replied, "He might've already thought we knew about the Cannon and so went ahead and mentioned it."

"There's a hole in that logic." Xinck said, "How would we know about a cannon? And how would they know that we know? Who told us? The walls? Neri, the late Lumophage?" Xinck scoffed, "Probably just a lie to get inside your head."

"I don't know." Roxas sighed. "You know what, I don't care. I just don't care. Cannon, no cannon, world domination or not, I don't care. We're taking her out and saving Axel, nothing else matters!"

"I can't believe you don't care..."

"What?" Roxas snapped. "You never care about anything and you're judging me?"

"No, that's not what I mean. I just meant that as a Keyblade wielder you might have a bit more concern for the world."

"What does one have to do with the other?"

Xinck was prepared to reply when an old thought occurred to him: Xemnas's order. He could never reveal what he knew about Sora, make no reference, hint or anything that might lead Roxas to seek the truth. That included revealing too much about the Keyblade. He sighed and conceded, "You're right. Who needs the world?"

"Besides," Roxas said, "If we kill Masq, there won't be anyone to dominate the world. The problem takes care of itself."

"I'm a terrible influence on you..."

* * *

**Adonai's Atrium**

The Corridor came to an end after what seemed like an eternity. A great atrium lay before them, destroyed and in ruins, but still breathtakingly beautiful. The left and right walls were virtually destroyed, but their bulk remained intact, blocking some of the wind that penetrated the Atrium. The far walls were sectioned off into levels, each one rising higher and higher towards the roof. On the floor was another stone carving of the sun with a human face, this time its eyes were half open and its prominences outstretched and climbed onto the surrounding walls. Eccentric, hard to discern characters were arched around the sun that read "Adonai".

A Great tree, with thick enormous boughs and impossibly green leaves, stood on the farthest side of the atrium. It was enormous and easily reached the colored glass ceiling above. The winds rushing through pushed its leaves to and fro, as if it were waving everyone towards it. Identical paper charms and talismans were strung from several branches and swayed in the wind. Shimmering particles of dim light seemed to be stuck in a perpetual fall around the tree. It was a sacred tree, as was the room, but that sanctity had been perverted with the presence of Masq and her allies.

"Wow, that tree is huge!" Roxas marveled, craning his neck upward.

"Eh, I've seen bigger." Xinck replied.

"No you haven't!" Roxas said.

"Yes I have!"

"Prove it!"

"I don't have to prove anything to you!"

"Ha! Then that means you haven't! So there, I win!"

"You don't win!"

"Yes, I do!"

"Rggh!" Xinck growled.

"You two bicker like children..." From a high branch in the tree, legs stretched out and kicking in the air, was the man in the green fedora and matching green duster.

"Green Alucard!" Roxas shouted.

"Oh, yeah, that name. Well, I suppose I do kinda look like the _Hellsing _vamp." He replied. He turned a head towards the pair and smiled, "Tell me somethin'. You boys believe in God?"

"Uh..?" Roxas stammered, unsure on how to answer, he turned to Xinck, "What's that supposed to mean? How do you answer that?"

Xinck shrugged, "He's the bad guy, and bad guys always do their monologue before a fight or something eventful happens. Just go along with it." Xinck turned his attention back to Green Alucard, "Ahem, we believe in and devote ourselves to Atheismo, the Great and Almighty, who is not real."

"Seriously...?" Roxas chimed.

The man in the tree started in low with a chuckle, then filled the Atrium with laughter, "Oh, cheeky, very cheeky. You got a grip and a sense of humor! Ha!" He sighed and his laughter subsided, "But really, kids, you hafta believe in somethin', right?"

This time Roxas spoke up, "We don't have such high ideals that we would have to. We're Nobodies, we don't have that right or luxury."

"Roxas..." Xinck sounded almost stunned, hearing such a thing from someone like Roxas.

The man in the tree sighed and chuckled again, "Well, then, I 'spose I'm a Nobody as well. I don't believe in God, never have. Know why?"

"No." Xinck said, "But I'm sure you're about to tell us."

"'Cause a God that don't rightly intervene isn't a God at all, just an indifferent observer, like a child watching monkeys in a zoo. That's all God is, really. A child with a short attention span. A child can't be parent to a child, ain't natural. He don't care, why should we? Bastard children, all of us..." He seemed to trail off as he finished his thought, turning his head the other way and mumbling to himself. Then suddenly, as if a jolt hit him in his spine, he turned back around and leaped from the tree. Roxas and Xinck braced themselves, thinking he was attacking, but he landed with a great thud. He looked heavier than his thin frame suggested. He smiled again, removing his hat and taking a bow.

"I've been rude. Please, let me introduce myself. My name is Hermès Andreas Babin. That is 'Air-may Aun-drayus Bay-bin. But please, everyone just calls me Baby."

"Ooh, sexy." Xinck said, "I'll call you Baby, baby."

"Please, there is nothin' sexual about my name."

"Just get out of our way!" Roxas shouted, already brandishing both Keyblades, "You work with Masq, which means you're already on my bad side. But you haven't done anything to us, so move or be moved!"

"Oh?" Baby smiled, "I haven't done anything to you? Really?" With that, Baby's form began to shift and waver. Soon he was an old woman in a purple rob, tanned and wrinkled skin, and silver hair tied in a purple cloth. He spoke in an accent, different from his normal one, "Come now, boys, Madame Zeroni never did nothing to you? Ha ha ha!" He/she cackled.

"That old lady!" Xinck stammered, his finger waving madly at Baby. "You were the old lady who told us about the Axis!"

"Tell me!" Baby shouted in his own voice, "Tell me how it feels knowing there ain't a thing you can do to stop what's comin'! Tell me how it kills you on the inside that every move you made was planned for, just so you can be lead to ya death! That's what it's like to be bastards of God! All of us! AHAHAHA!"

"DIE!" Swords of light rained down near Baby, but he skillfully landed a series of back-flips out of danger, obviously not limited in the old body he was using. He recovered just as Roxas came at him from above, both swords ready to split him in two.

Baby, in an instant, was in a new form to parry Roxas. He dawned a black coat, a youthful appearance and blonde hair with two Keyblades to match.

"Are you making fun of me?" Roxas shouted, banging both Keyblades against Baby's identical pair.

"Of course I'm not." Baby said in a perfect-pitch copy of Roxas's voice, "I'm just...PLAYING A PART!" A powerful shove, he pushed Roxas away and smiled evilly, brandishing his fake Keyblades, "You know, I could get used to these."

Roxas growled, standing up once more and prepared to go in for another attack. Xinck had summoned Thanatos and was waiting for Roxas to go before he went in from behind, as was his strategy. Xinck looked at Baby's facade of Roxas, "It's kinda weird, Roxas, seeing you all...evil-looking. Weird, but refreshing.

Roxas turned and snapped, anger swelling in his voice, "TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY! FOR ONCE!"

Shocked and taken aback, Xinck nodded slowly, "O-okay..."

"Ooh, trouble in paradise?" Baby asked.

"You shut up!" Roxas hollered, charging for his clone. They meet and clashed in a burst of fury and sparks, as Oathkeeper and Oblivion slid across each other mad flashes. Roxas ducked down to sweep out Baby's feet, Baby jumped and countered, bringing both blades down for Roxas. The Key of Destiny raised Oblivion and blocked, then shifted his weight to Oathkeeper, letting Baby fall as he stabbed straight forward, but Baby dodged and the attack missed his face. Roxas swung Oathkeeper to slice off Baby's head, but a quick duck saved his life. Another series of flashes, dodges and sweeps, They locked swords and meet eye to eye, Roxas staring into a mirror of his evil self.

"Tell me, Rox." Baby said in Roxas's voice, "Does Axel look like this?" A shift in appearance, and Axel's head was on Roxas's body, grinning like a devil.

"Uh..wha-Axel?" Roxas stammered, losing his edge.

"Get this memorized!" Baby opened his mouth to ridiculous proportions, revealing a silvery cannon that began to gather intense orange energy. He fired, blasting Roxas in his chest and sending him flying back into a stone wall.

"Bah!" Blood splattered from his mouth and down his front. Roxas coughed and pulled himself from the rubble. He narrowed his eyes to slits and wiped the blood from his mouth, then spat out whatever was left. "You're not human."

"Neither are you." Baby said in Axel's voice.

"Neither am I!" Xinck shouted from behind and above Baby, swords ready to cleave him in two.

"Well, then let's have an Inhuman Rampage!" Baby shouted, changing form once again. He became Xinck and both his Keyblades shrank in size and changed color, resembling Thanatos. He swung one blade on its chain and quickly ensnared Xinck on his torso. He pulled him back down, slamming him into the stone, then spun him around and released him, sending him flying into the wall next to Roxas.

"Augh!" Xinck shrieked, shrapnel shooting into his back, he fell to his knees.

"Xinck!" Roxas ran to him, gripping his shoulder, "Are you-"

"I'm fine!" He snapped back, wobbling to his feet. The rocks in his back fell out as the skin healed. He stared at Baby, who was swinging his sword on its chain and smiling, "Xinck has never been so beautiful." He said, "But I hate copycats and even worse, I hate when people copy my swords! Believe it or not, I'm conflicted!"

Baby smirked and spoke in Xinck's voice, "I'll admit, that attack was just a fluke. I don't like swords too much and yours are just too...loose. I don't like the chain feature on them." With that, his fake Thanatos changed form, the metal twisting and churning as steam billowed from them. Soon, they became a pair of ornamental black and golden, long three-barreled revolvers. Archaic markings were drawn into the metal, reminiscent of ghostly wisps. Baby held the barrel of one gun up to his face, cringing at the touch of the cold metal. "I prefer my default, The Saint of Killers." The guns seemed to give off a slight glow for a response.

Roxas and Xinck weren't fazed by Baby's display of power or the fact that he was still in Xinck's form. They stood at the ready, preparing to go in for another attack, when they heard a voice from the tree. "The fact that he can shapeshift is bad enough, but when you throw in his power to copy any physical attribute is just adding injury to insult." Masq said. She was leaning casually against the main bough of the great tree, arms folded.

"I believe it's insult to injury, Masked Lady." Baby said in his own voice.

"Tch, whatevs." She replied.

"Masq!" Roxas screamed, "Why don't you come down here instead of hiding behind your lackeys!"

"Lackey?" Baby stammered.

"Oh, I'm not hiding, boo-boo." Masq replied, "I'm _biding_, as in My Time. I'm just waiting for the inevitable. We'll have our time, sweetheart." Roxas prepared to jump into the tree after her. "I wouldn't if I were you." She said, knocking on the tree's wooden frame." Adonai is very sensitive about violence happening in its branches. One false move and, well, it won't be good for either of us."

"I don't believe you!"

"She's telling the truth." Xinck said.

"What?" Roxas snapped.

"I can tell. This tree is..alive somehow. It'll protect itself. As long as we don't harm it, it'll leave us alone."

"Listen to him, Roxas. He knows alive from dead, definitely. Seems to me that you like the dead more than the living, eh, Xinck?" She shouted, "How many children have you killed in the past, oh, let's see, three days?"

"YOU DON'T TALK TO HIM LIKE THAT!" Roxas bellowed.

"And why not? You're just as bad as he is, maybe worse." Masq said, "You might've killed just as many people as that sick fuck has! You're a murderer, Roxas, and for some reason you fail to notice it! But somehow, someway, you still seem so innocent, so pure!" She eyed Roxas, indifferent to his anger and hate towards her.

"Wow," Baby said, after returning to his form of the Green Fedora and matching duster, but still brandishing his guns, "We definitely are off the subject of _moi_."

"You're right, Baby, you're right." She sighed, keeping her gaze on both Roxas and Xinck. She smiled and her cool seemingly returned, "Baby, I'd love to see you fight them while changing your form between them." She exclaimed, "It'll be amazing, sick and twisted in the most glorious ways to see the fury of Hell's fire finally turning upon itself."

* * *

Xibre was, for lack of a better word, excited today. Not because he had had a candy bar for breakfast and was a bit hyper, but because Saix had told him that since his fighting skills and sanguikinetic powers have been trained, he might be eligible to learn Redux, a secret skill of all member's of the Organization. Xibre didn't know what Redux was, but he was told that Zexion would be the one to teach him this new skill and he couldn't wait. He hurried down one of the many, identical hallways of The Castle That Never Was, looking for the Gray Area. He preferred walking most of the time as opposed to using the Corridors of Darkness.

Xibre turned a corner and was greeted with the image of his direct superior, No. XIII, Roxas. His stare was blank, his mouth was just a line on his face. He no emotion, or even a hint of faked emotion. He was just empty.

"Oh!" Xibre gasped, attempting to bow respectfully as he was still new and took the ranking system seriously, "Roxas. How are you this morning?"

"..." Roxas stared blankly at Xibre.

"Oh, well,..alright then." Xibre bowed, then ducked behind Roxas and went his way, while Roxas continued on his way. _"Wierdo."_Xibre thought, _"Can't believe that guy is above me."_ He let it go, as he figured Roxas wouldn't last much longer in the Organization if he continued acting like a zombie.

Suddenly, Xibre felt as if he had walked into a thick mass of an invisible force that pushed on him so hard that his speed was forced to a jog.

Xemnas seemed to appear out of nowhere ahead of him.

"Ugh..uh..Superior!" Xibre gasped, trying to take a bow without falling over, "Good morning!"

"Yes, and good tidings to you, my friend." The Superior replied, "I hope all is well and that you are prepared for a day's worth of missions."

"Yes, of course." Xibre nodded. He hated running into Xemnas. Emotions or no, he knew he hated it. Worst of all, it always seemed to happen randomly, and at the worst times. Xemnas himself seemed random and unreadable, but one thing Xibre had learned about him that he found interesting was that he seemed inclined to have conversations if prompted. Xibre decided to go with that. "Are you, uh, heading to, uh, breakfast? Maybe?"

Xemnas's eyes noticeably shifted, "Why, no, actually. I eat a meal similar to breakfast at precisely 3 in the morning, I meal I have named '3 A.M. Snackfast.'. At the moment, I am on my way to the Kitchen to acquire a small candybar I placed in the freezer yesterday."

"Oh, really? What kind of candybar?" Xibre asked.

"A Butterfinger."

Emotions or no emotions, a deep sense of unrivaled fear and dread was born in Xibre and his eyes noticeably receded into his head. "A Bu..a Bu...Butterfinger?"

"Yes. What is the matter?"

He dropped to his knees and began to grovel before his Superior. He thought lying would not help him. "Please! Forgive me! I..I ate it! I ate it for Snackfast-ah, I mean Breakfast! Saix told me to be ready by 8:00, but I woke up at 7:30 and I was hungry and I saw it in the freezer and I was desperate!"

"Xibre." Xemnas's voice instantly silenced his subordinate, "Arise." Xibre did so, cringing, attempting to brace himself for being turned into a dusk. Xemnas said, "It is only a candybar. I can easily acquire another one by taking it from a child like I did last time. It is nothing, really."

"R-really?"

"Go to your missions, Xibre. The Organization has a need, a need that only you can satisfy." The Superior turned on his heels and strolled away, hands behind his back.

The sigh of relief that left Xibre was enough air to fill an oxygen tank. He patted the spot on his chest where his heart should be to keep it still, a habit he had gotten while he was human. He prepared to continue onto the Gray Area, when-

"Xibre?"

"Yes, Superior?"

Xemnas was directly in front of him again. Xemnas's hand was on Xibre's forehead, it radiated orange as Xibre still had a look of relief on his face. It all happened so quickly that Xibre essentially felt nothing as the blast entered and exited his skull in an instant. The wall behind him and Xemnas was painted a pinkish red as the blood settled.

Xibre's eyes closed and his body went limp in Xemnas's grip. The Superior stood straight up, Xibre's head and body firmly in his grasp. "No one shall lay a finger on _my _Butterfinger."

In a moment, traveling through Corridor, Xemnas was in the Gray Area. His appearance was met with gasps, as was natural, but as every member saw the limp body in his grip, their gasps and murmurs began louder, more frequent and serious.

"Holy shit!" Xigbar shouted.

"My word.." Luxord marveled.

"I bet Demyx is next." Larxene chuckled.

"Oh, Lord! No!" Demyx shrieked.

"..." Roxas said.

"Yeah, I agree." Axel replied.

Xemnas came up to Saix, who looked both bewildered and disgusted. The Superior dropped the body at Saix's feet, "Dispose of this, would you?" He turned on his heels and vanished. A pool of fresh blood was forming around Xibre's head wound. Saix leaned down hesitantly and grabbed the body by the hood. With a flick of the wrist, he threw it against the window, where it shattered the glass and fell to the abyss below.

"Someone get a mop!" Saix ordered, trying to flick the blood of his shoes.

* * *

Wow, I'm excited now, are you? I'm gonna go throw up and pass out for a few hours then start on the next chapter. REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!


	48. Redux Profile IV

Another Redux Profile to tide you over until I can finish up the next chapter. Damn, I really have to get these chapters out quicker. I'm running out of Reduxes...

Enjoy and Standard Disclaimer, blah, blah, blah...

* * *

**Larxene**

_-"Dame Sorcière Tonnerre!"_

_-"_Govern Over That Which Thunders."

French for "Lady Thunder Witch", or "Lady Witch Thunder". The Redux name can also be read in English as "Lady Witchthunder", or "Lady Thunderwitch."

Larxene begins the activation of her Redux by releasing her presence, which manifests as the increase of ionized oxygen, electromagnetism and lightning bursts in the atmosphere. When she is ready, she releases a terrible EM pulse from her body, disrupting all electrical devices and causing city-wide blackouts. The only source of light being an enormous burst of continuous lighting from the sky pelting Larxene. When the lightning subsides and she reveals herself, she is shown to have dawned a black and golden outfit. A large collar comes up covering half the sides of her face then opens up as it goes down in a V shape, slightly revealing her breast and navel. A thinly intricate and golden belt hangs lazily off her hips, lined with long, thin gold Kunai. In her Redux, Larxene actually appears taller and her legs thinner. Her pants hug her hips, thighs and upper legs, then fan out wider around the ankles in a hakam-like fashion. The side of her upper thighs are scantily clad and visible in wide slits in the clothe. Her shoes have a noticeable heel that appears to be slightly mechanical. Trailing behind her are three cloth-like tendrils, black and tipped with gold.

Larxene wears a large visor over her eyes, black and tipped with gold. Her hair has grown severely, nearly touching the ground behind her, her reverse bangs have grown just as much. Streaks of lightning burst fill her hair, adding to its glow. Tied off on the very tip of her hair, is a large kunai, which she can also use as a weapon.

The final part of her Redux are two demonic-like gauntlets, black and decorated in gold. They are at least 5x the size of Larxene's arms and heavy, but she can move them around as if they were feathers. The gauntlets sit in a reverse fashion on her forearms (the part where the claws should be are pointed upward as opposed to downward). The gauntlets have no claws, but when Larxene uses them, electric energy in the shape of claws is produced and would have the same effect as normal, metal claws.

**Powers/Abilities **

In this form, Larxene acquires upgrades on all her basic powers, Super Strength, Speed, Agility, Endurance and Healing, etc. In addition to those, Larxene also gains new abilities, one of which is her **Thunderskin, **an extremely dense field of electrically charged particles that acts somewhat like a steel-strength barrier, making her nearly invulnerable. Thunderskin is a constant, natural part of her Redux and can only be overcome by a sufficient enough force to surpass it. Larxene also has some power over magnetism.

**Summoning**-Perhaps Larxene's most power move in her arsenal. She has the ability to summon nearly anything in a thunder theme (Weapons, vehicles, monsters, etc).

**Larxene the Furious-** A quick combo move. She utilizes her gauntlets and legs to tear at a single enemy, striking them nearly 75+ times before ending the combo with a giant fist cloaked in lightning.

**You're Startin' To Piss Me Off!-** The visor over Larxene's eyes acts as an inhibitor. Her hair is highly conductive, thus it is always sparking, and the energy gathers near her eyes while the visor prevents it from discharging randomly. When she removes the visor, she releases the energy, taking out any and everything.

**Double Your Pleasure**- Larxene creates full body clones of herself, though they are much less powerful than she is.

**Quadruple Your Pain!**-A more powerful version of 'Double Your Pleasure'. Instead of just creating clones, Larxene vibrates her molecules rapidly then rushes at super speeds, creating 4 perfect copies of herself that can temporarily think for themselves and are just as powerful as Larxene.

**Chronotrigger**- Larxene strikes a pose and snaps her fingers, calling down a green and yellow bolt of lightning from the sky on herself. She has a 50/50 chance of dodging it or getting hit. If she is struck, she will be stunned momentarily, even disrupting Thunderskin. If she dodges just before the bolt hits, she can slow down Time itself to a crawl for a small period.

**Anastasia **(_She Will Rise Again_)-If Larxene is heavily damaged and/or dying/fading, she can activate this ability that allows her to return to 100% health. It can only be used once per Redux transformation.

**Sprite Shot**- Larxene can fire a quick, bullet-sized shot of electricity from her fingertip, in the same fashion as a gun.

**Voltic Sorrow-**The mechanical heel on the back of her footwear can be used as weapons. As Larxene conducts electricity, it concentrates itself on several parts of her body, including her feet. When she kicks, she can fire highly compressed bursts of lightning in the form of small bullets.

**Mjolnir**- As a part of her Summoning technique, Larxene can summon thunder-themed weapons. She calls a thunder god constructed out of lightning to deliver her a great hammer. Her movements become noticeably slower, due to the hammer's size, but her attacks increase in power.

**Zeuspear- **Calls a concentrated orange bolt of lightning into the palm of her hand and she can fire the spears in rapid succession.

**Jupiterlance- **Calls a concentrated white bolt of lightning into the palm of her hand. It is 100,000x more powerful than Zeuspear and has the potential to take out an entire town/city. Can be fired repeatedly.

**Magnetic Mayhem**-An EM move. Larxene can either fire a pulse directly from her body, or compress it into a ball and throw it. She can also summon several orbs and fire them into the air and disrupt the magnetic flow in a certain radius.

**Jigadirasu Uru Zakeruga- **A summon. Energy from her own body summons a dragon-like creature with a cannon barrel in its chest. Given enough charging time, the dragon will unleash a city-destroying blast of lightning.

**Bao Zakeruga- **A summon. Energy from Larxene's own body fuels the creation of a thunder yellow sky dragon. It requires no charge after being summoned and can instantly be fired, obliterating the enemy and the very earth he stands on.

**Vol de Nuit **_(Night Flight)_-As part of Larxene's abilities to summon, she can also call a motorcycle to her to ride. She can also change the electric/magnetic charge of the bike in order to ride on any surface, even upside down.

* * *

**Weaknesses **

Larxene's speed, defense and overall strength are drastically increased, as such there is little room for weak spots on her person. Thunderskin makes her nearly invulnerable, and can only be temporarily disrupted by her own mistake (failing to dodge Chronotrigger), or if a significant force is able to damage both Thunderskin and Larxene. If an opponent does manage to overcome Larxene's hardened skin, then she is susceptible to damage.

* * *

**Inspiration**

I was inspired by several sources. The first was a picture of Larxene I saw on Google Images. It showed Larxene and what she would look like if she were in Space Paranoids and I thought it looked cool and I wanted to use it. The second Inspration came with the name. In the manga/anime BLEACH (I don't know, maybe you've heard of it), there was an Arrancar named Cirucci Sandawicci, and when I watched the subbed version it was written as Cirruci Thunderwitch (you know, because of the whole Japanese to English translation and yadda, yadda, yadda). Thunderwitch caught my attention and I knew I'd use for Larxene's name. plus because its two words put together (Thunder and Witch), I consider using that as a theme for some of her attacks, putting two words together for one attack (Thunderskin, Jupiterlance, Zeuspear). The third and final inpsiration came from the game Bayonetta. The concept for her clothes and overall appearance was inspired by the titular character's overall style.


	49. Veridis Quo, Children of The Masquerade

Alright, so believe it or not, but every now and again I get a message or two from people who read my story and occasionally they ask me some very odd questions, mostly about Xinck. Like, what's his favorite blah blah blah or if he was paired with someone who should it be and stuff like that. But, about a week ago, I got the (arguably) oddest question about Xinck ever.

"What does Xinck smell like?" I won't say who asked me the question.

But, because I beleive in giving the people what they want (sometimes), I will answer the question. Now, despite his usually negative/odd nature, Xinck actually smells like two things: Death and Honey (which I call Deathoney). Most Animals only smell the death part and thus are afraid of him, but he also smells like honey because that's what he uses in his hair to make it look the way it does.

So there it is. Xinck smells like honey to people. Oh, and here's the next chapter. 30+ pages. Enjoy and I don't own anything.

* * *

The Atrium was alive with furious battle. Bullets fired, light shined and chains rattled as Roxas and Xinck launched assault after assault on Baby. Baby proved to be deceptively crafty, agile and resourceful. His strength was less than that of Roxas and Xinck, but his ability to shapeshift and overall speed and tenacity, proved to be challenging. Baby could change his entire appearance or just a small part of his body if he wished. He found particular joy in fighting his opponents in guises of their loved ones or themselves, weakening their resolve. His triple-barrel gun pair, Saint Of Killers, also had the ability to change their shape and mass into the weapons of any opponent. But this was limited, as the guns themselves could only use the physical abilities of the copied weapons if Baby himself has witnessed it.

As the fight raged on, Baby's form continued to shift and change until he and his weapons became an arguably hideous amalgamation of both Roxas and Xinck.

Masq was there as well. She sat on one of the high branches in the giant, holy tree Adonai, watching Roxas as he fought, occasionally taunting him, but overall staying quiet. She was distracted, deep in thought. Roxas had grown angry enough to attempt to attack her, knowing he had an opening, but Xinck always stopped him, informing him that anyone who attacked near Adonai would be brutally attacked in self-defense. Masq was well protected.

Pausing slightly, Baby stopped attacking, chuckling and speaking, his voice sounding like Roxas possessed by Xinck, or vice-versa, "He he he, don't I look handsome?"

"Tch!" Roxas scoffed, moving a blood-soaked bang from from his eyes, "You're the ugliest thing that ever lived!"

"I see a lot of myself in you." Xinck huffed, healing a part of his shoulder that had been shot off, "And how can I hate what is essentially me?"

Baby was essentially in Roxas's body, but with Xinck's pale brown complexion. He had Roxas's small nose, mouth and forehead, and had Xinck's pointed ears, cheekbones and large tongue. Baby's left eye was Roxas's, his right was Xinck's. His hair was coarse and in the form of Xinck's twists, but they were blonde and stuck up in the oddest places, like Roxas's hair.

"Beautiful." Xinck chimed.

"Xinck, you can't be serious!" Roxas said, "He shot your arm off."

"It grew back." He replied, waving his right arm at him.

"I only hit your shoulder." Baby said, "But I really tried to take the whole thing." He held up his guns, the right one was perfectly normal, but the left was an ugly combination of Oathkeeper, Thanatos and the Saint Of Killers, capable of both cutting and shooting. It was still the same size and length as its brother, but with a jagged edge on one side and Keyblade teeth near the top.

"Copying the powers of others and using them like you're own. That's cheap." Roxas blurted.

"Cheap?" Baby said, "If I'm so cheap, how come I'm beatin' you so bad?"

"How come, indeed?" Masq chimed in, not paying attention at all.

"You shut up!" Roxas bellowed. Masq paid him no mind, and she turned away from the fight as it resumed. Roxas ran straight ahead and Baby fired all around his legs, missing with every shot. Roxas leaped and landed directly behind Baby, who rolled and dodged away from the first strike. Xinck appeared out of nowhere to strike at Baby's throat, just as he raised both guns and blocked. Baby twisted around, placing his guns behind him and firing, Xinck narrowly bending out the way. He brought down a blade and Baby dodged with a back-flipped.

Roxas came back and let fly a flurry of combos, Baby smiled and stepped out of the way of each one. He jumped as Xinck slid by and missed Baby's leg. Another back-flip and Baby let loose with a barrage of bullet fire. Oblivion and Oathkeeper shielded both Nobodies from the assault, Roxas twirling them faster and faster. Xinck howled and leaped over Roxas for Baby, bringing Thanatos in for a strike. Baby meet him half way, blocked and threw Xinck off behind him and let loose with another barrage into Xinck's abdomen.

"Got you now!" Roxas ran to Baby from behind and struck.

"Missed!" A simple spin, Baby was in the air and out of reach. He landed near one of the many wide and broken spaces in the nearby walls that showcased the surrounding mountain range. "Whew!" Baby chuckled, in both Roxas and Xinck's voice, "I might be a copy-cat, but I do get my job done and I do have my fun."

"Arrg!" Roxas, walking to Xinck and helping him up. The Deviant nonchalantly coughed up several bullets in a spew of blood.

"Got any plans, I'm all ears." Xinck said.

"Working on it." Roxas replied. Baby was an immediate threat, walking for them, slowly taking his time. Roxas took note of what was around him, but his eyes continued to dart for Masq sitting up in that tree and paying little mind to the situation. Why was she here if she wasn't planning on engaging or simply paying attention? She wasn't even looking in their direction, her fingers gingerly touched her lips as she stared out into the nothing that surrounded her fortress.

She wasn't paying attention. She was vulnerable. Roxas called Oblivion to his hand, then hurled the swirling blade high into the tress for Masq.

"Roxas, no!" Xinck hollered.

"Fool boy." Baby chimed. Roxas paid them no attention. Oblivion seemed to collide with an invisible forcefield near Masq, it wasn't generated by her, but by the holy tree Adonai she sat in. Oblivion boomeranged back to Roxas's hand, just as the holy white aura surrounding the tree turned a furious red. A terrible rumbling came forth, the numerous paper charms that hung from the tree limbs became inflamed, but did not burn. A crackling pop sounded above Roxas and Xinck's heads, a rip in the air and space had formed and a divine burst of thunder fired straight down for them.

Roxas had little time to move himself and Xinck out of the way, but they narrowly avoided the fatal strike. The divine thunder had gone as quickly as it had come, leaving a large, smoldering hole in the ground where it had struck. Adonai became silent again, its red aura turning white once more and its charms extinguishing their flames.

"Crazy fool. Tryin' to kill yourself?" Baby called from the other side of the Atrium.

Xinck struggled out from under Roxas's grip, "Roxas! _Baka!_ What's wrong with you! I told you what the freakin' tree does! Are you crazy!"

"Crazy like a fox!" Roxas chimed loudly with a grin, but he quickly stifled himself and continued in a whisper. "I got an idea. Baby's quick, but not too strong. So we need something that's quick _and _strong."

"I know a lot of offensive spells, but you'll have to distract him long enough for me to get some Ether in my system."

"Nuh-uh." Roxas shook his head, "That'll take too long. We're not gonna hit him, he's gonna hit himself. First, I need you to make a cover."

"Baby can see in the dark, I can't." Xinck replied.

"Then don't make it out of darkness. Just make a cover thick enough that he won't be able to see in front of his nose. I'll take care of the rest, okay?"

Xinck wasn't sure about this so-called "plan". From his perspective it made no sense and would more than likely end badly for him. Of course, this was his pessimistic side talking, which went on deaf ears as his optimistic side was stuck looking at Roxas's more that positive expression. Xinck scoffed and cursed, finally looking away, "Damn your beautiful baby blues. Alright! Fine! You'll get your cover! Just give me time."

Roxas nodded in response, then they parted ways. Calling Oblivion and Oathkeeper back to his hands, Roxas dashed for Baby, who stood ahead of him casually.

"What's all this?" Baby mused, taking a defensive position. Baby collided with Roxas and fired, narrowly missing the Nobody's neck. Blocking and countering, Roxas spun and roundhouse kicked the doppelganger back. "Gah! Now that was just rude!" Baby was noticeably injured with the attack and winced with it.

Xinck had gone out of sight, hiding in Adonai's shadow to start his spell for Roxas. It was a simple spell to create a thick mist in a certain area. So simple, in fact, that it required no book to summon. Xinck removed both gloves from his hands, then rubbed them together vigorously until he could feel a heat in the center of his palms. He cupped his hands over his mouth, concentrated on the magical energy he had, and blew a small breath into his hands. "_Sahapu, Zilittu _(Sumerian: 'Envelope, Spirit of the Mist')." The breath in his hands became thick and slightly radiant with a pale white energy. Immediately seeping through the thinnest cracks in the walls and billowing from every corner of open space, was a thick pale fog that engulfed everything. The Atrium became damp with the mist, everything vanished and Adonai was a mere ghostly light in the center, whose lessened radiance did nothing to penetrate the fog.

"What trick is this?" Masq was unable to see anything, even from her height in the tree. She readjusted herself on her branch, taking in the situation. "Such a low-level spell." She thought. "Baby, you better not die. I only needed you to stall them."

Roxas had vanished from sight into the mist, leaving Baby alone. "Tch! Masq!"

"I am here." The Masked woman called from above.

"You see 'em?"

"No." She replied bluntly.

"Oh, you are just TONS of assistance!" Baby shouted. He took a step, jostling the thick mist around his feet. Through his obscured surroundings, he saw a faint shape, raised his gun and fired. He heard nothing, no blood splatter, no bullet ricocheting. It simply faded into nothing. "Oh, I see now. " Baby said slyly, "Use a fog to hide yourselves, keep you outta sight. Clever. I'm a bit surprised at you, though, Roxy-kid. Hiding is more Xinck's thing, no?"

A scuttling behind him. Baby turned swiftly, firing into the fog. He heard nothing. He missed. Scoffing and pulling his guns in closer to him, he continued skulking about. "Roxas, you yourself are the one of light, while Xinck is the darkness. You're supposed to confront me head-on, right? Hiding, hiding like a coward, ain't very-"

"Boo!" A great pain shot through Baby's left leg, Oathkeeper leaving a trail of faint light as Roxas slid back into the mist.

"Aggh!" Baby shrieked and nearly fell to his knee. "Coward!" He bellowed, taking aim for Roxas, but in a flash he was gone again into the mist. Baby drew back his gun and winced with the pain in his leg. It popped and crackled, the black coat he had disguised himself with slowly began to sew up and the healing underneath began. "That's a rotten way to go, Roxas!" Baby turned and let fly another barrage of bullets to his left and right. He fired until he knew his bullets had hit every corner of the room, careful not to hit the holy tree. His bullets faded, his guns cooled and he was once again surrounded by silence.

"Ha! Missed me, bitch!" Came Xinck's cackling voice. Baby turned forward to see a quickly vanishing silhouette generating an equally silhouetted chain. It wrapped itself around Baby's ankle, pulled his weight out from underneath and flung him about the air unmercifully.

"Dah!" Bashing against the stone floor with enough force to drive blood from his mouth, Baby hollered and screeched in a metallic voice, abandoning his Roxas/Xinck facade. He shot round after round into the mist where the chain was coming from, but he changed direction to quickly to aim. Finally, he collided with the ground, a sickening thud followed as the chain unwrapped itself and slunk away. "Masq!' Baby howled in a true panic-stricken voice, "Will you offer no assistance!"

But there was no response, only more scuttling around him, on the floors, in the air, behind him, in front of him. "Stop it..." Baby said, "Stop it, stop it!" Pale silhouettes began closing in, not just two, but dozens. They circled around him, running, jumping and vanishing all once. Guns ready to defend at any moment, Baby's eyes shifted in his skull, left and right, unsure and uncertain where to aim. Finally, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a lone shape, he raised both guns in a frenzy and aimed. "I gotcha!"

"Boogie Boogie!" From above and behind, the noise caught Baby off guard. He turned even quicker and Roxas came into view, Oblivion over his head and grin on his face.

"Gah!" Baby fired in a panic with everything he had, a blazing light erupted from his weapons, penetrating the fog and making Roxas flicker like a mirage. The blast went straight through Roxas and he vanished with the fog. "What is-?" Baby exclaimed.

Suddenly, a brilliant red aura filled the Atrium, just as the mist receded into nothing. In the corner of the room, watching him intently, Baby spied both Roxas and Xinck sitting their casually, legs spread-eagle with their backs on the walls.

"Howdy." Xinck waved.

" Wha'sup." Roxas nodded Baby's way.

"No..." Baby gasped. Quickly, the red aura turned emitted a wrathful presence, and a sudden realization of what he had done struck him terribly. With a quick turn, Baby marveled at Adonai in a blaze of fury, it's limbs and leaves alive with a terrible flame. Herme's eyes went wide in shock and awe, a popping and crackling sound over head was heard, sounding ten-thousand times more terrible than before. Space itself ripped opened with a sickening rip, a thick burst of divine thunder consumed and swallowed a shrieking Baby. His screams were drowned out by the blast, his image disappeared with the blinding white light.

The burst of divinity lasted for what seemed like a full minute, when it faded and its roaring subsided, Baby's anguish was heard. The light died, the blast finished and was quickly replaced with an inferno of Baby's burning body. His image came into view of him writhing in horror of the flames, globs of burnt and charred skin and flesh, the flesh he had copied from Roxas and Xinck, fell off in sickening puddles.

"Amazing what a little shadow puppetry and illusions of light can do, eh?" Xinck asked.

Roxas nodded, "He had it coming." He said bluntly. Roxas stood, his eyes glowed with the fires ahead of him. Baby's screams did nothing to faze him. Finally, he turned to Xinck and his look softened, not by much, but noticeably. He offered his hand, "I'm sor-"

"Apology accepted." Xinck replied outright, readily taking the offered hand and standing beside his friend. "Now, stop apologizing all the damn time and grow a pair."

Roxas twitched, ready with a loud response, but then reconsidered with a shake of the head and a brief smile. He decided to let this one slide, but not before punching Xinck in the arm.

"Ow!"

"Oh, you're such a baby! Grow a pair!"

Xinck gasped, shocked and appalled, "How dare you! Impertinence! Is this how you treat your elders!"

"For the billion million thousandth time! I AM OLDER THAN YOU!"

"Well, I'm taller and prettier."

Roxas scoffed, "Fatter, maybe."

"Impudence! I'm not fat, I'm-"

"Big-boned! Yes! We've all heard it before, Xinck! You're not fat, you're big-boned, festively plump, have an untoned muscular frame, you're big for your age-'

"That last one is true!"

"Blah blah blah blah blah! Whatever!"

Xinck raised a finger to make a point, ready for a comeback, "I-"

"Huh? What? Got something to say?" Roxas teased, placing a hand to his ear, "Huh? Speak up, have your voice heard!"

"I'll-!'

"What's that you said, sonny?" Roxas squinted his eyes, wrinkled his voice and mimed an old man, "These old ears don't hear so well..."

Xinck, oddly, cracked a smirk. He lowered his finger in defeat, sighing, "Roxas, you keep me entertained."

"Yup! What would you do without me!"

"Yes, indeedy, feed the needy." Masq spoke. Out of nothing, she appeared, her trademarked grin stuck on her phony face. She floated in the air, as if caught in a controlled wind, above the still burning and screeching Baby, "What would _we _do without you, Roxas?"

"Masq!"

"Get her!" In an instant, Roxas and Xinck were upon her, in the air with swords alive with their element.

Masq found she had more than enough time to respond. She waved a hand in a circular area and recited, "Block Up A Way Of Thou In The Name Of God." Distorting space with its appearance, a great barrier of golden light cut off the Nobodies, shielding Masq and consequently Baby. The barrier became as wide as the width of the Atrium, making it impossible to go around or Nobodies collided with the shield, their blades scraping against it like needles on glass as they descended to the floor.

"Arrgh!" Roxas yelled, 'What is this! Why won't it break?" He didn't give up with the assault, clanging Oblivion and Oathkeeper against the tremendous shield. Masq only smiled.

"These symbols. I've seen these before." Xinck said, his eyes on the glowing, golden shield ahead of him. Dozens of unknowable symbols outlined the shield and decorated its center.

"Oh, look at what you all did to my Baby." Masq mused, descending to the floor where Baby was still howling. He had fallen to the floor, unable to put out the floors and lessen their bulk. Masq scoffed, "I really thought better of you. I didn't think you'd loose your cool so easily." She said, "I suppose I'll help you." She raised a hand, flicked her wrist and recited, "_Vpaahi_ (_The Wings)" _

A quick burst of wind surrounded the inflamed Baby, the sound of flapping wings resounded throughout the Atrium. The wind surrounded Baby in a small tornado, extinguishing his fire, a wail of both pain and relief escaping him.

"Enochian?" Xinck exclaimed.

"What?"

"Enochian." Xinck repeated, noticeably disturbed," 'The language of Angels', its called. Very powerful, very potent magic." He returned his attention to the golden shield, his eyes shaking as he finally took in the symbols. He recited, " 'Lord God On High, The Power Doth Sits In Right Hands To Protect And Devour.' "

"Oh, what does that even mean!" Roxas yelled, annoyed.

"I don't know." Xinck said, "A lot of Enochian I researched sounded mostly like ugly gibberish. I didn't think it was a real magical component because all of the information on it is obscure and hard to find, but here it is, staring me in the face with its...realness."

"Oh, it's real, alright." Masq interrupted, "It's really real. This entire fortress is a testament to my power derived from Enochian. Difficult to master, yes, but super worth it."

"GUAGGHH!" Baby hollered. The tornado about him dissipated, leaving him to the floor in an unnatural heap. Shocked at his true appearance, both Roxas and Xinck stood in shock at what they saw. Baby had confirmed he wasn't human, but going further than that, he wasn't human _anymore_.

"That's what you really look like." Roxas said forcefully, "You parade around in fake skin and clothes, using your appearance to weaken and provoke your enemy. But that didn't work on us. We saw right through your fake, phony facade. I bet even that green fedora outfit is just another illusion."

"ILLUSION!" Baby hollered, still in pain, "You call my skills...simple illusions? And deride them! Hypocrite! You a DAMN hypocrite! You used the same damn thing on me, tricking me into hittin' that tree!"

"Still." Xinck said, "I can't believe I was shot by a fucking toaster. Pretty convincing illusion."

Baby's power to change his appearance was not an illusion. An Android, who was more technological than human at this point, with the ability to manufacture and secrete a synthetic 'skin' that perfectly mimicked human skin texture. Microscopic nerves that connected the skin to his still-organic brain allowed him to control its color, texture and any other feature that allowed him to perfectly copy the image of any living person. His true body was dark silver and humanoid, various spots on his body that showcased his mechanical muscles were actually living tissue connected to cybernetic machinery. These parts glowed a dull blue, as they seemed to be contained within an azure liquid. Various wires weaved through his neck, connected to nearly impossible to recognize pistons and hydraulics to simulate the complexity of the human neck. His face, his real face, could be described as somewhat beautiful and flawless. It was more malleable than the rest of his body, since the face would be the first feature taken into account. It was soft and an opaque white color, shaped perfectly with ears and nose to match. His eyes were focused and fixed in anger, colored red and white.

"How dare you compare me to a common toaster!" Baby bellowed.

"Do you also do bagels?" Xinck asked.

"Make sure you toast the bread on both sides." Roxas said, "I hate it when one side is just right and the other side is all burnt and stuff."

"Oh! I hate that." Masq said, "Then you have to get a knife and scrape it off, but then you always mess up and take off more toast than you want."

"Shut up!" Roxas exclaimed.

"So anyway." Xinck continued, "You know, I heard they have toasters that actually toast muffins. Well, I guess they'd be called Muffers, muffiners?"

"Ragh!" The android howled. He raised a fist and punched into the stone ground in anger, his metal fist easily puncturing the old stone. Screaming with rage, the bottoms of Baby's feet exploded in spectacular blue flames. He jumped and for a moment, he wavered in midair, then a quick and he shot out of the Atrium, into the open sky and out of sight.

"The toaster flew away." Xinck said.

"Wow." Masq marveled, her eyes quickly returning to Roxas and her grin widening, "You managed to piss off Baby, Roxas."

"I thought I told you to shut up!" Roxas shouted. "Stop hiding behind others and fight me! I don't care what you put in my way, I'm coming for you! If its some magical tiger or a robot, I'll get past all of them! Stop trying to hold me back and fight me now."

"I want my bagel." Xinck mused, half-paying attention.

"Oh, Roxas, sweetie, why would you want to end our fun so soon?" Masq started, "I was just hoping to reward you for all your hard-work and diligence. Your determination to come into my embrace is astonishing. Here, I want to give you a gift." Gracefully, Masq gripped the tail of her cloak, a blue, flame-like aura consuming it whiloe she raised it high above her head. Instinctively, Roxas and Xinck braced themselves for the worst. "_Dlugar (Bring Unto Them)_." Like a magician revealing a nasty surprise, Masq whipped her cloak back and the Organization's stood there. The Flurry of Dancing Flames stood silent and unmoving. His eyes looked straight ahead, they were cold and unfortunately fell on Roxas.

There he was. Roxas could not move, he could barely breath as he broke in a cold sweat. Xinck stood still, unsure of what to do. Roxas's voice failed him, falling back into his throat as if he were chocking on his name. "A..Ax-"

"Don't bother." Masq said, switching her gaze between Roxas and Xinck, "Your voice can no longer reach him where he is."

Xinck blurted out, "What're you talking about? He's right there, you dumb bitch."

"I mean this." Masq said, "Observe. Axel, jump up and down and don't stop until I say so." On her command, the silent Axel did as he was told and the Flurry of Dancing Flames began jumping. On closer inspection, one would see an odd apparatus attached to Axel. Two small, round black plates were fixed on his left and right temples. Axel was still jumping as she spoke,"You see, Axel is in fine condition and hasn't...trulybeen harmed."

"What do you mean 'truly been harmed'?" Xinck asked.

"I mean that Axel's powers are ideal for what I had in mind. Then, realizing that I had other things to take care of-Axel, you can go ahead and stop jumping" Axel followed her orders, "-I decided to keep him around." She turned to Axel and gently caressed his non-responsive face, "Its amazing what a little mental reprogramming can do."

Xinck looked to Roxas for a response or plan or anything, but the Key of Destiny only stood there, head down and quiet. But Xinck knew what he would say, "Let him go." The Deviant said, "Things would get very..unfortunate if you didn't." Before Masq could reply, the sound of a body hitting the floor stopped her. For the first time, Masq had a genuine look of awe and shock and a tiny gasp escaped her lips. Xinck was appalled, if not more shocked than Masq herself. "Roxas, no.."

The Key of Destiny stood on his knees, head bowed and fists firmly on the floor. He was shaking. "Please..." He sobbed, his voice straining with every word, "Please. Let him go. Let me..take him home. PLEASE." Slowly he raised his head. The look on his face was one Xinck did not understand and hated seeing on his friend's face.

"You...you really care for your friend, don't you?" Masq questioned, her gaze softening as Roxas nodded a Yes. Mas seemed to stagger a moment, almost unsure of what to do. She turned to Axel again, carefully turning his head towards her. Masq took her free hand to her mask and carefully lifted it up, revealing the bottom of her face and her lips. She whispered softly, but loud enough to hear, "Kiss me." She ordered and Axel obeyed, their lips intertwining, moving about each other with ease.

"Ah, no." Xinck said. An audible gasp left from Roxas.

Masq ended her kiss after what seemed like an eternity. She replaced her mask on her face, turned to Roxas and said, "The answer's no. This is just too good! AHA ha ha ha!"

"Uhh..no..no..No..NO!" Roxas wailed and Masq laughed, all the while banging his fists on the cold stone floor.

Finally, Xinck couldn't take anymore, "Masq!"

"Hold on there, Deviant!" Masq's tone had changed, instead of taunting and mocking, she sounded serious and even angry. "I've got a gift for you, too. For you see, it is time for the Judge and the Jury to become one and rain down upon you en masse." She began to recite, "_Od Zacam _(And I Move You)_"_ In her raised hand, a dirty green and black flame burst to life. She moved the flame over to Xinck's direction just as several ethereal green tendrils sprouted forth and moved quickly through the air for Xinck.

The tendrils easily bypassed the barrier and ensnared Xinck's legs and arms, hauling him into the air. "Agh! Dammit! Oh, they smell bad! Ah!"

"I have a friend who is just dying to meet you." Masq said. The tendrils slowly began to 'erode' Xinck's body, his legs and arms flaking away into nothing. "She has so much to show you."

Shining brightly, three vertical lasers ran the tendrils through, burning them and setting Xinck free to fall to the floor. The lasers vanished, Xinck's limbs returned to normal and Masq's flame died away. Before Xinck rolled over to pick himself up, a thick, invisible pressure fell onto him, nearly forcing him back down. It seemed the entire room was nearing an implosion, it quaked like the sound of a coming locomotive."Roxas?"

The Key of Destiny was standing, his body pulsed and shifted, effervescing a smoky light-like flame. His eyes had gone white, smoking the same light that came from his body. He recalled both Keyblades and prepared to release his full presence.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Masq said, her smile returning as she addressed Roxas.

Scrambling to his feet, Xinck ran to Roxas, "Alright, just hold on. Stop, I'll...I'll think of something." He sounded panicked, a rarity. He looked to Axel for help, but immediately turned away, knowing that there was nothing there. Roxas didn't hear him. All he saw was Masq, Axel and the barrier before him. Xinck did not exist. There was only his anger and Masq.

"Roxas, wait!"

"**Lucifer**_**!**_**"** A terrible force erupted, consuming everything in purest light. The explosion blinded and blasted a screaming Xinck away. Another green flame was extinguished from Masq's hand as she looked on, unshaken by Roxas's anger. The barrier stood strong, shielding her and Axel from the light, but it was shaking and golden cracks in its surface began forming.

Suddenly, a great column of light shot from the explosion into the air. Masq turned around in a brief shock as the great, holy tree behind her became engulfed in white flames. Adonai seemed to scream as the white fire bent and cracked its branches, incinerated its leaves and charms. The holy tree twisted and writhed, its roots were gone and its bulk began to topple. It smashed against the nearest wall with a loud, rustling thud and continued burning.

Still in the air, the column of light flickered with black and gold. Pure, ivory white wings rustled at the top and flapped frantically. Roxas emerged in his Redux, black suit, gloves and golden tie, his hair shining like a halo made of the sun.

It was the first time Masq showed any stress and Roxas noticed it. She had buckled and braced herself at the release of his presence. If she were weaker, she would've been pushed away from the pressure and possibly killed by it, but she was strong enough to withstand it even at a close range. But because she buckled, braced herself and was distressed by it, Roxas knew she was human.

"Beautiful." Masq seethed, recovering as she looked on Roxas, "With ornaments of brightness, He descends. He brings us knowledge, he brings us day. He is the Morning Star, the Angel of Light."

In the air he stayed, staring down at the only two people in the world. The one he wanted to save and the one he wanted to kill. Roxas opened his hands in front of him, in the center a small, black mass of space was born. In it, 9 planets orbited around a blazing star in the form of a perfect crucifix. "Grand Cross!" He announced and projected the heavenly bodies straight down in a hellish fury, consuming Masq, the barrier and Axel in a grand outburst. The attack further bathed Adonai in flames until the holy tree was nothing more than a blackened log of white flames.

The barrier shattered in shards of golden glass then faded from view. Roxas descended, wings out and arms outstretched, controlling the still-present blast with his power, shrinking it, compressing and moving it away from him as he fell.

He touched ground, a pool of light formed and particles of light rose from it. He stood there, eyes focused, chest heaving in and out. He roared, his voice like a double edge sword that pierced the air, "As soon as you show your head, I'm cutting it off!"

* * *

Axel. He did it again. I've been trying, I really have. But you will always be at the head of the line in Roxas's eyes. You're first to him, and, when it comes to you, nothing else matters. I know you were all zombified and whatever when we saw you, but you had to have seen it. The way he just completely cut me out when he saw you, like I was even less than a Nobody.

Axel, you told me to protect him, keep him safe as best I could, in case you weren't able to. I take hits for him, bullets, swords, spears and fatal wounds for him. I would've done this anyway simply because we both know how this story will end. Xemnas will get what he wants, he'll use Roxas to do it and we both know. But we can't do anything. Its like riding on the greatest roller coaster in the world! But knowing the track will end in Hell. So we just try to enjoy the ride as best we can while we can.

Axel, it wasn't needed for you to ask me to stay by him if you couldn't be there. He came to me and wanted me to come with _him_ to look for _you_. I would've gone with him as soon as he asked, but I was just being stubborn and wanted him to keep asking. At the same time, though, I wondered if he would do the same for me.

I'm just the second, and everyone knows that number two means nothing. But I'm thinking that it's partly my fault. Every time he sees me in trouble, taking a hit, getting eaten, ripped apart and stomped on, I tell him "I'm fine! I'm _always _fine!". That always let him know that I'd survive, and I would, but I still felt so much pain. I heal, but I still hurt and deep down, I still want his help, I want him to save me.

It's useless for me to complain. This is the hole I dug myself into. I have friends, but in name only. Monsters don't have friends, right?

* * *

"Dammit, Roxas!" Out of the shrinking explosion, Masq jumped out, completely unharmed, but shielding her upper body nonetheless. She spoke calmly, "Your Angelic form is the most beautiful thing I have ever laid eyes on, but if you keep doing and saying things like _that_, I just might have to rethink your love for me!"

Roxas was already on her, Oathkeeper nearly blinding her with its light as he raised it over her head. "I SAID I'D TAKE THAT HEAD!" Masq could neither block, defend or move out of the way, Roxas's Redux was too fast. He brought down Oathkeeper on her head and in mid-swing stopped suddenly, frozen in place. "Axel!" Head bowed, standing between Roxas and Masq, was Axel's body. Oathkeeper levitated just over his head, shaking as Roxas did.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Masq exclaimed, "Roxas, honey, I love you, but that Redux is just a bother. Too powerful for me at the moment. But, luckily, Axel is here to stay your hand. You won't strike him down, will you? Your best friend?"

Roxas seethed, his eyes and pupils nearly shrinking in anger.

Masq continued, "You know, Roxy, I'm gonna call you Roxy, we had to keep Axel in a completely unconscious state after I ordered Xibre to bring him in. Otherwise, his presence would've burned this whole place down, and, well, that would've sucked, right? What manages to fascinate me further is that Axel has nearly immeasurable power, and yet he went down so easily when Xibre came for him." A smile creeped onto her face, "Oh, well, I suppose he's already served the bulk of his purpose. I could just dispose of him like trash if I wanted to."

Through clenched teeth and seething breath, Roxas managed, "Shut...Your. Damn. Mouth..."

"Abandon your Redux. Now!" She barked. They eyed each other, her gaze was soft and smiling like the Comedy Mask. Roxas could only stare, he couldn't move, when in truth, he was too worried to move. What if she did dispose of him the moment he dismissed his Redux? What would he do then? As if looking for guidance, Roxas subconsciously looked to Axel's eyes. There was nothing there, just emptiness, no resolve, no spirit.

Suddenly, everything left from Roxas. His wings exploded, feathers fell like snow all around him. His black suit shifted and molded until it widened and changed into his black coat. His hair lost its golden shine, Oathkeeper and Oblivion faded away listlessly. Roxas hit the ground on his knees.

"See there? Isn't that better?" Masq asked. From her, a swift kick landed itself in Roxas's gut, tossing him yards back into the dust.

"Agh!" Roxas groaned, holding onto his chest, "What do you want! Whatever it is, just leave him and take me instead!"

"Why would I want to take something I already have?" She mused, "You see, Roxy, everything is coming together. The final stages are coming, but I need a few things done first. That is why Axel is still around, I need him to take care of something for me. Something only an assassin can take care of." Masq motioned Axel to her once again. She lifted up her mask and kissed Axel once more, which he responded to with her order. She withdrew herself and replaced her mask, moved to his ear and whispered, "Go. Find the professor and kill him. Quickly." She withdrew from him and he was off, jumping into the air, he seemed to kick off from an invisible wall. He sailed through the air for a moment, then landed on a high ledge and disappeared through a small entrance.

"And there he goes."

"Revenge." Roxas struggled, "You..you're doing this for revenge, just like Xinck said. What..what is it I did to you to make you do this to me!"

"Why?" She repeated, sounding almost confused at the question, "Mmm. Why? There are so many reasons why, but I suppose that the main reason is because...you ran from me."

"What? I don't even know you!"

"Yes, you do." She replied, "I wouldn't have been doing this, planning this, plotting this for twenty years just for some stranger."

"Twenty years? I'm not even a year old! There's no way I can know you!"

"Allow me to clarify. Twenty years to us, a few months for you. D'you think I could do all of this, take over this world, learn what I've learned, gather my accomplices, build this fortress-."

"Build your cannon?" For a brief moment, Roxas regretted letting that thought pass his lips. That cannon Baby mentioned in the corridors, he let it slip while masquerading as Xinck. Roxas figured, more like a gut feeling, that Baby's mention of it was more than just a coincidence.

Masq looked surprised, "How-how do you know of the Cannon?"

He struggled for a moment, but Roxas stood up, a hand clamped over his chest, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

The masked woman scoffed, her arrogant smirk leaving her face. "You cannot stop a labor of love, Roxas." She said. She turned on her heels and into a floating stance, rising higher and higher, "Everything I do, I do for you, Roxas. Twenty years is a very long time, to think, to plan, to put into practice. I have made no mistakes, and everything culminates to these final moments. All that remains is Axel's assignment and-"

"I..I won't let him! And I won't let you win!"

"There isn't a thing you can do to help that situation with Axel." She laughed, " But _you _won't let me win, huh? Yes, that's just fine. Stop me, Roxas. Please, I want you, too. I want you to try your damnedest to stop me."

"Arg! I'll-"

"If anything, I'd think you'd be more worried about your other friend."

"What?" An incredibly dumb thing to say, he thought despite his anger. "Xinck is-" He stopped mid sentence, noticing that Xinck was nowhere in sight.

* * *

His body was ripped apart, reassembled, then ripped apart again, all at the same time in a seamless fashion. There was no pain, Masq's spell only meant to transport him to another location, not harm him. Xinck's screams were merely echoes, fading in and out of existence as a multitude of bright lights surrounded him In blackness. He felt the sensation of flying, wind rushing around him and his his limbs flying about aimlessly.

"...AaaaaahHHHH...!" Reality collided with him quickly, like a car crashing into a brick wall. Electricity sparked all around him as his body reassembled itself for the final time. He heard the sound of magic surging, a portal opened and his body came sailing through. Gravity took hold and he began to fall into a white space. Winds rushed about him, his environment came into view. An enormous white field that seemed to stretch on for miles. A great black structure sat undisturbed in the background, but this went unnoticed

He fell like a rock, the white field coming into view. There was nothing he could do to lighten his impact, and the ground looked anything but soft. He knew he'd have to grin and bear it. He repositioned himself as quick as he could, so as to lessen the impact. The ground came closer and closer, he braced himself and with a great thud, he was grounded. For a moment, he felt nothing, the next moment, a terrible pain shook through the bottoms of his feet, his shins and kneecaps. His left femur fractured slightly from the force, the bone piercing his skin and sticking out noticeably from inside his coat.

"Well," Xinck sighed, "That hurt like hell."

Slowly and carefully, Xinck struggled up to about half his height, waiting for his legs to completely heal before he put too much stress on them. The concern for his limbs was quickly replaced by the irritation in his eyes. The blindingly marble-white field came into focus. It wasn't a field, as he had first seen, but a room, an enormous, marble-white room that went on as far as his eye could see. The floor below was hard and plain with no distinguishing characteristics. He craned his neck skyward and could not see a ceiling. The farthest walls he could see towered above him until they became obscured by a thin, unnatural blackness.

This place had an eerie feeling with it. The air was sick with an all-consuming negativity that Xinck found too rich for his taste. He didn't like it. He had gone through a portal, but he knew he was still somewhere within the walls of Veridis Quo. Ever since he and Roxas stepped foot in this land, Xinck sensed a powerful, negative force filled to the brim with malice and ill will. Xinck wondered if Roxas felt it as well, but he doubted it. His thoughts were with Axel. Xinck didn't sense this power coming from Masq the first two times he came near her, but now, here in this hidden place, he felt it in full force, closing in on him, trying to destroy him. A terrible thought to consider. Something that evil that could make Xinck worry.

A sick snap from Xinck's healed legs brought him back to his senses. "Ouchies."

* * *

"You see, Roxy," Masq said, "There is a wrathful justice in this Fortress. So powerful that its presence drew Heartless here for twenty years. The Heartless became so numerous that they almost interfered with my plans-"

"I don't care about any of that!"

"You should!" Masq shouted back, "Neri, a pure creature of light, had a presence that prevented Heartless from coming here, but with his death, I'm sure that they will soon catch wind and be here. Roxas, only a strong heart and will can pull a large number of Heartless towards a person. Can you imagine what type of emotions pulled dozens of Darksides and Dark Thorns and Behemoths here? Not Shadows or Soldiers, but enormous Heartless."

"What does any of that have to do with anything!"

"Think about it." She replied, "Hate, Rage, Wrath, Sorrow, Anguish, Despair, Terror, Grief. Those emotions are merely dwarfs compared to the feelings of the individual who called those Heartless here. And that individual is going to rain down on the Deviant."

"You're lying." Roxas spat, "Xinck can't die. Ever. No one can beat him."

"Exactly! No one _can _beat him! And No One is coming for him. Get it? She abandoned everything and is essentially No One. All in the pursuit of Xinck, she became bereaved of her own humanity, in a sense."

Roxas shook his head. There was no way he would take into account the words of this woman. "You don't know anything. You don't know Xinck like I do."

"He's a monster."

"HE IS NOT A MONSTER!" Roxas bellowed, irritating his wounded chest and wincing with pain. He ignored it, despite his body's protest, he stood at attention and recalled both Keyblades.

Masq chuckled, shaking her head, "Still so blind, so naïve and innocent. That's why I like you. But, you don't know _her _like I do and I can tell you this without a doubt: She is more powerful than Xibre, Xinck, and Axel." She started to fade until she was just an echo, "She's even stronger than me and you..."

"No you don't!" Roxas lunged for Masq's vanishing body and grabbed her leg, making her solid once more.

"My ankle! Let go!" Masq struggled and kicked her leg, but Roxas would not let go.

"No! We're gonna settle this now!" He pulled her down from the air and smashed her into the ground. He heard a painful breath leave her and a satisfying tingle shot down Roxas's spine. He was truly happy he could final hurt her! He grabbed her again, tossed her over his head and brought her back down to the ground. He picked her up once more, spun her body around and let go, letting her fly into the nearest wall.

"Reign in the light and revel in the Twilight,** Lucifer!**" In an instant, his Redux restarted, Roxas unfolded his wings, straightened out his suit and tightened his gloves. "Get up!" Roxas shouted. His Redux was a farce at this point in time. Since his last transformation, he had abandoned its power too fast and it had no time to recharge itself in such a short amount of time. His current power would be drastically lower than normal.

Masq took to her hands and knees, rubbing at her head. "How could you, Roxas? Is my love for you so incomplete that you punish me for it with such brutality? Oh, my love, I shall take your fury with love and give more love in return!"

"Get up!" Roxas bellowed, "I'm gonna beat your ass right now! Right here!"

Masq scoffed, growling, she stood to her full height. Her black and blue aura turning into indigo flames on her body. "Fine then! You want drama! Then bring it! Fuckin' boy!" She reached with her hands for the mouth of her mask, the opening extending widely, wider than a normal mouth. She effortlessly reached inside her own mouth and gripped two objects. Gagging herself trying to pull them out, she slowly produced two bladed weapons and closed her mouth. They were double edged swords, with sharpened, squared off tips. On the left sword's hilt was a small theater mask, colored white and smiling, while the other sword's hilt housed a black mask with a tragic look on its face. Her sword pair name, Thalia & Melpomene.

* * *

"Let's see here. A way out, a way out, a way out..." His leg finally healed, Xinck could move again. He ran around in circle, chanting, "A way out, a way out, a way out, a way out..." Of course he knew running in circles and chanting repeatedly wasn't exactly the right thing to do (at the moment, anyway).

"Lost, huh?" Xinck said to himself.

"Looks that way." The real Xinck replied to himself, stopping his routine of running in circles.

"Can't be helped, I guess."

"Arrgh! Oh! This kinda shit only happens to me!"

"Yeah, your luck will do just about everything but kill ya. Well, except, you know, ….all those times you died."

"I just don't get why send me here. Masq probably wanted Roxas all to herself."

"The female species. What an enigma, eh?" The inside voice said, "Masq did say she had a friend who was just dying to meet you. S'up with that?"

"Don't care." Xinck replied bluntly, "I've had enough of meeting freaks for a day. I have to find a way out of-"

"Did you even bother looking behind you at all?"

"Mmm? No, why?"

"Moron! There's a big fuckin' cathedral right there!"

"A-ha!" Xinck proclaimed, "The joke's on you! It's not a cathedral, it's a Bastion! So suck it!"

"What the-! You! No, I-! Just go, stupid!"

"No need for that language." Xinck finally turned his attention to the great black structure, some 20 yards behind him. Now that Xinck took in its immensity and overall image, the thought of a cathedral did come into mind. Having no architectural knowledge whatsoever, Xinck could only compare the structure to the church known as Notre Dame, complete with stain glass windows, gargoyles and an overall Gothic appearance. It was black, not a painted black, but as if the stones from which it was assembled were built from darkness itself. The cathedral was a great black void against the stark white of the rest of the room, it was nearly impossible to ignore, as if the eye was sucked into it like a black hole.

"Wow." Xinck exclaimed, "How the hell did I miss that!"

"Moron." The inside voice said.

"Okay, you're being mean. Go back to bed."

"You don't tell me what to-alright, then."

* * *

"Endless Masquerade!" Five Large constructs in the shape of Masq's mask shot up all around her in offense. They spun at high speeds, bashing into Roxas repeatedly, then they flipped over horizontally and continually slashed up and down his body. Finally, the masks shot out in all directions, pushing Roxas back into the ground.

He quickly recovered, noticeably staggering as he stood and nursed a small wound to his arm. Pain was a new sensation in his Redux. Anytime he had entered this form, he would quickly win any fight he was in, no one could lay a hand on him. But his power level had dropped, and to make matters worse, Masq was stronger than he had anticipated.

"It's odd, Roxy." Masq mused, strolling about and brandishing Thalia&Melpomene, "You actually look cuter with blood on your face."

"Wanna try it?" With a flash Roxas was gone and behind Masq. He struck straight down and Masq reached a sword back to block just in time.

"Lucky me!" Masq flipped upside down, above Roxas and kneed him in the small of his back below his wings.

"Dah!" Roxas growled. He hit the ground rolling, jumped and sailed through the air. He stopped, floating above her, he flexed his silver wings roughly and with a thought he let fly the feathers like steel daggers, raining down on Masq.

They came down in full force and met her blades in quick succession as she blocked and deflected the shining feathers. "Is that you've got, Roxas!" She shouted in uproarious laughter, knocking the last group of feathers away, "Because, honestly, I thought a Holy Warrior would-"

"Paradise Lost!" A fist with enough force to punch through steel embedded itself in Masq's slightly protected back. Followed by a flurry of furious attacks from Roxas.

"Gaaahhhh!" Masq would howl in pain, the mask over her face developing a hairline crack near the eye.

"Get this!" Roxas reared back on his left leg, readied his fist and let it fly. Just above him, emerging from a portal of ethereal light, a great shining fist punched through and connected with Masq and tossing her like a ragdoll clear across the ruined Atrium. "Yeah!" Roxas proclaimed arrogantly, "I told you this would happen! I told you I'd make you pay for what you did!"

* * *

The black cathedral doors opened with a stereotypical Haunted Mansion noise, the eerie _creeeeak _That filled old horror movies to the brim with fright. Xinck stepped inside slowly, closing the door behind him as he went. The inside had all the appearance of a traditional cathedral, a pair of pews on either side leading all the way up front to an alter. Obsidian pillars lined the outer rim of the cathedral room, intermittently blocking out and letting in the pale white light from the outside that seemed to dance around on the pews and floors after passing through the stained glass windows. The windows and overall decorum of the sanctuary seemed to be at odds with the rest of Veridis Quo. There were no pictures of God represented by the sun here, only images and carvings of a dark full moon with an expression of madness reigned. This was the antithesis, Xinck thought. The Sun represented God, the Moon was the Devil and this cathedral was its place of worship.

It was stronger here, terribly stronger, that evil presence. Thick and plentiful, it radiated from the figure that stood in front of the alter. Light from the circular stained glass window behind the figure washed over it beautifully, making its obscuring red cloak seem to sparkle. A hood obscured its face, like a shadow hiding-

"Hey, you know how to get outta here?" Xinck asked unabashedly, "Or point me in the direction of a bathroom? I gotta make bears." Xinck found that starting a conversation with a powerful, deadly being was much easier than egging them on into a fight. And making them laugh was, if anything, a bonus.

The figure neither laughed or responded in anyway.

"Silent treatment, huh?"

"_I don't like this." _Said Xinck, the inside voice.

"Didn't I tell you to go to bed?" Xinck whispered back.

"_Look at him! You can feel it, can't you? He wants you dead!"_

"Who doesn't want me dead these days?" Xinck replied back, "Now shut up." He mentally silenced the voice and began to take further steps into the cathedral. He cleared his throat and spoke clearly, "Usually, bad guys such as yourself introduce themselves in some self-satisfying monologue. I'm sure you have rehearsed yours for some time, right?"

At first, there was no reply from the figure. Then, very subtly, it began to move its head up, as if finally acknowledging Xinck's presence. Moving slowly and deliberately, the black space of the figure's hood stared straight ahead.

It finally spoke, "I-" Then it stopped.

"Mmm?" Xinck mused, placing a hand to his ear and craning his neck, "Speak up, be heard."

"...I...have waited...for so long..." It was a female voice, but it was stronger and growing stronger with each word, "...to meet you...and...I have dreamed, fantasized, even played out everything that I would say to you when I finally came face to face...to you."

Immediately, Xinck knew the situation was going south. Instinctively, he took up a fighting stance, but did not summon Thanatos, "You could start with an introduction, but, as they say, actions speak louder than words." Quickly, Xinck flinched as the female figure raised a hand to her chest, as if gripping her heart. Xinck was on his toes, prepared for whatever she had for him.

"You...are right." Her hand was twitching, as if agreeing with Xinck caused her more horrific pain than a hundred blades to the back. "Actions do speak louder than words."

When she replied with that, Xinck immediately wanted to redo his last sentence "Uh, but then again, that doesn't mean words don't have their place? Am I right? Of course I'm—What the hell?" His attention was drawn downward, a long, clean tear in his black coat caught his attention. It was a long cut that ran horizontally along his belly for at least 7 inches. Red began to drip and pour from the tear just as a deep realization hit Xinck.

"I...I didn't even..see..." His eyes went wide, he gripped his stomach, the pain increasing as ropes of his own bloodied intestines and innards squeezed themselves out from his body. His eyes began to loose focus, he lost his balance and fell forward into an expanding puddle of his own blood and bile.

The woman removed her hood, taking in Xinck's recently deceased carcass with a better view and sheathing a well-hidden blade. She spoke with ice in her voice, "That is the first, that is for my mother."

* * *

"Agh! Dammit, Dammit, Dammit!" Masq chanted repeatedly, picking up her nearly broken body. She had become wrapped up in her own cloak, like a baby in a blanket and struggled to get free. Finally she broke free of her constraints and staggered up onto her feet in a drunken manner.

"You've got power, that's obvious." Roxas said, "But you're still human, you're body can't take too much damage. You can't beat a Nobody."

"You don't know anything!" Masq snapped, "And how dare you speak so arrogantly to me! IN MY OWN HOUSE!"

Roxas rolled his eyes, taking in a quick view of the ruins of the Atrium, the shattered and falling walls, the holy tree that was burnt to the ground, "Pretty crappy home you have here." He replied arrogantly.

Breathing heavily, Masq raised a flimsy hand and recited, "_Oln Nazavabh! (_Made of Hyacinth Pillars)_" _On her command from portals of yellow light on the ground, three large, shimmering pillars of hyacinth flowers grew. From them flowed a shining green vapor that washed over Masq, healing her body in a near instant. The crack in her mask repaired itself as well.

"Ooh, oh, baby." She sighed lasciviously, raising her hands above her head, then down her body and across her navel, "That's better, dontcha think, babe?" With a flick of his wrists, Oblivion and Oathkeeper shimmered into Roxas's hands. "Back to that, huh?" Masq did the same, recalling Thalia&Melpomene.

Their swordplay resumed amidst the damaged Atrium. Roxas wasn't at 100%, he was slower and weaker, giving Masq the advantage with her magic. She parried a thrust from Roxas, locking them both in a heated stance, "Gotcha now! _Grosb! (_A Bitter Sting)" She swiveled one of her blades around, undoing the lock stance. One of her blades developed a glowing, yellow point shined, she took aim for Roxas's abdomen and fired a quick burst. He readied Oblivion just in time to meet the blast and block. The energy bombarded the Keyblade with a terrible force, Roxas had place a lot of power just to deflect it away.

"I've got more for ya!" Masq shouted, aiming her blades at him again and firing in the pointed energy in succession.

Roxas dodged, jumped out of danger and batted the blasts away when he could. He was tiring out, his movements growing slower. His Redux was running out of power and if he didn't do anything, he'd fade away.

"What's the matter, Roxas!" Masq hollered over the sound of each attack, "You sounded so sure of yourself, so proud earlier! Are you finally worried about Xinck now!"

"Shut your mouth!" A quick second, in between Masq's attack, Roxas ran a quick hand in front of his eyes, his face seeming to distort as his scleras shined and exploded with a ray of light. "Rah!" He unleashed the attack, tearing through the remainder of energy aimed at him from Masq.

"Beautiful." Masq chuckled to herself, dropping her swords and defense. The laser was rushing for her at full speed, "But you're not quite there yet..." The beam hit her in the heart, carving through her flesh and piercing through to the back. Roxas quickly moved his head in a curving motion, carving through her all the way through her shoulder, leaving a bleeding trail along her upper body.

* * *

"Agh!" Xinck wheezed as he regained consciousness.

"Were you faking being dead?" The woman asked coldly.

The Deviant rolled over in the pool of his own blood onto his back. He ran frantically ran his hands over his midsection and found nothing, no wound, no blood, no guts at all, just the cloth of his black coat. It couldn't be, he though, his healing factor wouldn't have healed it so fast. Worse still, he could've sworn that cut was deep enough to kill him. "H..how-"

"I healed your wounds. I'm not going to let you die the true death, not yet anyway."

Xinck quickly jumped to his feet and did a quick once over of his body. He was at 100%, every one of his cuts and wounds were gone, even his coat had been repaired. He turned to his adversary, seeing her still obscured in her red cloak and sitting in a pew with her back turned to him, her head bowed as if in prayer.

"There is no God." She said. She turned her head to Xinck, then back away.

"Who are you!" Xinck shouted, "You're gonna threaten to kill me and heal my wounds at the same time!"

"I'm..." She started, "I'm what is left. No. No, perhaps, I am all that there ever was. Maybe _we_ are all there ever was. Me and you, me and us, not you."

"Don't talk to me in riddles. If you have a grudge against me or something then at least have the ovaries to-"

"I have an inconceivable amount of hatred for you."

"Get in line!" Xinck bellowed, "So does everyone else! I-"

"You're too loud."

The slash of a blade ran itself across Xinck's eyes, slicing his irises and the bridge of his nose, "Raghhh!" He screamed, gripping his bloodied face in a rage. "You bitch! You bitch! My EYES!" Arggh! What the fuck are you!"

"Vengeance personified. Nothing more. Nothing less, either, I suppose."

Ignoring the pain, and blinded, Xinck pulled up his hood, obscuring his bleeding eyes and face. He angrily ripped at the darkness around him, calling it to his hands to form Thanatos. He jumped and charged for the pew where the woman was seated, cashing into it, destroying it in a flurry of blade and chain and dust.

"You're blind." The woman said, far behind him and out of his way, "You're healing, yes, but it won't matter."

Xinck rose from the rubble of the pew, breathing heavily, his sight slowly began to return, "Damn human. You don't know who I am, do you? I am No. 14 of Organization XIII, Xinck the Fallen Deviant!"

"We know each other very well already." She said.

"What?"

Before he knew it, she was behind and above him, "Wheel of Misfortune." Seemingly out of nowhere, a great heavily spiked wheel, 10x her size appeared over her head. She came down on Xinck, slamming its spikes into him with a horrible wail and pinning him to the ground.

"Dah-Agh!" The pressure in his body forced blood from his mouth, his eyes nearly bulging from the sockets.

"Xinck, No.14, Fallen Deviant. You have many titles. Do they have different meanings? I doubt it." She reared back her right leg and kicked it into the wheel, setting it and tear its wheels into Xinck's back. Amidst his wailing, she bellowed, "Feel the pain _I _have felt!" A second kick sent both the wheel and Xinck rolling away, smashing through several rows of pews and crashing into the farthest wall. The wheel crashed through the wall, sending black stone rubble to the floor and revealing a hole to the empty white space outside.

"Raagghh! Gah-ahhh!" Xinck cried and burst from the rubble, his lower half partially stuck. He laid and rested against the stone, both blades still gripped in his hands. His eyes had healed, but were still closed due to the blood that stung them, but his back was nothing more than a bloody mess of ripped muscle and torn vertebra. "_C-Curaja!"_ The magic manifested itself as a great golden and green flower blessing him with a quick burst of emerald vapor before vanishing into nothing. A level 4 healing spell would both work as an anesthetic to numb the pain and increase the potency of Xinck's already overworked healing factor.

"Get up." She said, "I want to see the light leave your eyes when I kill you."

"Goddammit..." He rolled out of the pile of rubble and laid out onto the floor. "Disembowel me, blind me and tear at my back skin. Very creative, very...savage. You...remind...me..OF SOMEONE I HATE!" The Deviant jumped into the air, in one swift motion, he reached into his pocket and produced a small, golden figurine of a Chinese sky dragon.

"Savage...you call _me _Savage!"

Xinck smashed the golden dragon against his chest, shattering it and producing a golden flame in his palm, " _Ǒutù chū kūqì!_(Chinese, 'Vomit out weeping.')" He breathed harshly into the flame, it sprang to life and grew into the shape of a great dragon shaped fire, screeching and howling in fury. It twisted in the air, curved around Xinck then shot down for its target.

The dragon collided with the woman in a hellish explosion, banishing the shadows and illuminating the cathedral with flames. Xinck could see the full view of the alter: carnage, bones and rotten human skeletons all stitched and bound together in a great X, with 4 moons at the 4 openings. The flames billowing from the floor, the light playing in his eyes, his own sense of satisfaction at finally getting in a hit forced a maniacal howl of laughter as he landed back on the ground.

"You see! A-ha-hahahahaha! I'm the Deviant! The Fallen One! And The Prince of Darkness 6 months out of the year! Yes, I share the title with Ozzy! Hahahaha!"

There was a rustling in the flames, brief, but noticeable. With no harm done but a burning hood, she shot straight forward like an arrow, a black blade pointed for Xinck's heart.

"No you don't!" Just as she was near enough, her blade unwavering in its path, Xinck clapped his hands along the length just before it pierced his flesh. The force was too great, the woman's power continued to push, sliding him back to back against the man door, "Dah!"

"Do you remember me?" She exclaimed. Her hood had began to burn, the light of the burning cloth shining on her face and beautiful, Holy Emerald eyes.

"No..." Xinck gasped, taken aback by her eyes, as if merely seeing them stirred emotions he thought had died when he was reborn. His arms went weak for just a moment, allowing the blade to stab into his heart.

"I remember you." She exclaimed, her hood nearly gone, strips of raven black and dove white hair dropping in front of her eyes. "And all that you've done!" She began to twist the blade.

"Ah-ah! GAHHH!"

She moved in closer, and closer still until the blood that was being forced from Xinck's chest nearly sprayed past her face, "How many tens of thousands have you slain!" She pushed the blade in further, "How many millions have mourned their loved ones because of you!"

"I..." Xinck stammered through the blood dripping from his mouth, "I..I killed you!"

"No." She said. Her free hand came alive with a red flame, golden energy at its core and black sparks of lightning bringing it alive, "You killed my mother, my father, my friends, everyone I loved and knew and revered. I've waited two decades for this."

"The Massacre!" He remembered his so-called 'temper tantrum' months ago, during his first few weeks in the Organization. Even so, he left no one alive, but.. "THE THING IN THE BOX!

"Abaddon Star." The energy in her hand expanded until the entirety of the cathedral was draped in rabid flames.

* * *

Masq's heart had been utterly destroyed, Roxas knew that much. He also assumed, due to where the beam carved its path, that one of her lungs was destroyed as well. Roxas took his time coming over to her in order to inspect her body. One of Axel's rules: Confirm the kill. Do it cautiously, keep your defenses up, as anyone can play dead.

He walked slowly, not because he was nervous, but because he was tired and his Redux was dangerously low on energy. He drew closer to Masq as he dismissed his Redux, dawning his black Organization coat.

There was a pool of blood forming around her carcass, spreading out and staining her ripped cloak. He came to her, studied her body for any signs of motion before kneeling down at her side, her face turned away from him. Her mask was just a bit askew and Roxas could see just a sliver of her real face.

"Who are you?" He whispered. He remembered her words and her vague relationship to him. What did she mean, 'you ran from me'? Roxas went on tons of missions and met hundreds of people, she could be anyone. But he knew she had to be someone who had extended contact with him, but who? If he could just see her face, he would know. He could give his anger a real face, not a cover up.

Cautiously, he reached her face and slipped his fingers underneath her mask. One quick jerking motion and he tossed the mask away, it clattered to the floor. An unease struck him quickly as he stared at what should have been a face, but was nothing he had ever seen.

Literally, there was nothing there underneath the mask. Just human skin along a featureless head, no eyes, lips or nostril holes.

"How long do ya think it takes before a body starts decaying and stinking up the joint?"

"Wha-?" Masq grabbed Roxas by the back of the neck and hauled him into the air. He looked down just in time to the body on the ground chip away and disintegrate into the air. "A fake!"

"Clone, actually. It's an imperfect one, but, hey, It fooled you." With a flick of her wrist, she tossed Roxas aside to the ground, "Fooled you!" She sang.

"Since when?"

"Say what what?"

"Since when have I been fighting a clone of you? You're a coward! You won't fight me on your own, but you'll throw everyone else in my way!"

"Let's see here...um..I'd say, _after _I kissed Axel and just a little after you went all 'Lil' Archangel' on me. Of course, I know you weren't at full strength when you started, since you had just had a little bout with Baby, and then you were even weaker when my clone made you drop your Redux. Then you did it again, that dropped your power even more."

"So you were just-"

"Waiting for you to tire out." She went over and grabbed the mask of the now-vanished clone and tossed it about like a toy, "I was trying to show you that attempting to stop me was an exercise in futility. My plans cannot be stopped, I have made no mistakes. It is all inevitabible-inevitit-vitabule...you know what I mean."

Roxas could barely stand at this point. He wasn't injured, he only lacked energy, something his healing factor could not restore on its own. "I-I'll stop you. We'll stop you. All three of us, we won't let you do this!"

"Hilarious. What, do you write for Leno? You just don't get it, do you? I've already won!" She exclaimed, "I've made no mistakes in this! All we're doing now is just waiting for your two friends. And-" She stopped suddenly in mid-step and shuddered, a look of fear and confusion crossed her face, followed by an odd realization, "Oh? And it is starting, seems Xinck is getting his comeuppance as we speak-"

"Xinck...will never die!"

Masq ignored his comment, "...I would've thought Axel would make it to his target first, but, then again, this place is huge. It might take a while." With that, she wrapped her cloak around her body and took the air, starting her vanishing routine.

"Where are you going! I'm not finished with you yet!"

"Roxas, I give you free reign of my fortress!" She proclaimed, her body losing substance, "Explore it til your nonexistent heart's content! Learn well that there is nothing you can do to change the course that has been laid!" Her fading hand became visible with a green mist effervescing from a yellow orb in her palm. She threw it to Roxas, before he could react, not that he had any energy to react, the yellow and green sank into his body, "I've given you some energy, Roxas. Chalk it up to because I love you." She smiled, blew him a kiss and was gone.

"RAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" The Key of Destiny destroyed whatever was left of the Atrium.

* * *

The blazing fires raged on, nearly consuming the whole of the cathedral. The spires on the roof tops remained untouched for the moment and the side flying buttresses were damaged and slowly falling into the main bulk of the cathedral. Out of fire, Xinck spun out, a trail of flame and smoke followng him. Using his chains, he grappled to the nearest safe spot, a lone roof spire. He grabbed it and firmly planted his shoes on its side to keep from sliding off.

Another spinning figure came from the fire below, this one covered head to toe in the blaze. Her red cloak began to burn off, but that did not stop her from homing in on Xinck for an attack.

And for the first time in a long time, Xinck exclaimed, "Wait wait wait!" The woman closed in like a blazing comet ready for a kick. Xinck raised both arms to block at the last second, his forearms taking the blunt of the kick that sent him flying away. He recovered long enough to grab at and settle on another spire.

The woman, with a powerful motion of the hand, tore away her burning cloak as it disintegrated into ash. She wore a dark violet folded down low-cut top garment that did little to hide her cleavage. The lower half of her breasts were covered by a thin, form-fitting black buttoned shirt that stopped to reveal her navel and the top of her waist. Three loose black belts, followed by the lower half of a long black robe that concealed the left half of her lower body. The robe was jagged at the edges and lines on the inside by a dark violet cloth. Her left arm was bare, as the sleeve seemed to be torn from the shoulder. Long black armbands, tied off at her middle finger, covered her wrist up to her shoulder. Several beaded accessories and charms were draped over the armband. Her right arm was covered by a large bell sleeve that billowed beside her. A large, detailed human skull was stitched into the cloth.

Her face, her skin was flawless, not a single imperfection on her light cinnamon complexion, except for two dark lines descending down from the bottoms of her almond-shaped green eyes down to her chin. Black lines, as if she had started crying and never stopped. Evenly black and white, her hair was long and seemed to have infinite volume, practically moving all on its own.

Loosely wrapped around her neck was a chain, tied off from that was an even smaller chain that connected to a shimmering Indigo stone housed in a black O-shaped ornament just above her breasts. The stone shined with a life of its own, but its addition only served to make her even more stunning in Xinck's eyes.

"I thought you were a dog or something!" Xinck called to her "That's why I left you alone, I thought you'd die from starvation or something."

"You killed all the animals. You set them on fire." She replied. She didn't blink or take her eyes away for even a second.

"Oh, yeah..." Xinck trailed off, "I did do that, didn't I?..."

"You are the Devil." She prepared to attack.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Xinck chanted, "I just have to know! You were smaller back then, no one can just grow up in just a few short months."

"Did you not hear me when I said I've waited two decades for this moment." She grimaced, her body twitched and she cupped her hand over her chest, more specifically over the stone and her heart. "As much as it hurt all these years, I knew I was no match for you as a 6 year old girl. The Enochian magic surging through these walls aged me for twenty years over these last months, during that time I trained my mind, my body, and my soul, all in pursuit of you."

"I am...somewhat flattered, Little One In The Box." Xinck mused. For a moment, he nearly lost his balance while on the spire, but quickly repositioned himself, "Would it make you feel any better if I said sorry?"

"Do not mock-"

"My bad, Little One In The Box! I made a mistake, I don't have a problem admitting that _that _wasn't exactly one of my best moments." Despite his mocking tone, he was trying his best to be sincere without sounding overly concerned. This woman truly did deserve revenge for what he did, and worse yet, he knew it.

"Don't mock me!" She fired herself like a bullet, kicking off from the spire and destroying it in the process. The fires below raged on, quickly crawling up the spires. Xinck jumped away as quick as he could and fell for the white ground below. The woman spiraled, changing direction with ease and colliding her foot with Xinck's back in midair, directing him downward and crashing him into the ground.

"Get off me!" The Deviant twisted, knocking the woman off balance and away from him as he scrambled upward. Before she could fully recover, Xinck rushed at her with swords in hand. A first, Xinck found he didn't want to kill her, only incapacitate her. She had information he needed that he knew Roxas would want. He struck forward, she dodged with ease; he slashed for her legs and she sidestepped away. She was too quick for a blade, too nimble and agile to be caught off guard.

Abandoning his swords, Xinck balled up his first and prepared to strike, having no qualms about hitting a girl, "Little One In The Box!" She blocked with a limp hand, raised to protect her bowed head. It was painful to Xinck, as if striking titanium, diamond-spiked wall. "Agh!" He cried, his hand beginning to bleed internally.

The woman raised her head as she prepared her fist, "You asked what I was called." She threw her punch for Xinck's stomach, her fist producing enough force for a large section of his back to bounce. He screamed, grabbing himself and kneeling. "We've lost our true name, Devil, and, therefore, are called many things."

"W-what!"

She balled up both fists and bashed him in his back, sending him into an agonizing pile at her feet. "I've lost what I once was in order to shoulder my people. I am bereaved by my stolen innocence, but I do not mourn it. Innocence cannot defeat evil, not in this world, not anymore. You, Xinck, have proven that with your constant existence."

"I...am not evil!" With pure strength, she reached down and hauled Xinck up by his hood. A backhand sent him back to the ground. "Grr!" He turned to her, mouth wide open and fired a torrent of dark energy for her. She cleaved the darkness in half with a bare hand, closed the gap between her and Xinck and uppercut his jaw to cease the fire. "Dah!"

"I am Lost, Xinck. All of us." She said, grabbing his arm with both hands, "I am the Lost one, the Forsaken and Forgotten child." She hauled him up and slammed him back down to the ground, lifted him over her head then down again repeatedly.

"Agh! Agh! Goddammit!" He shouted, trying to pry himself away from her unstoppable grip. A final toss and Xinck found himself on his feet, but barely able to stand. The woman moved about him, took hold of his other arm and jumped onto his shoulder, all in one quick move. She kicked him down until his arm popped out of its socket and her foot was wedged on his face.

"I am the Unwanted child of your evil! Your Darkness!" She bellowed, "My name is Orphan!"

"Orphan!" He mumbled a cry, "The Abandoned?"

"The Desolate!" Another quick move and Orphan hurled Xinck's limp body away like trash, intermittently smashing into the unforgiving white floor.

The Fallen Deviant, nearly broken in body, stood before Orphan the Desolate One. He could see it, he could hear it, her presence, her fury. He could feel her power leaking out from her very center, trying to crush him out of existence. He could hear screaming, moans and wails of anguish echoing and growing louder, like being in a tunnel as chains wrapped around him, tighter and tighter, squeezing the life out of him.

"Who would want to raise a child here?" He started, "Orphan, Revenge is one thing, but you killing me without a fight, well, there's not much victory or honor in that."

"As if one such as you has such high ideals as honor."

"I do, actually. I'm amoral, but I do understand honor. If that makes me a walking contradiction, then so be it. You want revenge? Fine!" He exclaimed, "But I'm not just gonna let you beat up on me! And if I'm gonna fight, I might as well win!" He released his presence, if Orphan were a normal human, she would've died, but she did not. Xinck realized that his words had little substance when compared to hers. She was out for revenge, she had resolve and the power and skill to back it all up. Skill and power were something he, too, possessed, but no real reason to destroy this threat before him. Survival? No, that wasn't good enough. The joy of killing? That joy had been waning and now seemed more like a job. He had taken everything from her and he knew her vengeance was justified.

If the things Xinck liked and knew so well were taken away in that manner, he, too would want revenge. The same way Roxas wanted revenge on Masq for taking Axel. Xinck thought that to deny Orphan her chance for retribution, would be the same as if Masq somehow triumphed over Roxas. And He could not let that happen. Even if it meant his true death at the hands of this girl.

Even so, Xinck thought, Roxas would always have Axel. The one he would always care for the most.

The Deviant sighed, recalling Thanatos and raising his head, "It'd be kinda rude of me to just let you kill me, eh?" He looked the white room over quickly. Not enough darkness, he'd have to go a different route, "I'm not much for rolling over, but my puppy is! Cry Havoc And Slip, _**Inugami, Kage no RyouKEEENNNNAAHHHH!**_" His mouth opened to its fullest, his screams muffled by the storm cloud of darkness erupting forth. The space all around and behind him became filled with blackness, the cloud expanding, solidifying and taking its true shape. Finally, worn out and exhausted, Xinck collapsed to the floor, sweating profusely and unable to catch his breath.

Orphan stood her ground, unaffected by the great three-headed hound that cried, moaned and roared to life as it stared her down. Xinck, wheezing and unable to stand back up, slowly raised a hand up to the sky, "H-help me..."

Following its orders, the middle head of the great hound, Ender, lowered itself and opened it's mouth. It's breath unsettled the dust around Xinck as it's enormous tongue licked him up, "Friggin' gross..." Xinck muttered, disappearing into Ender's maw as the dog raised it's head back into position. This move, while seemingly gross at first, is a healing technique as Xinck had nearly killed himself calling his Redux through unorthodox means.

Orphan the Desolate produced a thin black blade from her right bell sleeve. The sword curved inward on both edges before curving outward into a fang-like protrusion. "Sunyata (Meaning "Emptiness")." Sparking to life at the hilt and shooting up the blade was a plume of unstable black and purple flame. "Now, Here, secluded in this Unholy place! I will destroy your damned soul and have my revenge!"

* * *

Axel had to be saved.

Xinck would be fine.

That was all Roxas knew.

Roxas remembered Axel telling him that his first instinct would usually be the right one and so, Roxas went with his gut when it told him to follow the same path as Axel. Some quick maneuvering and Roxas was running up the vertical wall where Axel had disappeared over. He remembered exactly where Axel had vanished, the very spot was burned into Roxas's brain. With a kick off, he was horizontal, his center of gravity returned to normal. He had ran up 12 levels along the walls of what was left of the Atrium and now faced a room covered in red, featureless carpet. Nothing was of any importance here, at least in Roxas's eyes, besides a large iron doorway ahead of him.

The doorway was doorless, but there was nothing to be seen on the inside: it was too dark.

He rushed inside, unafraid. Passing the threshold, the sound of rattling metal under his feet slowed him down. He threw his hands out in front and gripped cold metal railing. Roxas took a further step, his foot descended downward and he knew he was on stairs.

Roxas wanted to know how far it went down and it was took dark to see all the way to the lowest level by just himself. In an instant, a tangible ball of solid white light shined into Roxas's open palm. He went to the side of the rail, peered down into the abyss and felt a small current of cool air brushing into his face. Something was down there. He dropped the orb, it fell like a white stone in the black darkness, its light illuminating the shaft below just enough for Roxas to see. "Down and down and down it goes, where it stops, nobody knows...". Before the light was completely out of sight, Roxas leaped over the side railing and dove straight down with no hesitation.

He tucked in his arms and flattened out his back, becoming streamlined like a falcon diving for its prey. The shaft and metal staircase brushed past him in an invisible blur. Roxas couldn't tell how fast he was going, but he could tell it was fast enough to catch the shinning orb and cradle it in his chest. The light it cast on the walls around him rebounded and shined onto an incoming floor. Roxas reared himself upward, bring his knees to his chest and bracing for impact.

With a slam he collided with sleek, glassy black stone in yet another hallway composed of the same glassy blackness. Pure white cement outlined each rectangular stone. This place was definitely the most appealing of any area Roxas had visited so far. No part of the surrounding walls, hallways, passageways and corridors were in ruins, neither spot nor blemish on the obsidian black stone. Pillars of the same colored stone stood throughout the hall, intersecting its space periodically.

With a mere thought, the orb of light shredded itself into nothing before Roxas. To his left, as Roxas stepped cautiously down the passage, an object that seemed to have no business where it was caught Roxas's eye with its bright coloring.

A treasure chest, and nothing more.

Just seeing it sitting there innocently brought Roxas back to his very first mission with Axel. The assignment was to teach Roxas the basics of the Organization and how it operates. The first mission was simple enough: find the chest.

"_Is this the chest?" _Roxas asked.

And Axel's voice replying,_ "Sure is! Well done. Um, what are you waiting for?"_

"_The mission was to find the chest. Aren't I done?"_

"_Uh, Roxas...There's this thing about chests. They have stuff in them."_

"_So I should open the chest?"_

"_Yes, that is generally what we do."_

Roxas couldn't fight the smile coming on. Memories like those, that's one of the reasons why he was here in the first place. Axel meant too much to him to just leave him in the company of people like Masq.

Roxas scoffed, "'Oh, he's fine', my left leg!" With Axel in mind and Oathkeeper in hand, he tapped the top of the chest twice, unlocking it and revealing an Elixir inside.

In Roxas's experience, he found that discovering random objects in chests was a lucky practice. Not once has he ever found a bomb, a spring-load of needles or knives or even a poisoned potion or elixir. Whoever or whatever decided to place random chests throughout every world clearly had good intentions behind them. The only weird thing was that Roxas never knew what to do with the elixir bottle when he was done draining the contents.

"Lucky break, eh?" Axel said.

"Axel!"

"Got it memorized, huh?" Leaning, more like hanging onto the nearest wall for support, Axel stood there, breathing heavily and soaked in blood and sweat. Immediately Roxas dropped the empty Elixir bottle and ran over to him . He took Axel off the wall and unintentionally took note of the small devices on his temples.

"I got away..."

"What?"

"I don't know why, but these things stopped working and I got away!" He grimaced and winced, grabbing at his head.

"Okay, okay, just sit down." Gently, Roxas lowered his friend, carefully leaning his back against the wall.

A great sigh of relief left Axel, closing his eyes when the pain in his head made him wince and twitch. "Oh, man, you don't know what they've been doing to me. Ugh, it feels like I've been here forever."

"Baby, why do you keep doing this?" Oblivion to the gut, Roxas hooked Baby by his insides, flipped him over his head and tossed against the opposite wall.

"Agggh!" He wailed uncontrollably, cradling himself and oozing an azure liquid from his wound.

"I don't care how many times you try to turn into my friends, its not gonna work." Roxas added, flinging Oblivion over his shoulder. "You see, I know them too well. You as Xinck was bad, but you did a little better as Axel, but you messed up as soon as you said 'Got it memorized'. Axel says that all the time in the exact same way. You said the 'Got it' part to slowly, when Axel does it, it's like 'Gotit', as if it's one word. Then the 'Memorized' part, Axel says it like 'Mema-rized', where you can hardly hear the R, or D at the end."

"I DON'T GET IT!" Baby hollered in the perfect pitch of Axel's voice, "I've been watching you, even since the beginning of this whole thing, and I've seen the look of endless despair on your face when you think about the thought of never seeing Axel again. Then, you see him as Masq's puppet, and she actually tells you that when his usefulness is through, she'll kill him herself! So why! Why aren't you weak now! You're supposed to be too sad, too concerned and distracted by Axel's predicament to up fight!"

"That's simple, Toaster." Roxas replied, "Because, for the first time in two weeks I actually saw my best friend. He might be in trouble, but I found him and he's alive. I'm going to take both of my friends home, and there's nothing Masq can do. Its a simple reason, but its mine and its more than enough."

"Yeah..." Baby said, staggering up, the wound healed, "Reasons are always simple, Roxas. But humans, in their infinite complexities, choose to make things difficult and convoluted."

"And the reason why you hate yourself enough to disguise yourself as others is simple, too, right?"

"What!"

A smile made its way on Roxas's face. He found himself tired of these people and their games, seeing them angry almost made it all worth it. Almost. "Well, I'm guessing, you have to hate yourself A LOT if your only special ability is to change your appearance. Axel says its the result of low self-esteem. Do all toasters have low self-esteem. Baby?"

"Don't get cocky, boy!" Was Baby's reply, and in Axel's voice and body, to Roxas, it just sounded weird. Out of nowhere, Baby produced his twin, triple-barrel guns, The Saint of Killers. The left gun began to grow in size, changing its shape with the sound of creaking metal. Soon it resembled one of Axel's Eternal Flame chakram.

Baby fired a shot and Roxas knocked the bullet away, deflecting it into the black bricked wall behind him. The Nobody rushed the Android, pushing him back against the wall and delivering a headbutt.

"Dah! That's dirty!" Baby roared, his eyes twitching.

"Come on, Baby! Show me what you really look like again." Out of the corner of his peripherals, Roxas could make Baby's Eternal Flame chakram rising for a hit, but Roxas punched his shoulder, and the chakram fell to the floor. "That's not good enough."

"Get off me!"

"Show me your face!"

"I said get the hell off me!"

"I thought you said you didn't curse, you hypocrite."

"Raggh!" Baby's jaw fell open as if the joints had been completely severed. In its depths, a medium-sized cannon barrel glowed, gathering energy. Roxas jumped back just as it fired, narrowly missing him and blasting the black stone behind him. Baby's form shifted and buzzed, the black coat, Axel's red hair and his very skin seemed to be sucked away, down through numerous tiny pores on Baby's being. Soon, his true, cybernetic body was visible, glowing with its azure liquid. Baby's true white opaque face stared daggers at Roxas.

"This what you wanted, huh!" The Android shouted, "Try to break me down, I'll break you down!" Fine, blue flames erupted from underneath his feet. Kicking off, he shot for Roxas, firing off a barrage of bullet fire as he went.

Roxas dodged and rolled out of the way, that was all he could as the passageway was too small. Baby nearly collided with the wall behind him, instead, he crawled up the wall and continued firing, even as he up to the ceiling and dropped down.

"I went easy on you before, but ya just had to go and piss me off, huh!"

With a quick jump and a twist, Roxas hooked a leg around Baby's neck, brought down his head, kneed him in the abdomen and finished with a feat that spun Baby around and tossed him to the floor, something no ordinary human could execute. "Bad toaster!"

"Toast this!" Baby bounded into Roxas abdomen just as he started his jets. He pushed into Roxas with enough force him through to the very end of the hallway, then driving him through the wall itself. Roxas's yells were muffled by Baby's laughter and the sound of shifting stone, rock, and metal as they crashed through the boundary walls.

They emerged through the walls with concussive force, coming into a new area, The Auditorium, a large, circular room with an empty proscenium arch, and deserted rows and balconies upon balconies ascending into the air.

Roxas howled and grunted with the pounding pain in his back. Baby's jets quieted, Roxas slid across the floor. "This is it, boy." Baby said in a voice that sounded less human, but with the same accent, "I don't care what Masq want, ain't no one who talks like that to me gonna keep drawin' breath!"

Suddenly, piercing through the air like feedback from a microphone, Masq's voice was heard, though no intercoms were anywhere in sight, "Baby! What are you doing! Stand down now!"

"No!" He replied, he his moving in all directions, unable to discern where the voice was coming from, "This one's been talking WAY too much! It would be a sin not to punish him!"

"Dammit, Baby! This is the kind of shit I will not tolerate!"

"Don't worry 'bout it! I'll leave enough of him so you can get your sick kicks!"

"Masq!" Roxas managed to shout out, "I'm sick of you hiding! You tell me where Axel is, or better yet, where are you, so I can end this already!"

"I am everywhere" Masq said, "and nowhere, but most of the time, I'm, uh,...everywhere. But right now, I'd be more concerned with Baby. Kick his ass."

"What!" The Android shouted.

"Consider it your punishment for going against my command. Masq out, y'all!" And with that, her voice was gone.

"Tch!" Baby scoffed, "Gettin' involved with you pseudo-humans, I'm startin' to think this ain't such a good idea."

"Oh?" In a flurry of light, Oblivion and Oathkeeper shined into Roxas's grip, "Having a little _regret_?" At the same time, Baby's fake Eternal Flame chakram transformed into a near-perfect replica of Oblivion.

The Android brandished his fake Oblivion in one hand and twirled his unchanged Saint of Killers in the other. A look on his face, a smile or a smirk that existed between arrogance and insanity, slid across his dense, white face. Immediately, a picture of Xgbar the Freeshooter made its way to the front of Roxas's mind.

"Ha! Yeah, boy!" Baby proclaimed madly, "I got so many regrets!" A burst of flame from below and Baby was airborne again, charging full-force at Roxas, Oblivion ready for an upward strike. Roxas reared back, shifting his weight to block, but the force of Baby's strike was stronger than his block and it pushed him high into the air.

Baby jumped up, clashing his one blade with Oblivion and Oathkeeper in a quick flashes of light and sparks. Baby's speed had increased, he found ease in fighting two swords with only one. Somehow, amidst Roxas countering and blocking, Baby gained the upper hand with a bullet to Roxas's shoulder.

"Gah!" Oblivion left his grip and fell tot he ground below. Baby laughed, inhumanely raising his leg and wrapping it around Roxas's neck. Baby made his way on top of Roxas, sitting on his chest and raising his fake Oblivion just above Roxas's neck.

"I'll just slit your throat a little, IT WON'T HURT A BIT!"

Roxas arched his back as far as it would go, pulled up his leg and kneed Baby off him, throwing him forward. He readjusted himself until he was planted on Baby's back, he jumped off, forcing Baby to the floor, and sailing across to a balcony ledge, catching it with his bullet-wounded shoulder.

Baby landed perfectly on his feet next to Roxas's fallen Oblivion, which was impaled in the floor. "Look at you, you real tough, eh?" He pointed to the bullet wound that began to bleed profusely, "You know, puttin' stress on it ain't gonna make it better."

"Shut your mouth." Roxas breathed. Readying himself, he gripped Oathkeeper tight and filled it's hollow center with a shinning light. He jumped, sailed through the air until he was directly above Hermés. He presented Oathkeeper in front of him, slowly moving in an arch above his head and generating dozens of solid metal sword fragments. A flourish of his hand, Roxas fired the blades to rain down on the android.

"Not so bad!" Baby stood his ground and met each sword with his Oblivion and the edge of his Saint of Killers, deflecting them into the floor around him. The last four came homing in—Baby jumped up and swiftly kicked and knocked each blade back into the air, straight at Roxas with 10x the power.

The blades went straight up, stopping only when they collided with the ceiling above.

"What, you hidin' again? Sick, 'ole trick, boy!"

"I'm not hiding!" From behind, Roxas cleaved Baby's gun arm clean off, the Saint of Killers clattering to the floor in a pool of azure blood.

"WAAAGGGHHH! The Baby thrashed about, flailing his remaining limbs wildly, all the while keeping his grip on his fake Oblivion. The azure blood ran out, soon replaced with Baby's real, red blood that splattered and stained the otherwise flawless Auditorium floor.

Roxas went to his own fallen Oblivion and removed it from its upright position in the floor. His wounded arm had healed some, "You're the suckiest robot I've ever faced. You don't have any sensors, or radars, or what? If you had those, you might have seen me coming."

"I GOT THIS!" Baby opened his mouth, firing shot after shot of energy at the Nobody. Roxas blocked a few, deflected others. When the shots increased, he ran for it, giving Baby a wide berth. When that failed, Baby begrudgingly retracted his gun. His chest plate, instead, began to buzz and glow. A thick line made its way down and the apparatus burst open, revealing an even wider cannon barrel extending outward. It was three feet of stainless, sectioned off metal with black cords crisscrossing near its base. It steamed, hissed and glowed with neon blue energy being sucked into its opening.

Baby dropped his knees and locked his mechanical body in place. "Get ready!" Roxas stood his ground, Baby screamed, the cannon unleashed its fire in a blast of all-consuming blue and white light. Roxas braced himself, and with his bare hands held back the energy force of light. His body pushed back, his shoes scraped against the floor, he could feel the skin underneath his gloves starting to burn. He couldn't take anymore, his back had been pushed against a wall, if he let go he'd be consumed by it.

Finally, unable to bare the strain, Roxas quickly and frantically searched out the weakest part in the light's construction and pushed straight up with all he had, sending the entire bulk of Baby's attack skyward. The blast collided with the roof, broke through the stone and glass ceiling and out into the open sky above. The electrical lighting of the Auditorium blacked out, darkening the room, but pale light shined in from above just barely illuminating Baby and Roxas.

"You lookin' tired," The android jeered, "Lemme tuck you in!" Another blast of light was beginning to load at the edge of the Cannon.

Roxas shot up to his feet, grabbing both Keyblades he broke into a run along the surrounding walls and balcony chairs, giving Baby a wide berth. Baby fired, the blast hitting the exact same spot and obliterating it instantly. The android swiveled on his hips, slowly following Roxas as he ran in a wide 360 degree circle.

Just out of reach before the blast struck Roxas in the back, he jumped up, pushed off from the upper balcony and out of Baby's sight. "Oh, this again? If you scared, just tell me!" Baby called, opening his mouth and firing randomly around him. He heard nothing but the sound of his fire hitting the outer walls.

Directly above Baby's head, falling precisely where he intended to, Roxas landed right on Baby's shoulders just as the Android retracted his giant cannon back into his chest. "Wha-Get off me!"

_Bang! _Roxas bashed the hilt of Oblivion on the back of baby's head over and over again. "If I crack you open, can I see what makes you tick!" _Bang! _He brought Oathkeeper into the attack, bashing and banging into Baby's head until cracks in his shell began to appear.

"Agh! Agh! Get off!" The Android, he waved about his fake Oblivion, failing to get anywhere near Roxas, "I said get off!"

"Nuh-uh." _Bang! Bang!_

"Off!"

"I said, 'Nuh-huh'." _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

"Then let's go for a spin!" Baby roared and the jets under his feet roared to life with him. He pushed up, as soon as he did, both he and Roxas were airborne. They shot through the hole in the Auditorium ceiling, Roxas held on tight. Continuing up through the open, purple, cloud-filled sky, the whole of Veridis Quo came into view below, each tower, gate, mountain peak and building growing smaller and smaller as they ascended. The largest of the mountain's peak was still nested above the clouds, which Baby now penetrated. Everything was happening so far. All Roxas could see were purple clouds, blue patches of sky and pale sunlight coming from below.

Wet with cloud water, the duo rose through the upper atmosphere. Roxas lost his breath, seeing the pure, undisturbed blue around him, the still chaos of purple clouds far below him, and Baby right near him. The very peak of Veridis Quo was nowhere in sight, Roxas could only think that its peak was inside the clouds he had already rose through.

Baby's jets sputtered, spat and died as the altitude stopped their functioning properly. In a split second, Baby spun his head completely around, mouth open and gun pointed directly at Roxas's stomach. He gasped, releasing himself from Baby and free-falling backward, back down to the ground. Baby fired, missed, then dove after his target.

Roxas turned upright, his back to the ground, his face to the clouds, sky and Baby closing in. As he fell, the clouds closed in, blocking out the blue sky. Baby's jets came back online, sword in hand, he rocketed straight down and half way through his descent, he changed direction and vanished amongst the clouds. Silently, he turned upright in his free-fall back down. Roxas was worried about Baby, not the fall itself.

From the left, Baby emerged shrouded in vapor. His sword collided with Roxas's blades, he pushed off from the force, changed direction and vanished again. Baby came back, this time from above, and dove for another encounter. They clashed, sparks flew as the duo were locked in sword stance. They flipped and turned, the air whipped around them, pushing and pulling them through the clouds. Finally, Roxas pushed off with enough force to break the lock and send Baby spiraling out of control. Roxas fired back with a toss of Oathkeeper, cutting up and cleaving Baby's back and sides before returning to his hand.

For an instance, Roxas took notice of something. He wasn't healing. Baby's body was both tech and organic, and it was the tech side that healed both parts, but not anymore. The arm Roxas had sliced off was still down in the Auditorium of Veridis Quo and the various cuts and bruises on Baby had not regenerated. That could only mean Roxas was close t finishing him.

Baby screamed, both his crimson and azure blood beaded and spun around him. Now, he was lower to the earth than Roxas and Veridis Quo was hurtling back towards them. Baby regained his balance and ripped open his mouth once more, firing salvo after salvo for Roxas

Roxas dived, arms folded in and he streamlined straight through the barrage, emerging unscathed. He came on Baby just as his ammunition ran out. Roxas raised Oblivon to attack, baby raised Oblivion to defend. The Key of Destiny cut straight through the imitation, the fake Oblivion flew off and became impaled in the side of the mountain. Baby, now defenseless, screamed with Roxas, raising and impaling Oathkeeper in the Android's neck.

"Nooo—ooh-ho!" Baby stammered, his voice, now scratchy, metallic and digital. The hole in the Auditorium roof came into view. Baby's jets reactivated at the last second, boosting the two into the air just enough to weaken the force of the fall. With a crash, they broke through, ceiling, metal, glass and stone clattering in dust all around them on the Auditorium floor.

Light, pale as always, came flooding into yet another heavily damaged room through the hole in the ceiling. The light penetrated the slightly scattering dust, and Roxas staggered to his feet.

"Gah!" He winced, gripping his left leg. A big shard of glass was wedged in his shin. He hit the floor with his knee, gingerly tapping the shard and making sure it wouldn't hurt too much to pull out. Roxas thought he had felt worse pain, but at the moment he could think of nothing to compare it to. So Glass in Leg was at the top of his list. He yanked out the shard and his own blood flooded from the wound, onto the floor and mixed with Baby's various fluids. Roxas's blood mixed with Baby's red blood and his azure liquid until a hideous purple developed. It must have been toxic, as its creation made it hiss and steam and burn the very floor.

The remains of scrap that were Hermés Andreas "Baby" littered the floor around him. His body, damaged beyond repair, had its various pieces, chest plate, pelvis, metal ribcage and, what Roxas thought, its organs, scattered in ruin. Baby's neck was sparking, half of its was torn off and missing and the other half was actively spraying azure mist.

His lower half was gone, torn off in the crash. Roxas saw his legs twitching in the farthest corner. They looked ready to dance, then they completely died.

What more was there for Roxas here? Nothing, he knew that. The door was right behind him and the surprisingly undamaged proscenium theater was in front of him. That's right, he thought, he was in a theater, complete with balcony seats above him. Roxas laughed to himself just thinking about it. He stood up, the wound in his leg starting the healing process.

The Key of Destiny took a bow while while limping for the door, "Thank you and goodnight!"

"He...he was right about you..." Roxas turned, Oathkeeper already in hand. He expected to see Baby back on his feet, but all he saw was Baby's damaged head.

"What?"

"He...was so wonderfully right!"

"Who? Axel! What did Axel say?"

What was left of Baby's head started to spark and fizz, slowly loosing its glow as its eyes began to die with its final words. He laughed, "He..he..ha ha! Good luck, kid... HA HA! You gonna' need it..." The light in Baby's eyes left him, the muscles in his artificial face released their tension and the Android was silent.

Shaking his head and hating the fortress more and more, Roxas turned away and headed for the door. _I can't stand this place_, he thought, as he dismissed his weapons, _And trying to get information out of these people was like pulling teeth!_

Roxas shouted as he opened the exit door, "And I don't like toast that much anyway!"

* * *

Things are a-getting KAh-Razy, eh? Well, you know the standard, review and such...REVIEW Review


	50. Fiftieth Jubilee Supreme

First of all, this is NOT the next Veridis Quo Chapter and it is NOT a Redux Profile. Instead, to celebrate this Story's 50th Chapter, I have written this brief, but purposely Incomplete Spin Off. If it is well-received in the reviews and people like it then I will expand on it at a later date, so that is why it is incomplete.

Second, I forgot to mention that I was taking a Hiatus for the month of October. I know I usually release a chapter once a month (yes, I know it used to be at least 2-3 earlier, but shit happens), but things happened and I could not write.

Thirdliestmost, I have theme chapter Ideas and in order to get the next one out by Christmas (I had a great Idea for Halloween, but missed it) I need to start on it NOW, so while I'm working on it, I will also be working on the next Veridis Quo chapter. SO we'll see which one my interests favors the most and I'll get that out in time for Christmas.

Ulquiorra, about this chapter. I got the idea for it from a small section of dialogue from 358/2 Days. So, that's it. I don't own stuff that other people own. Enjoy. Or don't. I'm not getting paid for this.

* * *

_...What if we all ran off?_

…_.What?_

…_.The three of us. Then we could always be together..._

It was the weirdest thing. He hardly had the _weird _dreams anymore, the ones where he wasn't himself and he felt as if he were experiencing another boy's life through his eyes. No, those dreams were almost gone, and he thought that maybe they were fading because he had left all of that mess and drama months ago.

Roxas rolled over in his bed, eyes shut tight to try and hold on to whatever sleep he had left. If he had to guess, it was almost 7:00 and his alarm would go off any second, but, of course, _he _would always...

A quick series of knocks rocked the door across the room, followed by a voice, "Roxas! Off your ass and on your feet, ain't no time to beat your meat!" Followed by a quick laugh and the sound of descending steps.

Roxas groaned and tossed off the covers from his head, "Every morning...yeah, thanks, Axel!" He shouted after his friend. Glancing at his digital alarm clock, Roxas watched 6:59 turn into 7:00, and the horrible blaring sound followed. _Eh! Eh! Eh! Eh!_ He shut it off, then took his time sitting up and scooting over to the other side of his bed where his bedroom window sat.

Roxas had gotten use to seeing morning light pouring in instead of perpetual night. He opened the window and the daytime breeze rushed in, jostled his curtains and a few homework papers he had on his desk. It was early in the morning and the sky was already a wonderful blue, streaked white with bulbous, billowing clouds and the vapor that came from ships that entered and left the atmosphere every day.

Roxas took in a deep breath of fresh air, closing his eyes from the sky above and the city all around him. "Just another day."

It had been three months since they left the Organization.

* * *

"...I'm just saying it's my money."

"Right, right."

"I earned it."

"Yeah."

"I don't care who owns the bank!"

"I totally agree, Xinck."

"So, I burned down the bank."

"You're lying." Axel said.

"Well, you know, I was gonna." Xinck replied.

"Yeah, _sure _you were..."

"Shut up and eat your bacon."

"Yeah, I'm gonna need coffee if I'm gonna listen to your crazy this early in the morning."Axel said,while snapping off a piece of bacon while Xinck sat down at the table with his plate of rib-eye steak and fried eggs. "Steak and eggs!" Axel exclaimed, "Why do you get steak and eggs and I'm sitting here with bacon and orange juice!"

Xinck chuckled while grabbing a fork and knife, "Commoners dine on bacon and orange juice. Greatness such as myself satisfy our needs with steak and eggs."

Before Axel could offer an angry reply, Roxas strolled into the kitchen, barefoot and still wearing his gray pajamas. "Good mor-", He stopped, sniffing the air, "Hey, steak and eggs! I'm starving!"

"No!" Xinck stopped him, "You eat leftover pizza! It's in the fridge!"

"Morning, Roxas." Axel said, chewing another piece of bacon.

"Good morning." Roxas replied as he went to grab a single piece of bacon on the stove, "Why does he get steak and eggs and we get bacon?"

"I know, right? I asked the same thing. Xinck, you're the worst cook ever."

"Sons of bitches!" Xinck shouted, "I don't hear you two complaining when I'm cooking your lunch and dinner! Or cleaning the house, or washing your dishes, or washing your filthy, sweaty clothes or picking out what clothes to wear everyday!"

"Ok, you cook and sometimes clean, but you barely do that other stuff..." Roxas said.

"Yeah, and no one ever said you had to actually pick out our clothes everyday." Axel said.

"It's kinda weird." Roxas added.

"Silence!" Xinck exclaimed. The Deviant had fallen into a role that he never thought he'd play so readily. Oddly enough, he didn't mind being a house-person as much as he thought he would. He found that he actually had a talent for cooking and his OCD worked great for cleaning. And, in between his busy work and watching day-time TV, he still found time to try and kill himself. Old habits did indeed die hard.

"You!" Xinck pointed an accusing finger for Axel, "Go to work and You!" He pointed to Roxas, "Go to school! It's barely 7:30 and I'm already sick of both of you!"

"School doesn't start till 9:00." Roxas said, "Besides, I-"

"Did you finish all your homework?" Axel asked.

"Um.." He stammered a reply, "..most of it."

"Roxas, come on, what're you doing?"

"What? I was tired last night, so I went to bed, I thought I'd wake up early enough and finish it."

"Do you know how important your education is?" Axel said.

"It's basically worthless." Xinck said.

"Xinck, shut up! I'm trying to do something." Axel continued, "Rox, dude, you have to go to school and you have to do your homework."

"I don't like school." Roxas sighed, "I don't have any friends and no one talks to me..."

"What about that one girl?" Xinck cut in, "She liked you."

"That was the lunchlady!" Roxas replied.

"Yeah, she liked you a little too much." Axel said, "That's why you started coming home for lunch."

The former 13th member of the Organization attended the local school during the day. At first, Roxas was excited at the idea since he had heard that 'normal' kids his age went to High School and had fun. But, gradually, since his first day, his expectations for High School waned severely. Roxas had no formal education prior to attending or any records, as a result his teachers thought he was slow. If it hadn't been for Axel and Xinck sneaking into the school at night to forge documents, Roxas could have been kicked out as an illegal alien, or worse, placed in remedial class. Worse still, his social skills weren't as great as he thought they were. Axel and Xinck were really the best social interactions he had, besides faking it with those he met on his old missions, he had no idea how to approach real people.

"Ugh! I can't stand it! It wouldn't be so bad if one of you would go with me! Why doesn't Xinck have to go to school!"

"Roxas." Axel explained, "We've been through this before. Xinck is a mentally, emotionally unstable deviant with dozens of disorders running around that giant, crazy head of his. His sociopathic mentality deems him unfit for mainstream society."

"Uh..." The young Nobody paused, shifting his gaze between his two friends.

"You hear that, Roxas?" Xinck asked, "_I'm _special."

"Besides," Axel continued, "We've both already been through school, and I think it wouldn't hurt for you to do it, too. Just for a while."

"When is 'a while' over?"

"Don't be so impatient. Enjoy yourself at school. It's better than busting your ass from 9 to 5...in a cubicle...surrounded by..._more _cubicles, with only 45 minutes for lunch! And that ass-wipe, douche-bag boss keeps harassing you, BAGGERING you to 'cut your red gorilla hair'!"

Dressing in the same dark leisure suit practically everyday and heading out the door, Axel went to make some income so he and his friends wouldn't starve. Axel was not cut out for middle management, and, to put it bluntly, since day one had had more homicidal fantasies in an hour than Xinck has in a week. Axel was the type that enjoyed action and excitement, he needed it like air or water, but he couldn't do it because he knew he had two people who depended on him.

Everyday he has to suppress the thought of just tossing it all away and taking them all on the run, using their powers to get anything they wanted or needed, not worrying about the rules or laws. But he knew that wouldn't last long. The more powerful the activity they had, the better the chances the Organization would lock onto their location. So, to stay low, hidden and cloaked from Xemnas, they had to blend in with normal people and hope for the best.

The Flurry of Dancing Flame ran a hand through his blood-red hair, "You guys think I need a haircut?"

"No." Roxas said, "Not really."

"No." Xinck replied, "Only if you think I'm getting fat."

"You have been packing it on." Roxas said, "All those steak and eggs..Agh!" Quickly and without warning, a shining fork found itself in Roxas's hand, striking veins and drawing blood. "What is wrong with you!"

"That's for calling me fat, you dumb blond!"

"I didn't call you fat, you fat skank!" Roxas shouted, yanking out the fork, the wound slowly healing. Quickly, he bounded across the table and into Xinck, shallowly stabbing him in the chest with the same fork. A fight ensured with thin wisps of blood spraying the walls. The ending to an otherwise uneventful morning.

Axel stuffed the remainder of his breakfast in his mouth and downed his coffee. He scooted out from his chair and strolled over to the door on the other side of the kitchen. "Well," He sighed heavily with weary exhaustion, "I'm goin' to work. Later, kids."

"See ya-ow! OW!" Roxas took a knife to his arm.

"Dinner at 6-Gah!" Xinck howled, "Dammit, that was my neck, asshole!"

A nice 10 minutes later, when the kitchen had a nice coating of fresh blood to it, the two boys rose from the floor, their wounds automatically healing.

"Oh, great. This is my favorite apron and now it's ruined." Xinck lamented at the blood-soaked, forked apron tied around his waist. The words 'Kiss Me, I'm Crazy' were nearly impossible to make out.

"Where did you get an apron like that?" Roxas asked.

"Shopping channel." He replied.

* * *

Axel's job was nearly 20 blocks away from the small, store-like building he and his two friends called home. Axel didn't have a car and he rarely took the bus because he enjoyed the exercise and the time he had to think as he went to work. Of course, the one, prominent thought he always had on his mind was the Organization finding out where they were. No way they would be happy about him running off with their only way to collect hearts. Needless to say, they would deploy everything they had to find Roxas and kill the two others with him. If it wasn't for the magics in place over the house, the lesser Nobodies and the Organization's radars and other methods of detection would have found them easily. But, just to be on the safe side, Xinck re-cast each spell every few days to be sure. A precaution Axel insisted be taken.

The still rising sun shined through the clouds, and its light made the space ships that sailed across the sky seem like black flies flying across a light bulb. The area he lived in could be considered a somewhat middle-class neighborhood, not bad, but not great. Poor enough to walk down the street in common clothes, but safe enough not to worry about getting a cap busted in one's ass. On weekdays, anyway.

Not too far from his job, Axel crossed, what is essentially known as 'the other side of the train tracks', which in this case was actually a bridge overlooking a busy freeway. He was nearing his office building, which was absolutely nothing spectacular. Just a medium-sized, rectangular building that could easily hide amongst the other, higher, more elaborate and futuristic-looking. Axel's boring building had the words 'Happy Time Temporary Agency'.

Working in this place ate at Axel as soon as he worked in the building, like acid dissolving flesh. In fact, the only enjoyable thing that occurred just before he got into work, was the group of homeless people that congregated a few doors down.

Downtrodden individuals who had hit rock-bottom and gone even further. Poorly dressed in either tattered rags or dozens of filthy, flea-covered coats, these sad people would beg for scraps and change. But somehow, Axel observed, they were able to maintain some dignity, either it be through their sincere smile when people passed and ignored them, or by proclaiming "God bless you" when that spare change clattered to the bottom of their empty bean cans.

Sometimes Axel would see them beating each other senseless over scraps of meat. That put a smile on his face.

Axel came up the steps of the office building. Coming around the corner and accosting him just before he ascended, a tall homeless man in a long, dirty brown trenchcoat, blue gloves and a filthy mismatched top hat, sauntered over with a brown paper bag obscuring a flask of liquor.

This man was a relatively new homeless who had appeared around the city a few weeks ago. Sometimes he'd talk to Axel, sometimes he didn't, but all the time he was drunk and seemed to be fighting the urge to break into dance. His face was completely covered in a flowery-pink scarf with bleach-white hair sticking out randomly. The man must have been old enough to have his hair whitened, but his extremely high, irritating voice gave no indication.

The homeless man greeted Axel the way he always did, "Hey, yo, man, didja geda bah da [homeless gibberish]. Yo, you wanna, tasta my flip-flop?" He casually offered Axel his brown paper bagged flask.

"Oh, hey, you." Axel replied, but declined the flask, "Yeah, sorry, I gotta go to work, so, you know, I can't drink."

"Oh! That cool, man, that's c-c-c-cool, mo' flip-flop fo' me..." The man withdrew his flask then took a large drink before hiding it in his coat. "Yo, yo, check, I got some burgers need [homeless gibberish] in a trashcan few rows from here. Got change, man, much 'preciated?"

"Uh...yeah, sure." Axel took whatever change he had in his pocket and dropped it into the man's hand. "Hey, I, uh, gotta go. See ya around." Axel practically ran up the steps and into the building, but turned around to see the homeless man dancing down the street, while shouting something that sounded like 'Cocaine money.'

Just another day of work at a soul destroying, 9 to 5 desk job. This was worlds below Axel's skill level, but at this time he knew he had no choice. He had two people he had to take care of. He only did it for them.

* * *

After Roxas helped Xinck clean up the kitchen, and while Roxas finished getting ready for school, Xinck sat on the couch, watching TV, sipping coffee and mulling over his plans for the day. In all honesty his plans didn't require much thought since he nearly did the same thing every day. He already picked out Axel and Roxas's clothes for the day, and he already made breakfast. So that left about a dozen or two other things to do, including making Roxas's lunch, since he recently decided to come home in the afternoon, and starting something for dinner.

"God! My work is never done!" Another thought occurred. He might have to reset the magical incantations and spells that are keeping the Organization and the rest of the Nobodies from finding them. The spells, while very effective, had very short lives, even with the longevity charms he mixed in. In order for the magic to be at 100 percent he needed to re-cast them every 2 weeks or so. So much to do, so little time. Xinck sipped his coffee, flipped through more channels and sighed, "Yep. Ain't easy being me."

"Oh, yeah, sitting at home all day watching the _Rachel Ray Show _is _so _hard." Roxas chimed in as he descended down the stairs.

"Goddamn you, Rachel Ray." Xinck seethed, "My vengeance will be swift..."

"Oh, hey, thanks for finally picking out some clothes that aren't so...dark and gloomy." Roxas did not share Xinck's preference for dark clothing. They both had gotten used to the long black coat, but Axel stressed the need to fit in and not draw attention to themselves, so normal clothes were mandatory. Roxas wore a pair of baggy blue jeans, black shoes, and a long-sleeve white t-shirt underneath a buttoned blue shirt with a collar.

"I saw the shirt and thought of you!" Xinck exclaimed. Roxas hopped off the stairs, skipping the last step as he always did and joined Xinck on the couch as he channel surfed.

"I..uh..heard you guys last night."

"Before or after Eleven? Because after Eleven I was jacking-"

"Ugh! Ew! No!" Roxas exclaimed, "Before Eleven! About moving, I heard you and Axel talking about moving again."

"Oh." Xinck murmured, "_That_." Axel was adamant about keeping that from Roxas. But when Xinck thought of everything else he and Axel had hid from him, it didn't all sit too well. Axel had revealed nearly everything about Xemnas's intent for Roxas, but he and Xinck were both mum on the subject of Sora. Axel wanted to keep it that way and Xinck respected his decision. But for everything else, when Roxas had a question, Xinck had no problem answering. "Are you sure you don't want to know about after Eleven? I was touching myself and-"

"Xinck! Ew! No! Cut that out!"

"Alright, FINE!" Xinck howled.

He flipped to another channel, the Food Network. "_...And, after that,_" Rachel Ray of the Food Network said, "_ We're going to mix in just a hint of EVOO, that's Extra Virgin Olive Oil, if you don't know-_"

"DAMN YOU, RACHEL RAY, DAMN YOU!" Xinck howled in pain as he hurled the remote at the television screen, luckily turning it off instead of breaking it.

Xinck shivered, calming down, he turned to face Roxas. "Yes, Axel's been talking about it. There's no way for us to know what the Organization's doing to find us—specifically you-and we have to stay, at the very least, two steps ahead of them. And I agree that staying in one spot for too long is not a good plan."

"But what about all those charms and spells you put up?" Roxas snapped back, "None of us have used any of our powers and we're wearing these stupid rings to keep our presences veiled! That has to count for something!" Roxas held up his ring finger, calling attention to the ring with a small gem of white and blue. New recruits of the Organization could rarely control their individual presences, and on training missions they often wore these rings to suppress their power to keep from detection. Before abdicating from their positions in the Organization, Axel made sure to grab three of these rings, so as to help in blending in.

With Roxas shouting, the black and purple ring Xinck kept hanging around his neck seemed to grow heavier. "What are you getting upset about? Every morning you complain about school, you complain about our house-"

"That doesn't mean I don't like it here!" Roxas replied,"_You _complain about EVERYTHING, even me and Axel and you like us, right?"

"I-uh..." Xinck's words were caught in his throat. He had no reply. "Well, I...uh..."

"Uh-huh." Roxas murmured angrily, "That's what I thought you'd say." With a thrust, he grabbed at his backpack and headed for the door.

"No, wait!" Xinck called after him, running after Roxas just as he slammed the kitchen door closed. Xinck quickly pulled it open just before Roxas hit the sidewalk. "Okay!" He shouted, "I'll talk to him!"

At first, Roxas did nothing other than walking, then he slowed and finally turned around and stopped. "You promise?"

Xinck nodded and drew an X over his chest, "Cross my dark heart and hope to unlive."

"Oh, thank you!" His tone reversed from serious to lighthearted almost instantaneously. He sighed and began walking away, "I'll be home later for lunch!"

"I'm making chicken nuggets!" Xinck shouted, not caring who hears him.

"Again!" Roxas shouted back, "You made nuggets last week!"

"Too bad! Times are hard! Want any sauce! I imagine you're tired of just barbeque sauce!"

"Uh...sweet and sour!"

"Ugh!" Xinck groaned, "Fine, I'll have to go to the store, but Okay!"

"Thanks! See you later!" Eventually Roxas turned a corner and was gone, out of sight. Xinck was left alone just outside the store -like building that functioned as their home. It was a quaint neighborhood, not really middle-class but by no means poverty-stricken. It was peaceful and easy-going. The perfect place to have a normal life.

Xinck hated it with a passion.

Suddenly, as Xinck turned to go back in the house, their closest neighbor, an elderly, extremely nosy woman by the name of Ms. Lowsly, eyed Xinck from afar. Xinck hated her and he was more than sure she hated him. She had no idea how to mind her own business and seems to have been startled by Xinck and Roxas's shouting down the street.

"What the hell are you lookin' at, Ms. Lowsly?" Xinck snapped at her. Her curtains quickly ruffled as she pulled her head back into her home. "Hate this friggin' place..." he mumbled, slamming the door behind him.

Xinck hated it with a passion, but he only stayed for Roxas.

* * *

The walk to school was a plain one, as it always was. Everyday Roxas would go the exact same route: Up the street for two blocks, turn left and go straight down for 5 blocks, cross through Central Park, then continue for 3 more blocks and turn right to reach Northeast Southwest High School. Roxas was now on the end of the 5 block stretch that lead into Central Park. This was usually the part of his trek where he would take notice of the other kids who went to his school.

Roxas, for the most part, paid them no mind since they barely noticed his existence. This never sat well with him. On missions, he was supposed to go unnoticed, or blend in with the crowd so long as he went undetected. Axel adopted this same principal now that they were on the run, but Roxas didn't want that. Not anymore. He had a new life, a chance to actually be normal and experience whatever it was that kids his age did. Axel would say it was too dangerous, Xinck would say it was overrated, but Roxas didn't care. He had to try.

He just didn't know how. Three months of running from the Organization, living on 4 different worlds and attending his current school for three weeks, Roxas had hardly made any real social connections despite trying his best. But there was only this one girl...

"Hey! Blondie!"

A shiver tingled down his spine as the words permeated the air. "Oh, God, no..." Just on impulse Roxas kept walking, even speeding up in hopes of making it through the intersection before she caught up.

"Hey! Wait up!"

Roxas anxiously stood at the intersection, hoping traffic would stop just for him and giving him enough time to escape. She continued calling after him, he dared not look back. Roxas began to panic now and traffic showed no signs of stopping. He could hear her steps growing closer as she ran nearer and nearer.

"Bitch, I know you hear me!" She shouted.

"Oh, forget it!" Roxas exclaimed as he leaped into the street, dodging cars and running for the Park. Avoiding danger had become part of his muscle memory and while it might seem impossible, Roxas easily avoided each honking car. Tires skidded and people shouted through their windows, but there were no casualties or pileups. He safely made it across and dashed into a small thicket of trees, out of sight of that girl.

Roxas found himself breathing heavily as he hid behind a large Park tree. He was shocked that running through early morning traffic had shaken him up so much, especially since he had leaped off mountains, ran up skyscrapers and taken on whole armies without so much as breaking a sweat. Inching left to right and vice versa, he scanned the area and the girl was nowhere in sight. He was in the clear.

Roxas broke into a sprint towards the end of the park. He looked over his shoulder to make sure she wasn't following him anymore. He turned back when-

"Hey, you!" The girl shouted directly in his face.

"Gah!" He shrieked, his voice reaching several octaves higher than normal as he fell backwards onto his backside. Groaning, he looked up into the large green eyes of the most annoying girl he had ever met. She was oddly dressed, as always, sporting mid-calf black boots with her pants stylishly tucked in. she wore a paisley-like black and golden yellow shirt under a short black jacket with various charms and decorations attached. Wrapped around her waist was a belt-like accessory that wrapped around her once then fell behind her and ended in an arrow point like a devil's tail. Adding to the tails overall image was her hair accessory, a hairband with two points at the top like horns.

Her hair, Roxas observed, was brunette, but it was still odd. Though it was brunette, it was such a pale brown that it appeared pink to some degree. There was no hint of a dye or alteration, but her hair was naturally pink. Her bangs partially covered the left side of her face, but Roxas knew it was symmetrical. The shadows that played across her face, her overall appearance and mystique intrigued Roxas. He couldn't explain it, but she could easily be the center of his attention, taking the very air with her whenever she came by. She could do all this things, but then she would open her mouth and talk, and talk, and talk, and talk. And Roxas hated her for that.

"Oh, hey, you." Roxas started in a halfhearted stupor, "I didn't see you there..."

She had a beautiful voice, but she just wouldn't shut up, "Oh, that's fine, I mean I saw you jump into traffic and honestly I thought you were dead. But then I remembered when I jumped into traffic just a few months ago and nothing happened to me. I mean, a few people got in wrecks, but I was just fine. You know, Roxas, I've been thinking about this for a while, but do you have a last name? I mean usually the teachers call it out at the start of the day, but for you they haven't. So what is it?"

"Uh..." That question always caught him off guard. He, Axel and Xinck had never established an official surname. Sure they had created a few random ones out of momentary necessity, like, 'Lee', 'Alexander', 'Hellsing', or Xinck's favorite, the 'Anti-Kardashians'. But then, Roxas remembered something he caught Axel saying that he thought would apply best, "We don't have last names, we're like Cher."

Roxas finally answered back, "Oh, I don't have a last name, kinda like...uh...Bear." Why was he so bad at remembering celebrity names?

"Bear?"

_Gotta make something up quick! _He thought, "Yeah, just like bears. Animals don't have last names, so why should I?"

"Oh my god, you are so right. Animals don't bother comparing themselves to humans, so why should we do that? I mean, humans are basically animals when it comes down to it. So, Roxas No Last Name, how's your morning?" She started walking beside him as he made his way out of the park and back onto the city blocks. Roxas was trying to get away from her by walking faster, but she was keeping up easily. Roxas never answered her question because she started talking again, this time going into intimate detail about her morning. Roxas could have sworn she spent 3 minutes talking about everything that moved in her room as the wind blew in through the window. Her words bore into his brain and he could do nothing to make her stop. A simple 'shut up' would do nothing, since she seemed to automatically tune out any attempt to silence her.

Ever since Roxas had come here and began to attend the local high school, this girl had been there, just talking to him. He shared no classes with her, but she would walk to and from school with him most days. And the oddest thing was that during all this time he had never caught her name (He was sure he lost it during one of her many monologues).

_Maybe its not so bad_, he thought, the school coming into view. Roxas never thought that maybe this was as real as it gets, social-wise anyway. One person talks and talks and talks while the other person just listens and hopes their ear doesn't fall off. More often than not, that happened whenever Xinck or Axel talked to him. One thing Roxas-

"...Saw him running around in a black coat, I don't think he saw me, though..."

"What?" Roxas exclaimed, loud enough to silence his female companion, "What did you say about a black coat?"

"Mm?" Apparently she was so deep in the words that she had to stop and think exactly what she had said, "Black coat, yeah, a few nights ago. I saw a guy running around the city in a black coat. He looked busy, but not _too _busy, know what I mean? Like, he didn't have time to stop and chat with coffee, but if you stopped him he wouldn't mind telling you what's going on in his world. But I was tired and my sleeping pills were starting to kick in, so I just went to bed. Anyway-"

_A black coat._ Pictures of his former attire ran through his mind. The Organization was here. From what She was saying it sounded like they hadn't exactly located the house. It must be the charms and spells Xinck placed around it. But still, it would only be a matter of time before they found them.

What would Axel do? Of course he had to tell Axel, they had to leave as soon as-Roxas quickly stopped that train of thought. 4 worlds in three months was enough. In that time the Organization had found them in each world, attacking and trying to subdue them without a moments notice. But this time, this time Roxas had an opportunity to strike first before the Organization had a chance to ruin everything. He could strike first before Axel or Xinck had to worry.

Roxas and the Girl came to the steps of Northwest Southeast High School. As she continued talking, Roxas could only try to think of a plan of action. The only thing he had to go on was that the member was spotted at night. If so, then Roxas would have to go out on patrol. He'll go tonight as soon as Axel and Xinck fell asleep.

_Finally,_ He thought, _I can do something for them._

* * *

PREVIEW

* * *

_**Girl **_**Samurai**_** &**_** Devil **_**Boy**_

Even in the most dire of situations Xinck's mind can slip off into random thoughts. The mere fact that his body was under attack by Orphan didn't stop this from occurring.

"That last 'Harry Potter' movie was cool." Xinck said to himself, "I wonder if they talked to J.K. Rowling when they changed up some of the parts."

"Yeah, like the part where Snape dies in the boathouse, or the part where Harry's in limbo and he's supposed to be naked."

"Oddly enough I wanted to see that part. Oh, oh, and you know what was weird? When after Voldemort thought he killed Harry and he brought his body to the front of the school, he really looked fat didn't he?"

"Who? Harry?"

"No. Voldemort. He looked fat in that dingy green robe. I mean, yeah, he's powerful and everything, but what's power if you're ugly, you know? Oh, what was even weirder was when he hugged Draco. I bet that's uncomfortable."

"Oh, I know, right?" Xinck said, "Like what does the Dark Lord smell like? Probably old Fritos and Mayonnaise. I bet that was uncomfortable. Oh, hey, you might wanna pay attention."

"Mm? For what?"

"Orphan." He replied.

"Orphan? What about her?"

"She's about to cut your legs off."

"WHAT!" Xinck's eyes shot open to view Orphan holding him upside down, her blade, Sunyata, poised to slice through his left leg. "Hey, quit it!" Xinck tried wriggling free of her iron-clad grip, but she would not let go. Orphan reared back her blade and struck. At the last second, unable to get free, Xinck bent his captured leg and swing up to a 90 degree, narrowly missing the blade.

"Ha! Missed me, whore!" Xinck exclaimed. Orphan responded by gripping Xinck's ankle, raising him up over her head and slamming him back down onto the floor, cracking the white surface. "That all you got, eh?" Orphan lifted him up again and brought him back down, cracking the floor even further. Groaning, Xinck replied stubbornly, "You smash like a girl. An _ugly _girl! Oh!" Orphan hauled Xinck up again, this time bringing him down in the opposite direction, smashing his face on the floor, repeating the process over and over until her arm began to tire.

"Bah! O...okay, you...can stop now." Xinck sighed, his face bloody and smashed, "I'm starting to taste blood." Orphan was silent, only offering her glare as a response. His face healing, Xinck said, "You know, you really ought to try smiling. I don't do it because it's awkward, but it might work for you." Taking whatever strength he had, Xinck kicked upwards into Orphan's face with his free leg, but missed. As his body went upwards, he caught a glimpse of the great black creature situated a great distance behind him.

"Kurayami!" He bellowed to his Redux, "What the hell are you doing just sitting there!" Xinck had remembered that he hadn't ordered his Redux to do anything, as a result it just sat there, wagging its twin tails. "Get your rear in gear and help me! ENDER!" Before Xinck could receive a response, Orphan recovered and moved Sunyata into position over Xinck's head. Then, the shadow of Xinck's hound enveloped them both as the center head, dubbed Ender, moved into to strike with its jaw agape.

Orphan merely gazed directly into the dog's incoming maw. With Xinck still in her grip, she grabbed hold of his arm, spun him around and let him go, screaming and hollering into Ender's mouth as she jumped and sailed into the air. The dog smashed into the ground, making a large crater as its head impacted the white floor, unharmed, it slowly rose up.

"Agh! Agh! Agh!" Xinck hollered deep inside Ender's mouth, "You ate me, jackass!"

"Your dog cannot touch me! Ever!" Orphan proclaimed from the air above. Willing it so, her body shined and shimmered with a harsh red aura. The aura expanded around her into a sphere, radiating like a red dwarf star, "Brynhildr Star!" From the surface of the sphere, five meteor-like blasts of fire developed, arched downward.

The flames rained down, burning like comets and bombarding each head with concussive force, causing the dog to stumble nearly off balance. Ender's mouth opened from the attack, shaking Xinck loose and he fell from the incredible height. In mid-fall, he threw his chain for Erebos's collar and safely swung down to the floor.

"Shit!" Xinck exclaimed as he touched down. "How strong was that spell! It almost knocked him down, that's impossible!" Orphan's spell ended and she began her dive-bomb descent. Xinck's Inugami growled and hissed, each head recovering from the assault. Orphan re-situated herself in mid-air until she was directly above Ender, ready to attack. Xinck gasped, shouting, "Kurayami, move! Now!"

"No, you don't!" Orphan bellowed. Before the Redux could react or move, Orphan, using the full force of the fall, raised her leg and smashed down on Ender's nose. The sound of its howl echoed madly throughout as Orphan drove her foot so far down its nose, that it forced the entire dog and its upper body straight into the ground.

"Agaaggh!" Xinck was blown away as the impact caused a shockwave that forced him back. "No! Stop it, Orphan!" Inugami could be heard, groaning in confusion and growling in pain. This only added to Xinck's frustration. No human should be that powerful, ever.

Orphan touched down, unfazed by being directly in front of the wounded Ender's face. "This beast is a part of you, is it not?" She asked. She didn't wait for an answer, "Then the more pain I inflict on it, the more pain I cause you." With that, she took hold of Ender's upper lip with her bare hands, stomped on his bottom lip and began prying his mouth open.

For a second, Xinck was paralyzed by a sensation running through him that he could only compare to fear. Fear for himself, for his Redux which he saw as more of a pet than a weapon. He could do nothing as he watched the muscles in Orphan's body tense from afar, she braced her legs and in one swift, impossible jerking motion, she pulled on Ender's head, his neck and the entire bulk of Inugami was hauled into the air above her head. In less than a second, she flung the Redux down on her other side, a horrible _SLAM! _resounding throughout. She hollered, wasting no time in repeating the process, hauling the massive dog into the air again and slamming it back down.

"Once more." Orphan said. She gripped Ender again and prepared to pull. The great hound that was Inugami, for the first time since Xinck had discovered it deep inside himself, released a whine of fear. The same type of whine that a normal dog would sound when it was scared or in pain. Despite everything, it was still an animal, and Xinck, despite everything, was still a child. Before Xinck knew exactly what he was doing, he was already dashing for Orphan.

"GET YOUR FUCKING HANDS OFF MY DOG!" All of his strength and speed went into his attack. He never had qualms about hitting a woman, making this evident by contacting her face with his fist. The punch caught her off guard and Xinck briefly saw shock in her gorgeous emerald eyes. The attack ripped her away from Ender's head, sending her flying full-force into the charred ruins of the recently burnt-down Black Cathedral.

Xinck didn't wait to see if Orphan was still active, since he already had a feeling she was perfectly fine. He turned towards his Redux, kneeling down to it and hoping for the best. "Are you okay?" He asked, but expected no answer. The middle head was the most wounded, nothing noticeable but possible, while the other two, Tristitia and Erebos were merely confused.

The rustling of wood, metal and stone rumbled behind him, Xinck turned to see Orphan picking herself up from the rubble, her trademark look of both apathy and melancholy stapled to her face. "Finally." She said. "You're awake."

Xinck huffed, standing to his full height as his Redux recovered and stood tall behind him. "Fine!" He said, "I'll fight you, you big bully! You wanna kill me? You'll have to earn it!" Xinck raised a hand to the air, calling a single Thanatos blade to his hand. He recited,"You Were Asleep For A Thousand Years, The Way Your World Has Changed Will Bring You A Thousand Tears." This call to Tristitia received a wailing cry from the right-most head of Inugami. It disappeared, fading and dissolving into black ash that settled around Xinck.

Orphan responded by calling her curved black blade back to her. She ran a single finger along the length of the blade, "Sunyata." She said, and the blade smoked and blazed in a plume of black and purple flame.

Xinck commanded the remainder of Inugami to get as far back as possible. He wanted no more casualties on his part. Turning back to Orphan, he brandished his Thanatos blade and hollered, "Scream! Tristitia!" Thanatos flashed red and the blade shattered into shrapnel. A flurry of a black snake-like creature with the face of a hound expounded from the hilt, growing in massive size and curling upward above Xinck. Tristitia curled into itself, hiding behind its elongated body, but for only a moment. Then, a whisper, a moan briefly emanated from the creature, before it opened its mouth and produced a terrible, inhumane screech.

"Go!" Xinck hurled Tristitia through the air, wailing a horrible scream as it went. Tristitia closed the gap between Xinck and Orphan almost instantly, Orphan had no choice but to jump left out of the way, letting Tristitia nosedive into the Cathedral rubble. "You're not getting away!" Xinck pulled back on Tristitia, hauling it from the rubble, then sent it out after Orphan once more.

"Just keep running, Orphan!" Xinck howled jubilantly, his concern and demeanor changing with Orphan on the run. Xinck trusts Tristitia behind her and missed as she ducked down just out of reach of its jaws.

Orphan offered no witty banter in return, no comment or remark, Xinck noticed. Her lack of verbal interaction with him only backed her justification in seeking revenge on him. Xinck hated this, he hated having nothing to work with. He wouldn't have minded at all if she gave him nothing but threats, but don't leave him there alone in a brutal silence.

Xinck sneered and tightened his grip on Tristitia, "I'll make you talk to me." He seethed. Orphan was quick, almost to quick for Tristitia, but Xinck did not want to wait for her to tire out. If she even could. He pulled back on Tristitia, calling the snake-like dog back into the portal on his hilt nearly instantaneously, reforming the blade. Orphan stopped in her tracks, seeing Xinck retreat, she dashed for him. He shouted with force, "Become Framed In The Depths of My Jaws!" He pointed Tristitia downward, a bottomless darkness materializing at his words. "Scream!" He thrust Tristitia down into the shadows, wailing madly.

"Hey, Orphan, check it out!" Xinck laughed. Just below Orphan the black portal appeared, Tristitia fired forth, mouth agape and shooting for the ceiling. Orphan was caught just outside of Tristitia's mouth, her blade caught in its teeth.

"Damn beast." Orphan shouted.

"Yes! Now strangle her!" Xinck pulled his dog back, just enough to release Orphan, leaving her suspended in air for only a second. Willing it so, Tristitia went in for the kill.

Time slowed, nearly stopping with Orphan staring down the throat of Tristitia and Xinck with anticipation in his eyes. Anticipation that would become disappointment. Orphan's expression had not changed at all since the fight had begun, she had not broken a sweat and she barely said more than what was necessary. Those cold, pulsing emerald eyes were all Xinck could focus on as his darkness drew in closer to swallow her.

Time resumed. Orphan opened her mouth, reciting quickly, "_Ubique Reflect!_" Popping into life around her, a shining orange sphere of translucent energy encased her in midair. Tristitia curled about her, hurriedly wrapping itself around the sphere several times until the light of the sphere was completely cloaked in darkness.

"Squeeze!" Xinck commanded and his Redux obeyed. Tristitia constricted, immediately delivering 1000 megatons of force on Orphan's force-field. A cracking, shattering sound exploded throughout and the orange light faded just as Tristitia constricted even further. Orange shards of light fell to the ground like broken glass, fading into nothing. "Ha ha!" Xinck cackled madly, "I took them all to the grave, Orphan! All of them! Men, woman...and children..." He laughed, but stopped suddenly, his voice taking on a more harsher tone, " I beg your pardon, its quite hard enough just living with the stuff I have learned."

He received no reply. He could not tell if she were dead or not. "Why don't we just part ways, leave as we are, but, you know, stay contacted through email for the next decade or two. Then, we can can meet up again at a hotel reunion and pretend that we aren't having an awkward conversation, eh?"

Once again, he received no reply, other than a sudden, ear-piercing scream from Tristitia. Gazing up, Xinck saw a sword point, bathed in purple and black energy effortlessly tear through his dog's skeletal body. "No, No, No, No, NO!" The sword began tearing and slashing through the darkness, like a blade splitting a curtain. Tristitia screamed, the bulk of its body exploding and raining to the ground as large globs of blackness. Whatever was left came reeling back to Xinck, who stood there too stunned to move.

Orphan fell like a shooting star, blade poised as she came down on Xinck"Just Die!" She roared. In a moment, she was on him, her blade came down on his face and struck out his right eye in a bloody strike.

Xinck dropped his swords and wailed, grabbing and cradling his face. "Agh! Agh! Nagghhh-ahh!" He cried out, his tears and blood from his empty eye-socket mixed and streamed down his face. Orphan watched Xinck roll around, letting his blood pool around him. Yards away from them both, Orphan spied the full bulk of Xinck's Redux twitching and whimpering as Tristitia's head reappeared. It came back, but it was, in fact, dead. The rightmost head was broken, limp, it's eyes closed, jaw open and tongue dangling out listlessly.

Inugami finally regained itself, the remaining two heads with their teeth bared broke into a run to aid its fallen master. Orphan raised her sword. "NO!" Xinck managed to screech, "Stay back!" The panic in his only remaining eye stopped the behemoth and his sheer will forced it to dissolve into a cloud of blackness. He had to end his Redux. If Orphan inflicted any more damage to his dog, Xinck would have faded away along with it.

The Desolate One spoke, regaining Xinck's attention, "If the eye causes you to sin" Orphan reached down into the pool of blood tears and retrieved Xinck's fallen eyeball, grabbing it by the optical nerve, "Pluck it out." She squeezed the eye in her grip, letting it ooze out between her fingers.

"Its not enough that you want to kill me." Xinck seethed, his hand covering his exposed eye-socket, "You just want to make me suffer!"

"Yes! You get it. Killing you would be nothing! You'd learn...nothing." She said, kicking Xinck in his ribs to turn him over onto his back. "How many killing blows have I given you since we started? 15? 20? We still have a multitude left to go before I let you die, even then, it will be slow, I'll take my time."

"Then what?" Xinck shot back, "After you kill me? You don't seem like the type of girl who lets a grudge go _that _easily. What, are you gonna follow me into Hell or the Realm of Darkness and fuck me over there, too?"

"Yes." Was her simple reply. Orphan raised her leg and stomped it down onto Xinck's wrist. After she wrestled with the hand covering his opened eye socket, she stomped on that wrist as well, keeping him from protecting his face. Then, she produced the black, curved blade of Sunyata again, "This blade is created from a compound composed of Nth metal, Stygian Iron, and several other materials that are used in the creation of Zanpakuto. I created this sword myself, everything that it is, it is for a purpose."

"Ugh." Xinck groaned, "Why do you sword guys always have to talk about how cool your swords are? I don't do that! Agh!" Orphan stopped his talking by driving her heels into the tender parts of his wrists.

"Listen, for this last part concerns you. The materials used in Sunyata's creation allow it two abilities SPECIFICALLY designed to kill you. The first ability you witnessed when I destroyed your snake." With that, she presented Sunyata to Xinck and called its name, the blade flamed with a black and purple plume, "Calling its name gives me the ability to cut through darkness. Your elemental power has no effect on me, no matter how strong it is."

_'She can cut through Darkness?_' Xinck thought, _'That's how she killed Tristitia, slicing through him like he was water_!'

"And my second ability, which I will finally use to end your life..." The Desolate One placed the very tip of Sunyata's blade at the bottom of Xinck's left eyelid. He flinched noticeably, trying his best to save his remaining eye. "_Enclose_, Sunyata." A faint, emerald green flare enveloped Sunyata's black blade and Orphan placed it gingerly on Xinck's skin. It burned, not just his flesh, or his face, but his soul. He could feel it deep down inside of him as she drew the blade down, leaving a darkness black line under his eye all the way down to his chin. A tear line, to match the ones Orphan had underneath her eyes.

"Sunyata's second ability destroys the healing factor around whatever wound I inflict. That mark, MY mark, will never heal. No matter where you go, in this life or the next, I will always find you."

"_I Will always find you." _Those words burned into Xinck's brain, worse than the Mark of Orphan burning into his soul. No matter where he went, or what he did, she would always be there. There to make him suffer for what he did to her. That was her logic, her _insane _logic, but it couldn't simply be revenge. Killing the same person over and over again for closure? That was illogical, Xinck knew it and something in her had to know it as well. Orphan was beyond obsessed with him.

"I can't believe...that you are SO OBSESSED WITH ME! That you would throw your life, your soul away!"

"YOU STOLE MY LIFE FROM ME! YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!" Orphan grabbed Xinck by the throat and hauled him up to her level with ease, "It is not obsession to seek Justice!"

"Justice!" Xinck croaked, "Justice with malice as the forethought is just revenge. All you want is closure, Orphan! Killing me for the rest of your life and then some isn't going to give you what you want!"

"**LIAR!"** Orphan struck Xinck across the face, flinging more eye blood from his socket. She hurled him downward onto the floor, bashing his head into the already cracked floor, "You know nothing about me! You don't deserve to! All you deserve is damnation, so lay there and die!"

Struggling to breath, Orphan's iron-grip flattening his windpipe, Xinck managed to crack the slightest hint of a grin, "I'm not dying by your hand, you don't deserve to kill me." His grin grew wider as Orphan's eyes grew in anger, that amazing emerald hue grew in intensity and power. But something even brighter dwarfed Orphan's eyes with its radiance. That stone of sparkling azure that nestled itself just above her breasts.

"Magical pocket!" Orphan tossed Xinck away, sending him sliding along the floor. He recovered and pulled himself up just in time to see Orphan reaching behind her to the small of her back and the azure stone pulsing with her words. A brief light shined, quick and bright, and when Orphan reproduced her arms Sunyata was gone and she held onto a pair of silver guns. She braced herself and unloaded round after round into Xinck.

"Ow, ow, quit it! Stop! Ow! Dammit!" At least a dozen bullets embedded themselves into his torso, normal bullets, luckily. They hurt, but they were nowhere near fatal. "Ugh! Ow! I said Quit It! _Blizzagun!_ " Xinck swung his arm at its full length in a circle, generating cool air at the center of his palm. He opened his hand and fired off a straight beam of freezing blue energy. The beam missed Orphan as she jumped, taking off into the air.

"Meteors of Heaven!" Her commands tore through the space around her and the air began to waver and tear,"Unleash Thy Fury!" A hole tore itself open above her, revealing a view into a hellish and chaotic region of outer space filled to the brim with debris. That same debris became caught by Orphan's magic and was pulled through the hole, dozens of meteors came storming through.

The meteors ripped through the air, blinding with blue fire. Yards away and coming in fast, Xinck prepared himself. He moved his hands about him just as a shining blue aura moved its way up his back and along his arms, "_Seoshi!_" He exclaimed, his magic constructing a clear, transparent dome around him.

The dome held up perfectly, protecting Xinck from the onslaught of space rocks that bombarded his shield. As long as he kept his magical energy in balance, it would hold against her assault. Orphan had power, more power than a human should have. This made no sense to Xinck. As long as he had been fighting her, combined with the fact that she was using nothing but high level spells like Abaddon Flare, Brynhildr Star and Ubique Reflect, meant that she should have tired out. Or at the very least used an Ether to recharge her magical energy. It had to be the gem above her breasts, it glistened and shined as she spoke, there could be no other reason explaining her level of power.

He knew he could no longer depend on his darkness to battle Orphan, not if her power worked on the nullification of that aspect. Xinck would have to use everything else in his arsenal to gain the advantage, all his magical knowledge, whatever objects he had in his knapsack and, if it came down to it, his Necrokinetic power.

Finally, Orphan abandoned her spell, the meteors stopped and the portal closed. She descended once more and fell onto the magical dome. "Get off!" Xinck shouted.

"_Bath'silo Da!"_ Sunyata reappeared in her right hand, while a long sword made of solid white energy materialized in her left. She struck the dome with her white sword, easily slicing through the top, and the rest shattered, exposing Xinck to an attack from Sunyata. He blocked just in time with Thanatos, and parried another strike from her white sword.

"Tell me, Orphan." Xinck groaned, following a series of blocked strikes and parries, "If you hate me, can I assume that you hate all Nobodies? We're all cut from the same clothe. You worked with Xibre, right? You must hate yourself for-"

"You can't goad me." Orphan cut in, missing as she struck for Xinck's face, "Don't even try!" Temporarily missing an eye, he was still capable of holding his own with a sword pair, but Orphan was more than willing to stomp on his prowess.

"So your twisted form of 'Justice' is what turned you into such a humorless girl-dick? Rah!"

"Hah!" The duo were locked in arms, swords crossed in an impasse. Both of them pushing against the other one and making no progress. Orphan, glaring Xinck in his eye, Xinck staring at the pulsing blue gem just under her neck. Its inner colors swirling, almost pulsing with a living presence of its own.

"Justice." Orphan's words brought Xinck away from the gem and into her ferocious gaze, "Revenge. Whatever. They're just words, same words, different words, to different people, same people. It doesn't matter. Justice won't come to the small child who screamed so loud at the horror she witnessed, that her hair turned white. I want you to know that I'm not waiting for Revenge to be given. I didn't sacrifice 20 years of my life for Justice to be handed to me. The only real thing in this world...is the Justice you take!"

_**In Giving Every Man His Due**_

* * *

(A/N: Okay, uh...I kinda ended this a bit soon, I'm still on page Eighteen and I set myself to at least have a minimum of Twenty pages. So...um...here's this...)

"I'm not awful." Aqua said, "I'm just trying to keep everyone safe." The Keyblade master walked the streets of the city of light, Radiant Garden, her thoughts on the meeting between her two dearest friends. Ventus gone and Terra angry at her, her mission was burdensome already and she didn't need her friend's weighing so heavily on her heart.

Aqua rounded a corner into an alleyway that led from a series of houses into the town square. Just as she did-, "Hey!" She exclaimed, turning around to see a boy with flaming red hair running away from her.

"Yeah, I did it, Isa! I told you I could!" He yelled triumphantly, "I touched her butt, you owe me munny!"

"You little bastard!" Before the boy was too far out of range, Aqua reached and grabbed a rock the size of her fist and hurled it at the back of his head.

"Agh!" The boy's shrill shriek was cut off when he collided face-first into the cobblestone ground at the feet of a boy with spiky blue hair and aquamarine eyes. "Uh...

"The bet was to cup a cheek with your palm." Isa said, "Not goose her with your finger. I owe you nothing."

Aqua shook her head at the boys' behavior as she left them and came into the Town Square. She was thankful Ventus never acted like that.

The Town Square was a nice sized plaza, the exact center of the city, which meant that the most important places where within walking distance. As Aqua walked into its center, she found the gates that led to the Castle to her right, a passageway that led to the Outer Gardens to her left and an alleyway that led to a residential neighborhood in front of her.

From what Aqua had already seen of Radiant Garden she knew why it was dubbed "The City of Light". It was beautiful. Nothing more needed to be said, for it simply was. The fountains that shot sparkling water into the air made everything almost glisten and glow, the water droplets fell lazily through the sky like star dust. Aqua hoped to one day see this pleasant world at night one time. It would have to look even more brilliant, she thought.

Just then, coming out of the alleyway in front of her was a man, or a boy in a mask. Aqua seemed to notice him before he noticed her. He was dressed in a battle suit, red, black, and seemingly organic in nature and appearance. Hanging of his waist was a cloth that seemed close to a skirt, but it was open in front and was more like a waist cape. The mask he wore covered his entire head and neck, and the visor in front of it was black like a never ending void, cold and alone.

As the boy walked along the sidewalk, in his grip was a large cup with the words "BIG GULP ORANGE SODA" written on the front in a logo. The straw through which he was sucking his beverage was long and when it came to his helmet, a small hole appeared just big enough for it to fit through.

Aqua braced herself, but the boy seemed to pay her no mind as he made loud, obnoxious sucking sounds. Aqua remembered Ventus mentioning fighting a boy in a mask. Who else could it be? This boy was not only stained with a dark presence, he radiated something more of that. He reeked of evil.

"A Mask! You're that boy Ve-" Aqua called out, but was interrupted. She caught the boys attention, but he didn't seem at all surprised to see her. He continued sucking on his drink, making even louder sucking noises that cut her off. He had reached the bottom of the cup, shaking it and the remaining ice and soda inside.

"You're that boy V-"

"_BURP!_" The boy burped, stopped drinking and smacked his lips. "It's good." He said.

"You're that b-"

"Orange is my favorite." He said, resuming his obnoxious sucking.

"Are you or are you not the boy Ventus mentioned!" She didn't know why she asked the question when she already knew the answer.

"AH!" The boy sighed, finally finishing his drink, he tossed it aside, "There's no better way to get your daily dose of vitamin C."

"Orange soda doesn't have any vitamins!"

"Yeah-huh." The boy said. "An Orange has Vitamin C, ergo Orange Soda has even more Vitamin C. Damn, you know, you're dumb for a smart girl."

"Tch!" Aqua growled just as her Keyblade, shined into her grip.

The boy chuckled, his tone changing as he spoke, "So. Ventus. Tell me something, has he learned to put up a decent fight yet?"

"What..do you mean!"

"I'LL BE ASKING THE QUESTIONS!" The boy snapped, flailing his arm for her silence. Once again, his tone changed back to calm and cool, "And why shouldn't I?" The boy braced himself as a twisted, mangled Keyblade shined into his grip, " After all, between the two of us, I'm the only one who will walk away from here alive."

"Guess again!" Aqua winded her blade in a circle, collecting a cold wind at the tip of her Keyblade, she fired off a salvo of spiked ice for the boy's head.

"Tch! Is that it?" The boy mocked, sidestepping the ice with ease. "Time for my theme song." With that, the boy bounded into the air, all the while humming a foreboding beat, which he long ago dubbed 'Enter the Darkness'. "_Buh Buh Buh _Bum Bum Bum _Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun Dun_!" As he looked down on Aqua from above, she moved her Keyblade through the air, surrounding herself with a volley of fiery orbs.

"_Firagadun!_" She fired the attack, shooting dozens of fireballs for the boy as he entered his decent.

With an impossible ease, he dodged and spun and maneuvered out of the way of each blast. "Oh! Watch me go! Whoo!" Evading the final few blasts, he fell on Aqua and attacked, striking and bashing into her Keyblade with his own. Aqua ducked down, dodging a horizontal strike, she sprung up and arched her back into a flip while kicking the boy in the chin with her foot as she went.

"Gah!" The boy recoiled and backed away before taking off once again into the air. A quick twist and he charged his Keyblade, he fired off several thin bolts of black lightning, striking Aqua in her back and sending her to the ground. "Gotcha." The boy dived straight down into a black portal and was out of sight.

Aqua winced and shrieked in pain as her back began to bleed, the smell of her burnt flesh filling the air around her. "_Cura!" _A green light shined above her, exuding a mist that coated her back. Out of the corner of her eye, she witnessed the ground under her darken to a coal black and instinctively, she rolled out of the way as the Boy fired upward in a spiral.

"Suffer!" His spiraling conjured a torrent of fire balls crashing into the ground around Aqua as she dodged out of the way and onto her feet. The boy hit the ground and Aqua charged him from behind, striking against his back. He ducked, just narrowly avoiding the blade. He flipped himself over onto his hands and spun wildly, kicking at Aqua as she blocked with her blade, "Come on, come on, come on, COME ON!"

Aqua struggled to keep up with his speed, and his attack power was even better. She couldn't risk letting this go on any further. She needed to end it now. "Ha!" Aqua shot back on her foot, then fired off, flying for the boy and striking him against the stomach. She didn't let up, as he tumbled over, she grabbed him by the arm and threw him with all her might into the air.

"Agh! Seriously!"

Aqua reared back and charged her Keybalde, causing it to glow a shimmering white, "Farewell!" With all her strength, she hurled her Keyblade into the sky where it struck and dug into the Boy's front and knocking his head back at an unnatural angle. As he fell back to the ground, his blood fell like rain from his wounds. The boy hit the ground with a thud, the back of his head hitting first, and he was silent.

Aqua's blade returned to her hand as she cautiously made her way She had broken out into a cold sweat fighting this boy. If he was strong enough to make a Keyblade master break a sweat, Aqua thought, then this boy was a force to be reckon with. She stopped in her tracks, just before reaching the boy. Ventus was right. She had let being a Keyblade Master go to her head. If so, then maybe this boy was just serving as a reminder of humiliation.

"Who are you?" The boy wasn't breathing when she knelt down to him. Carefully, she raised a hand to his mask, even before reaching it, she could feel a cold energy surrounding it. Her fingers nearly went numb.

Suddenly, the boy inhaled and broke out into a fit of mad laughter, prompting Aqua to jump back and summon her blade in defense. But the Boy just laid there, laughing louder and louder. He kicked his feet and beat his fists on the pavement and neared mad screaming as his laughter grew.

"Oh!" The boy sighed, quieting down as his body healed, his suit repaired itself and the Boy finally stood to his feet. "Oh, man, not too bad, not too bad at all! Congratulations." With that, the space just behind the boy shifted and blackened, ripping open and creating a oval-shaped portal of Darkness. "I'll keep you around, bluebird. Never hurt to have a back up."

Aqua didn't move for her body was tired and she want to risk baiting him to attack again. All she could do was watch him leave.

"Now, watch this!" The boy said and he began scooting backwards into the darkness, Moon-walking so seamlessly towards the portal. "Oh! Dancin' in the shadows, its a moonwalk, it's a moonwalk, oh!" The shadows wrapped about his body and he was gone, leaving Aqua alone. For now, anyway.

* * *

And there it is. Remember, that first part was incomplete, so if it sounded interesting to enough people, let me know and I can do more. For the Second Xinck vs. Orphan part, I have a lot of stuff for that fight, and I wanted to get some of it out of the way and concentrate on Roxas's next encounter in Veridis Quo. And for the Birth by Sleep part, I realized that it would take too much to do a whole thing with it, so instead at the end of a few chapters in the future, I'll just write out a little dialogue and encounters between the characters. Just like the Aqua and Vanitas thing.

So, that's it. REVIEW!


	51. Redux Profile V

**Xigbar**

-"Tyr Gungnir"-

– Old Norse, loosely meant to mean "War God of Justice, The Swaying One"-

-"Left Hand of Annihilation, Pass Judgment!"-

The Freeshooter begins his Redux by drawing his own blood from his left hand. He flings the blood droplets into the air and fires off a single silver bullet. The bullet explodes when it connects with the blood, bathing Xigbar in a blinding pale purple light. When the Redux is activated, the local field of gravity begins to slowly loose equilibrium and the longer Xigbar is in his Redux, the more erratic it can become. When the light fades and Xigbar is revealed, he is shown to have untied his black and silver hair, letting it fall to his back. Xigbar's black coat becomes dark silver, white with streaks of light purple, but longer and horribly torn and jagged. With an open chest, three X's zig-zag their way down his torso. Along with his adjusted outfit, he gains three spikes above his elbows.

Xigbar looses his eyepatch, his bad eye only becoming functional during Redux. The Entire eye becomes black and the pupil turns a dark blood red. Two, sharp tooth-like accesories sit underneath and above each eye.

Xigbar gains two weapons in his new form. The first is a pair of wide, gauntlet-like armaments that are reminiscent of wide bell sleeves. Black in color and starting from his elbows down, the **Deicide** weapon is in standby form until Xigbar wills it to expand, engulfing his hands and forming two, long cannon barrel-like weapons. The Freeshooter can also use this weapon to simulate the effect of any firearm.

The second weapon floats behind his back. The **Diablo Gale** are 4, large and red energy constructs in the same shape of Xigbar's Sharpshooter bullets. They slowly rotate behind him vertically and, if Xigbar chooses not to use **Deicide**_**, **_can fire off small, shrapnel pieces of the Gale to attack far away enemies. Controlling the Gale telekinetically through his hands grants the shrapnel pieces more speed and accuracy.

**Powers and Abilities**

All of Xigbar's base abilities are increased. His healing factor is the weakest, but receives a boost when his Redux is activated. Above all else, his destructive capabilities are increased 1000 fold. When his Redux is activated, he also gains limited access to Gravity, as his Redux naturally disturbs and distorts it. In the local area, for example a large city, the ground and buildings would begin to detach from the earth and float on their own and have their own gravitational field.

Another, even more powerful ability is Xigbar's **Infinite Hole **(He was asked several times to change the name, but refuses). It acts as a dimensional pocket, allowing the Freeshooter to literally pull out nearly any high artillery weapon he has ever come across (Bazookas, cannons, missiles, etc).

**Attacks**

**I Shoot Your Face**- Xigbar fires two silver shots.

**I Shoot Your Face part II**- Xigbar teleports directly behind his enemy and fires two silver shots, teleports in front of them and delivers a roundhouse kick.

**The Magic Bullet That Killed Kennedy**- Xigbar fires off a single shot, when it impacts an enemy he can then redirect it towards another for a Two-person kill.

**I Kiss You!**- Xigbar runs up on a single foe and unloads shot after shot in their face, horribly mutilating them until they can no longer stand.

**Crazy For You!- **Xigbar takes aim, then fires off a salvo of red and silver bullets in a chaotic, winding and random pattern.

**Goodbye Wild Heaven**- Xigbar teleports above his opponent and lets loose a full salvo from **Deicide**, raining down on a small area.

**Spatial Slice**-Using his spatial manipulation powers, Xigbar can temporarily "cut" the surrounding area (including people and objects) in half with no damage or lasting effects. This is, more or less, an illusion, used to confuse his enemies.

**Godkiller**- Xigbar unleashes **Deicide**into its standard form and unleashes and devastating cannon blast. Once fired, the attack will continue on for 6 kilometers.

**Tornado Lash**- Xigbar breaks off shrapnel-size pieces of **Diablo Gale**, firing the shards and controlling them with his hands to lash and impale his enemy.

**Annihilationscape**- Pointing **Deicide** in either direction, Xigbar spins in a full circle, leveling all matter and reducing it to atoms in a two-mile radius.

**Divine Intervention**- A failsafe. If Xigbar is attacked and constantly taking damage, this ability will activate and safely teleport him a safe distance away.

**Bane of Uriel**- As **Deicide **has the potential to simulate any projectile weapon Xigbar has seen, this power allows him to fire flaming arrows that cause small, although potent explosions.

**Fuck You! Fuck You! Fuck You! FUCK YOU!**- Xigbar lets loose with a myriad of explosive shots, ending the attack in a fiery explosive burst.

**One Bad-Ass Missile**- Xigbar opens a wormhole and lets fly a single ballistic missile.

**Unleashed Hell**- Xigbar jams **Deicide **into two open wormholes, he then breaks down, copies and reassembles his weapons and opens several dozen space-warping tears in reality. He then fires upon his opponent from nearly every conceivable angle.

**Shock and Awe**- This sky-shattering attack can destroy an entire city. Requiring a 3-minute load time, Xigbar charges every shard of **Diablo Gale **into **Deicide**, and when it is fully charge he fires a shining, crimson sphere into the sky. He unfolds space in order to reveal a "Nexus Point of the Sky",which metaphysically holds the sky together. The crimson sphere destroys the nexus point and shatters the sky of the world, then goes beyond that. The sphere divides and multiplies itself exponentially in a short amount of time until the sky is nothing but blood red shards. On Xigbar's command, the blood shards fall like a deluge, essentially obliterating every living thing around the Freeshooter.-

**Weaknesses- **

Xigbar takes risks in his Redux form, even more so than is base form. He is more than willing to run up to his opponent and open fire, as opposed to keeping his distance and attacking from afar. Bold, and daring, this risky behavior is more of a trick. His healing factor, even in Redux, is less potent than that of the average Organization member by attacking his opponent directly, he intends to dissuade his opponents from reaching that conclusion. With his ability of Divine Intervention, any continuous damage would only teleport him away to a safe location. Therefore, the best way to take Xigbar out would be one, swift, powerful attack from which his less than standard healing factor would never be able to fix.

**Inspiration-**

Um..alright. Not too much inspiration came with this one. I thought of it as more of an upgrade.


	52. Azul Navidad part I

Ok, here's a Holiday-themed chapter. I know I missed it by a few days, but, you know, come on, give me a break.

Enjoy and I don't own anything.

* * *

_Setting the scene..._

At years' end, the icy winds made their way to the world that didn't truly exist. A chill night, and the clouds gathered and blocked out the stars. Soon, the black city became blanketed in white and nearly matched the floating white castle in the distance. The castle had a nice coating of water on most, if not all, of its surface. The temperature dropped so suddenly that the castle took on a glimmering sheen to it due to the sheet of ice, glistening slightly whenever Kingdom Hearts managed to peek out from behind its silver veil of clouds.

_Attention turns to the interior..._

The white castle was quiet, save for the deformed white husks that patrolled its long passageways, its true denizens were sound asleep after a normal day's work. The Superior and Lord of this Castle was no exception, though it could be argued about how much work he put in on a daily basis. Some days he'd just stay in bed and hand out edicts via text message. Xemnas, the Superior, was a light sleeper. Not because he was on his guard, for a man of his massive amount of power didn't need to be, but because his mind was just as active in the day as it was at night. Quite honestly, he found it exhausting, as if he had two minds constantly at work, 24/7.

Suddenly turning over, Xemnas jostled himself awake slightly, catching a quick glimpse of his room before closing his eyes again. His room was much bigger than the rooms of his lesser comrades, it even came with its own second-level balcony, full bathroom and an area filled with books, journals and a computer. On another whim, Xemnas turned over again, waking even more. It was cold so he pulled his black covers up closer onto his body. Xemnas's room was the only bedroom with a separate heating system, he could easily warm up his room, but he preferred the cold.

Unfortunately, it was too late to salvage what little sleep he had and he soon found himself awake and staring up at his blank, metallic white ceiling.

He slowly sat straight up in his bed, just as the temperature seemed to drop even more, and suddenly Xemnas found his breath wafting in front of his nose. He took a whiff, nearly gagging, "Gross." He murmured. He had only been sleeping for a few hours and he already had morning breath.

The temperature dropped even more and the Superior began to shiver. "_Perhaps a fireplace would fit nicely in here."_ He thought, _"The cold is fine, but this is ridiculous."_ Xemnas only wore long night pants in bed, and so was bare chested. Reluctantly, he forced his half-nude form out of bed and into the unforgiving cold to find the thermostat.

He silently chanted curses frantically as he tiptoed across the freezing floor to the farthest wall to the thermostat. He reached the small device and wiped off the display as his visible breath caused it to fog up.

"_'54 Degrees'!"_ He read the display. He quickly pressed the temperature buttons until it read 80 Degrees. But still the room remained cold and freezing. Something was amiss. _"This is unnatural. My thermostat is undeniable..." _For a moment, the thought of Vexen infiltrated his mind. If it weren't winter, Xemnas would think it was his doing. But not only was it winter, Vexen was also as dead as a doornail.

Suddenly, a foreboding presence made itself known to the Superior. An obscuring mist seeped in through the bottom of the main doorway. Something was coming. Something had the nerve to challenge the Superior of Organization XIII.

Xemnas was not unnerved at this. If anything, he was more irritated that the Dusks hadn't been doing their job and let an intruder enter the Castle. He would be forced to dispose of this threat himself. He would show no mercy and, in case this something wasn't alone, he would use his full strength to obliterate this nuisance and make an example out of them.

But first he needed to find his shoes. For one thing his toes were freezing, and second, if he were going into a fight, he'd fight like a man. A man with his shoes on.

Quickly he made his way back to the side of his bed and slipped on his black slippers. Then Xemnas braced himself, just as the slightest hint of a shadow drifted in front of his door.

Xemnas spoke as calmly as always, "I know you are there. Show yourself."

Without warning his door erupted open and his room filled with an obscuring, ghostly mist. Xemnas could see nothing, but the sound of damned wailing and rattling chains filled the air.

For an instant, this thought ran through Xemnas's head, _"Xinck, I shit you not, if this is your doing, I will rip your spine out through your nose."_

A horrible voice pierced through the mist, like nails grinding on metal. "_Ebenexemnas_! _Ebenexemnas_!" A figure shimmered though the mist, slowly taking the shape of a transparent, floating man bound in endless chains. His face had yet to form completely.

"_A ghost? Xinck's playing with the dead again. Always with the dead, that boy..."_ Xemnas thought. "Begone, spirit!" He commanded, "You have no business here."

"_Oh, but I do, Ebenexemnas-_"

"Not my name..." Xemnas muttered.

"_For I am your old partner!_" Finally, his face came into view as long, wild dreadlocks flopped to his shoulders, _"It is I!" _The ghost shouted, _"Bob Marley!"_

"The...reggae singer Bob Marley?"

"_Buffalo Soldah, mon!" _The ghost exclaimed, "_I come as a warning, mon! For tonight, you shall be visited by 'tree' spirits, mon! Each-"_

"Did you say _tree _spirits? I have no interest in nature beings, spirit, one of them screwed me over some time ago."

"_Tree spirits, mon! Tree! The numbuh 3!"_

"Oh." Xemnas said, "Three. I could not understand, you have a bit of an accent, Mr. Marley."

"_ENOUGH, MON!"_ The ghost wailed, "_For I come as a warnin'! You will be visited by 1,2,3 spirits __tonight! Each more terrible dan the last! You best change your ways, Ebenexemnas!"_

"I'm going to go ahead and shoot you now."

"_What?_"

"Nil!" The thought that the ghost may be intangible never crossed Xemnas's mind. When he fired his quick shot, the energy collided with the ghost's leg, exploding on its shin. Immediately, the ghost fell to the floor, the mist around it evaporated and its accent was no longer present in its wails, oddly replaced by a slight surfer accent.

"Xigbar?"

"AGGGHHH!" The Freeshooter cried out, cradling his bleeding knee.

"What are you doing?" Xemnas asked, unmoving or phased.

"My motherfucking leg!"

"You're bleeding all over my floor. Quit it."

* * *

The Superior carried two cups of coffee over to the kitchen table. He placed one in front of the Number II, then strolled over to the other side of the table, sat and began sipping his own drink.

"How's the leg?" Xemnas asked.

"It's pulsing and I think I'm bleeding internally. My healing sucks, but I'm cool with it!" Xigbar exclaimed, producing a flask from his black coat. He emptied its contents into his coffee and took a long sip. "Tis the season!"

"Ugh." The Superior lazily rested his chin on his hand after taking a sip and rolling his eyes, "Is this at all necessary? December is nothing more than another cold month, yet you and the rest of them find some sort of satisfaction in partaking in this...thing."

"Well, what do you expect us to do?"

"Your job. Go forth, and bring me more hearts."

"See there, that's exactly why we do this every year." Xigbar explained, " Maybe we'd like something fun to do around here every now and again. Just because we don't have hearts, doesn't mean we don't feel boredom."

"What about that tournament I stated before Castle Oblivion? Was that not fun?"

"Everyone knows that was just an excuse for you to beat up on us."

"Come to think of it, I did have fun." Xemnas replied. He turned his gaze away from Xigbar and out the window, taking in the snowy-topped towers of his Castle, "So, I'm just going to address the elephant in the room. What possessed you to come into my room and act like a ghost?"

"What? You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"You've never heard of _A Christmas Carol_? Dude, that shit has been done up every way possible, you'd have to be an idiot not to know about it!"

"Braig, I'm going to shoot off your kneecaps now." Underneath the table, Xigbar could hear the crackling of energy in Xemnas's palm.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!" He chanted his reply, scooting his legs out of from under the table, "Okay? Sorry, that's not what I meant. Its just that, everyone and their mother knows the _Christmas Carol_ like the back of their hand. Hell, even Roxas knows it."

"Obviously, I'm far too busy to waste time on carols of Christmas. It's bad enough I lost the wager and must tolerate this..this holiday nonsense, but if its that much of a distraction I'll have it nowhere near this Castle."

"Christmas nonsense, actually. Fuck the P.C. Crap. And, sorry, dude, but the Christmas Carol thing has already started and can't be stopped."

"Excuse me?"

"It's a spell." Xigbar explained, "One person is picked and is basically the subject of _The Christmas Carol_. That's the spell in a nutshell. And, shockingly, it was a unanimous decision to have _you _the subject of the spell."

Xemnas blinked, quietly observing Xigbar's face before finally saying, "Braig, I'm going to shoot off your kneecaps now."

"No! No! No! No!" Xigbar chanted, "Not my fault, not my fault, dude! Xinck cast the spell, but, you know, he didn't want to, but he had orders."

"D'oh!" Xemnas grunted, "I swear, Demyx takes this too far. Just like last year when I told him not to string up lights in the Southwestern towers. Now he has me entangled in this idiocy" Xemnas took in a long sip, completely downing the rest of his coffee, "Why couldn't he celebrate Chanukah? The Hebrews don't have to put up with this Santa and Frosty nonsense. Just some candles and a candlestick holder for eight days. Simple and clean. But Christmas lasts for the entire month of December, and all you get in the end is an overdrawn bank account and horrible, horrible gifts that you can't even exchange at a pawn shop. Or better yet, why not Kwanzaa? Why doesn't he celebrate Kwanzaa? No one even knows what the hell that is."

"Ha Ha!" Xigbar laughed, "Man, it's not Demyx this year, but he's just as eager. Saix is all over this year's festivities."

"Impossible." Xemnas spat back.

"No, man, really. Saix is the one who told Xinck to find the _Christmas Carol _spell. X-face planned the whole thing out. Gift-giving, caroling, snowball fights, decorating a tree, visiting the mall to have pictures taken with Santa...all that crap."

"I don't believe you." Xemnas said.

"Fine, don't believe me. More alcohol for me and Luxord."

Xemnas scoffed, "I knew it. There had to be some reason, some way that you would find an easy way out of this."

"I'm not looking for a way out of this." Xigbar downed the rest of his drink, "Being intoxicated and doin' all this 'Merry, Merry Christmas' crap sounds like a great alternative to working all day."

"So, while I'm forced into cavorting around with _tree _spirits, you all will be out singing gaily like the Happiest Littlest Elf ?"

"Hey, I ain't getting gay with no elf, man!" Xigbar slurred, obviously mishearing Xemnas's words.

"Mm-mm. Right, of course." With that, Xemnas pushed out his chair and walked over to an opening Corridor of Darkness, "Have fun on your booze-laden Holiday cruise-"

"Booze-laden _Christmas _cruise." Xigbar corrected.

"I'm going back to my room. And if you see Saix or Xinck, tell them-"

"Yeah, yeah, you'll shot out their kneecaps for putting a spell on ya. Got it."

* * *

Saix had declared that the Gray Area would be the center of everything in terms of decorations. Both Axel and Xinck were assigned to the long, seemingly never-ending hallway that let out into the Gray Area.

"...I mean, yeah, 'Saturday Night Live' is funny and Andy Sanberg is great,"Axel said, stringing up lights and streams of holly along the walls, "But if I saw him in real life, I would have to punch him in the throat."

"I totally agree." Xinck huffed. He laid on the floor next to the ladder Axel was using, holding onto the long string of Christmas lights. "Personally, I'd do the same thing to Cody Simpson. What gives him the right to claim to be so famous, huh? So, he's on the iTunes store, who gives a crap! _And_, to make things worse, he took Bart Simpson's name."

"You just don't like him because he's Australian." Axel murmured.

"He's Australian!" Xinck snapped, effortlessly producing a pen and a pad of paper from his coat, "Oh, he is so on my list, right between Kenan Thompson and Justin Beiber."

"Who?" Axel asked.

"Justin Beiber, the singer."

Axel looked at Xinck, confused, "What?"

"Justin Beiber! The singer? Hit teenage sensation? Kinda looks like a girl? Come on, everyone has at least heard of Justin Beiber."

Axel blinked, none of this information registering with him, "I'm sorry, I'm not hearing you right, are you saying Justice Beaver?"

"Justice Be-"Xinck exclaimed, but stopped halfway and relented, "Yeah, sure, Justice Beaver. He's a superhero animal, flies around, defeating evildoers with his special Dam-building powers. Chucking wood is his specialty."

"Oh. Whatever."

Casually not looking where he was walking as he left the shadows of a Corridor of Darkness, Roxas, with his nose in a thick magazine catalog, stopped suddenly just before walking into Axel's ladder. "Hey!" He said suddenly, "What are you guys doing?"

"Stringing up lights." Axel replied, Well, _I'm _stringing up lights, fat boy down there's just sitting and doing nothing."

Xinck cleared his throat and presented Axel his middle finger, "You see that? You just bitched yourself out of my help!"

"What are you doing?" Axel asked Roxas, ignoring Xinck.

Roxas called attention to his magazine catalog, "I'm trying to figure out gift ideas for everybody, but guys like Saix and Xaldin are hard to shop for. Ugh, I didn't have this much trouble finding gifts for you two."

"Oh, watcha get me?" Xinck bounded off the floor and next to Roxas, peeking over his shoulder and into the magazine.

"You can't look!" Roxas quickly shut the paper, "It'll ruin the surprise!"

"Hey!" Xinck protested.

"Wait, lemme see." Axel descended from his ladder and gently moved Xinck away as Roxas re-opened the magazine. "Oh, he's gonna love that!" He exclaimed.

"I know, right?" Roxas replied, "I mean, I just saw this and I thought, 'this is totally Xinck'!"

"What is it, you sons of bitches!" Xinck bellowed.

"Dude, don't worry," Axel said, a bright grin lad across his face, "You'll definitely like this."

"No I won't!" The Deviant shouted, "I hate everything AND YOU FUCKING KNOW THAT!" Xinck stood opposite Axel and Roxas, breathing heavily through his nose and seething.

"...O..kay.."Roxas murmured, "Something...on your mind?"

Axel scoffed, "He's just cranky."

"Christmas is just another cold day." Xinck retorted coldly, "All this happiness, joy and quote, unquote 'Good tidings'. Its a damn bloody tragedy if you ask me." He stopped, looking off past his friends, as if remembering traumatic. He quickly snapped out of it, "Besides, no one ever gets what they really want. No matter how much they beg, plead...or deserve it."

"Oh, man, Xinck" Roxas started, "I..I didn't know."

Axel sighed and readily gripped the bridge of his nose, "Xinck, shut up! You're just being difficult, which is one of your favorite pastimes, plus, I have you on a video recording saying how Christmas is your favorite holiday because its an excuse to not only get a bunch of presents but also a chance to scam orphanages out of their money!"

"Damn you, Axel, and your run-on sentences, damn you!"

"Hey, yeah!" Roxas said, "And last Christmas you said those Apocalypse Ponies I got for you were the best present you had ever gotten."

"Um...uh..No I didn't!"

"Yeah, you did." Axel said, "I even caught you playing with them in the tub. You had Death Pony killing a Barbie and Ken Doll with Pestilence Pony making out with Famine Pony, while War Pony watched."

"What did I say about your run-on sentences!" Xinck shouted.

"That wasn't a run-on, you sick fuck," Axel roared, "That was compound! Compound!"

"I'm complicated, alright!" Xinck collapsed to the floor, a hand over his face as he feigned wailing.

Roxas and Axel had known Xinck long enough to understand that sometimes they just needed to go along with whatever was going on with him. At first, it was fun because Xinck's wild imagination made it interesting, but eventually, it got very creepy. So they saw fit to just ignore him in some situations. This being one of them.

"So, I thought I'd get this for Demyx." Roxas flipped through a few pages in his magazine.

"Eh, I don't know. That's a bit expensive for Demyx."

"It's not good?"

"_WAAAHHH!"_Xinck cried, _"Oh, Woe! Woe is me! AGGGH!"_

"Well, yeah, its good, its just I wouldn't spend that kind of money on Demyx." Axel said, "Just get him a cheaper version from Wal-mart. He'll never tell the difference."

"_Jesus!_" Xinck bellowed in Spanish, "_Por Que!"_

"Alright, that makes sense. But I gotta go to a mall to get everything else on my list."

"Oh, yeah? I'll come, too. Might as well get some stuff crossed off my list."

Roxas groaned, "Fine, but when I start shopping for you and Xinck, you gotta get lost. Got it memorized?"

Axel scoffed, "Cheeky."

Just as Xinck began reaching the climax of his childish episode, Roxas gently began nudging the Deviant in his ribs with his foot, "Hey, crybaby, we're going to the mall. Are you coming or not?"

"Oh!" Instantly, Xinck was up on his feet, "Yeah, sure, I'm game."

"Christmas shopping, are we?" Another being was born from the shadows of a Corridor of Darkness. A long, red stocking hat with a white trim and white poof-ball on the end sat uncharacteristically on his blue head. Saix had just the slightest hint of a smile on his face. The three stared, jaws agape, at the Number VII, the normally apathetic and cruel Number VII. The red hat and smile, while very small hints of holiday joy, were too much, too soon to see on the Luna Diviner.

"Whatever bodes well for Saix..."Xinck murmured in awe, "Bodes ill for us all..."

"Are we gonna die?" Was the first thing to come from Roxas.

"And what is that supposed to mean, friend?" Saix asked.

"Oh! Nothing, nothing at—wait, what did you call me!"

"I called you friend, friend." Saix quickly made his way to Roxas before the former could react. The Diviner reached into his black coat and produced an identical white and red Santa hat and placed it on top of Roxas's head, letting the white poof ball dangle in front of his face. "Happy Christmas, friend."

"Uh...thank...you?"

"So, friends," Saix went on, "What is this I hear of a mall trip?"

"Well, Santa's Little Helper from Hell, we were just headed out to the mall to finish up some shopping." Axel said.

"Excellent!" Saix proclaimed, "I approve."

"You do?" Axel chocked back a gasp.

"Of course! Why not, Axel?" Every word that spewed from Saix's mouth couldn't possibly be his, "Christmas is nothing without something under the tree, and I will have no one disappointed come the morning of December 25th."

"This is it." Xinck cowered, noticeably shaking in place, "The gypsy was right. This is how it ends..."

"WHO ARE YOU?" Roxas screamed before Axel quickly covered his mouth.

"O..okay, well...uh..we'll just be leaving then." Axel said, his words stumbling from his mouth as he opened a portal.

"Oh, wait! My friends!" Saix called, stopping them in their tracks, "I want you to make the trek to the mall in civilian clothes."

"Why?" Roxas asked.

"We have heard rumors that there is someone posing as a member of the Organization, wearing a black coat like ours." Saix said, "These are only rumors and, as of this moment, have no real merit, but we should not take any chances."

"An imposter?" Roxas scoffed, "No way."

""Interesting..."Xinck murmured to himself, briefly displaying shifty eye movements.

"As you know,"Saix said, "Many replicas of our coats exist, but these coats are a shiny black leather, as opposed to ours, which are a non-reflective black. Therefore, I want you all to be vigilant while you shop."

"Dress in regular clothes, look out for imposters, Got it memorized. Okay, guys, come on." Axel hurriedly spun himself, Roxas and Xinck around and headed for a portal, while whispering, "Let's get the hell outta here!" They had just gotten into the darkness, when Saix called out to them again, "What?" Axel answered.

Saix stood there, still in the whiteness of the Castle. His mouth opened, and from its depths a sound unheard from the Diviner was born, "_I'll have a bluuuuueeeee Christmas without yooouuu..."_He sang, _"I'll be so bluuuuueee, thinking...about yoooouu..."_

"Every man for himself!" Axel shouted. He knocked Roxas and Xinck to the ground and bolted into the darkness. The pair quickly tried scrambling to their feet, but at the same time pulled each other down in order to get ahead faster. Xinck quickly elbowed Roxas in the gut and ran for the safety of the Corridor.

"You're in my thoughts and prayers!" The Deviant shouted back.

"Wait!" Roxas pleaded, "Don't leave me here!"

* * *

Since Saix had initiated this year's festivities, the Nobody had completely put off his duties of handing out missions. This meant that everyone else had more free-time on their hands, and, for Luxord anyway, he spent this free-time doing his second favorite activity: imbibing as much alcohol as possible. In truth, gambling had become his second favorite activity ever since he had played and beaten everyone in the Castle at least five time over. So, drinking now became number one and its powers were already in full effect on the No. 10.

"_God rest ye merry gentlemen..._" Luxord stumbled along aimlessly through the Castle, somewhere near the Eastern trail of bridges and walkways that interweaves in and out of the fortress. Of course the spirits in his veins kept him plenty warm. "_...Let nothing you dismay, la la la la..something..somethin'..." _Taking his time, the Gambler of Fate walked out onto a snow-covered walkway, the Dark City under a white blanket in the distance. Cold winds nipped at him, but Luxord paid them no mind because he was drunk.

Luxord was not a sloppy drunk and, at this point in time, with his extra large flask filled to the brim with Peppermint Schnapps-enriched eggnog, was not truly drunk. He was in that sublime state between bliss and fearlessness, boldness and foolishness.

"_Her name is Rio and she dances on the sand!_" He proclaimed, "_Just like that river twistin' through the dusty land!"_

"Must you be so loud?"

"Dah!" Luxord shrieked, and in his tipsy state lost his balance and fell in the snow. He nearly dropped his extra large flask, but caught it just in time. He looked all around, but saw nothing. Immediately, his gaze turned to his flask, "I must stop drinking this stuff...Or, better yet, drink more until my senses turn numb. Yes, that's the ticket." With that, he turned his flask upward and down whatever was left of its contents.

"Leave me, now." The voice sounded again, "Before you draw attention to me."

"I cannot hear you, voice." Luxord burped and stood up, "For I am drunk-ish."

"Ugh." The voice scoffed, "I'm over here, fool." Finally, Luxord locked on to where the voice was, which was directly behind him. Luxord stood in the snow, slightly wobbling, as his eyes tried to focus and see the puff of visible breath that regularly wafted through the space in front of him.

"Wait a tick." Luxord said, "Someone _is _there!" As his eyes finally focused, the outline of a white coat come into view, followed by the shape of a man. But then, Luxord blinked, and the image seemed to disappear for a moment until he refocused. It was indeed the outline of a man wearing a camouflage, snow white version of the Organization's black coat.

Xemnas lifted his hood letting his hair cascade down his shoulders and ending the camouflage. "Intoxicated again, I see. Well, at least you are consistent in your ways, unlike Sai-"

"Hey! It's Xemnas! The Superior!" Luxord proclaimed, "Oi, how's it been, mate?"

This was a characteristic that Xemnas found fascinating about Luxord when he drank. He had absolutely no fear or apprehension when he spoke to his Superior. The alcohol inspired foolish bravery. As foolish as it was, Xemnas found it respectable.

The Superior released a reluctant sigh, "I suppose I am fine."

"What-what...what are you doing out here?" Luxord asked, cradling his extra large flask, "Bloody cold out here, I'm freezing my nips off."

"You haven't heard?"

"Heard wha'?"

Xemnas scoffed, "Saix, perfect in his perfidy, has inflicted a curse on my head. It was started just the other night, and since then I have done my research. It is called 'The Curse of the Carol'. Have you heard of it?"

"Naw, man. What it do?" Luxord asked.

On normal circumstances, Xemnas would usually only tell half-truths, keeping vital information to himself just in case. But in Luxord's inebriated state, he found no harm. "In my research I learned that the spell was created by a man named Charles D. Kins in attempts to write better novels. The nature of this curse requires several volunteers and several days in the month of December. Kins created the curse and tested it out on his neighbors and recorded the results, which, of course, was the novel _A Christmas Carol._"

"Kelsey Grammar was amazing as Scrooge." Luxord said.

"Indeed." Xemnas continued, "Anyway, I have read the _Christmas Carol_ and studied the nature of the curse from the spell book from which Xinck cast it. Unfortunately, the spell is absolute and cannot be broken or revoked once cast. It will end after all three spirits have visited me, or when Christmas or December ends, I forget which one comes first."

"That's stupid, you're stupid." Luxord muttered. Xemnas eyed the Gambler, but he was unfazed and stared back at his Superior. Luxord smiled and sang,"_You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch..."_

Xemnas rolled his eyes and turned away from Luxord with his hands behind his back, "Whatever. Luckily for me, I found a loop hole. The spell only takes effect when I sleep. So, I have cut out all sleeping in hopes of riding out the clock. So, that is why I am out here, hiding, more or less."

"..._Your Heart's an Empty HO-OH-OOLE!_"

"Ugh. I don't know why I even bother." Xemnas threw his hood over his head, once again blending in with the surrounding whiteness, "And, Luxord,"His disembodies voice said, "Forget you saw me."

For a split second, a reminder flooded into Luxord's mind. Then, despite cradling it like a lost child, had suddenly become aware of the weight of the extra large flask. Although Xemnas blended in quite well with the whiteness of the snow and the Castle, he still left footprints, and Luxord, slowly and silently followed these footprints, careful to step in them to keep the snow from crunching underneath his feet. He wasn't surprised he was so stealthy and coordinated while slightly intoxicated. He _was _surprised, though, that Xemnas went down so easily after 5 hard knocks to the back of the head with the extra large silver flask.

Xemnas's unconscious body twitched in the snow, but otherwise was completely still.

For a second, Luxord seemed to regain his most common demeanor "Sorry, mate. Saix made me do it." But then as quickly as it came, it ended, and Luxord proclaimed to the heavens as he stood over his Superior's body, "YOU! SHALL NOT! PASS!"

"Alright, calm down, you lousy drunk." Another voice called. Shadows gathered next to Luxord, swirled into a single mass, then ripped open to reveal the , Xaldin. The burly lancer eyed the body of his Superior and shook his head. "I simply cannot believe _He _fell so easily. Perhaps he dropped his guard due to your..drunkenness."

"I'm here, I'm not queer, just drunk, get used to it!"

"Whatever. Help me get him to his room so I can get my part over with." Xaldin moved down pulled Xemnas's arm over his shoulder, Luxord did the same for the other arm and the pair began their walk for an open Corridor of Darkness.

"_Her name is Rio and she dances on the Sa-a-a-a-and!" _Luxord sang, entering the darkness.

"Stop that, you might wake him!" Xaldin whispered gravely.

* * *

The sound of a ringing hand bell glided past the ears of every mall patron as they walked by the Salvation Army volunteer in a Santa Hat. The volunteer was a young man, perhaps a few years older than Axel, with a slight goatee and a smile of pure joy as he greeted every single man, woman and child who entered the mall. He would smile and nod to all, and when they actually donated money into his red can that hung underneath his Salvation Army Sign, he would smile even wider and surprise them with a "Happy Holidays and God Bless!".

"Someone's a little enthusiastic about their job." Axel said, walking between Roxas and Xinck as they made their way to the farthest door away from the volunteer,"It's cold out here and He's not even getting paid." Following Saix's orders, they dressed in civilian clothes. Axel wore a dark red, form-fitting aviator's jacket with the fur collar turned up to block out the cold. He wore baggy, dark-colored khaki pants, black shoes and black gloves with tear drop flames on the hands. Not caring at all for the cold, Axel dressed in layers.

"Prick." Xinck spat coldly, "What gives him the right to be so merry!" The Deviant, preferring the cold, wore simply a form-fitting black dress shirt with the wrists unbuttoned and the front only buttoned half way, exposing his black undershirt and the top of his chest. He wore baggy, dark blue jeans and black shoes. Over his ears, were a pair of white, wireless headphones that he used to keep his hair back and his ears warm.

"Who's he collecting money for?" Roxas asked. Roxas wore gray shoes underneath blue jeans and a cobalt blue hoodie zipped up underneath his collarbone. A black scarf wrapped itself around his neck and swayed in the cold around around him. He squinted his eyes and craned his neck to get a better look at the sign. He read, "'Sal..vation..Army? What's that, some kinda of war going on?"

"No, Roxas," Axel answered. The trio stopped, and stood to watch as more people donated money and entered the mall, "The Salvation Army is a charity group. It's like an Organization that helps poor people, sick people, homeless people, you know, the less fortunate and stuff like that. Of course, the Salvation Army itself is broke, so they go out and ask for donations all the time. Most of the time people donate old clothes, or food to help others survive the winter. Around Christmas, though, they come out to shops like these and ask for cash donations for the homeless."

"Tch!"Xinck scoffed, "I don't believe in '_homelessness'. _They're just modern, urban cowboys. Roughing it in the urban jungle and occasionally getting set on fire by jerk-off assholes. Or me, if I'm strung out on morphine."

"Should we donate something?" Roxas asked, "I mean, that guy keeps glancing over here, and if its for a good cause, you know, maybe we could use the karma?"

"Oh, you know what karma is, but you had no idea what the Salvation Army was?" Xinck asked.

"I spent a few days in New Delhi on a mission." Roxas replied, ""I got to ride a cow, but then people started screaming at me, saying I was dishonoring their god or something."

"Well, you know, "Axel started, "If you wanna help someone not as lucky as you, go right ahead. Not everyone gets to live in a nice, warm, impenetrable floating white Castle in another world."

"Yeah...yeah, you're right!"

"No, Roxas!" Xinck protested, "Don't you-!" But it was too late. Roxas had departed the group, his some of his money already out of his pocket, and darted through the crowd to the volunteer. Halfway there, he turned around.

"You guys coming!" He shouted.

"Of course not!" Xinck replied.

"Xinck, come on, dude. Dig deep." Axel said, his wallet already out of his pocket. "You know, you have so much stuff, it wouldn't hurt to give up some of it for someone who has nothing."

"Yes, Axel, it would hurt. IT WOULD STING WITH THE FURY OF A THOUSAND WASPS...on my scrotum. Yes, I have a lot of things, but I worked hard for my things, my room, my giant castle in the sky. Why would I give away what I've earned?"

"You haven't earned any of those things!" Axel shouted back, "Xemnas _let's _us stay in _his _giant floating Castle, and he gave you your room. Plus, you stole or killed to get most of the things you have."

"Stealing is hard! It's hard work, Axel! I almost broke a nail trying to steal the HD Plasma Screen in my room. _And _I almost tripped on the sidewalk when I stole the baby booties I got for Xercivio. Yup, stole 'em right off an infant's little baby toes."

"Oh, my god..."Axel sighed, grabbing the bridge of his nose and trying to hold back a laugh, "Alright fine Xinck. I know you're a greedy bastard, _but_, I also know that you can't help but follow the crowd." With that, Axel grinned while waving his wallet in Xinck's face, then took off towards Roxas and the Salvation Army volunteer, leaving the Deviant alone.

"Ha! Well, go ahead! Go ahead and waste your money ON POOR PEOPLE!" Xinck laughed loud and proud, drawing the attention of several on-lookers. Xinck paid them no mind. Instead, he found himself holding out his wallet and joining his two friends. "Damn it all." He cursed, amazed at Axel's prediction.

"So, how's it feel knowing you're helping a little girl get a gift this season, huh?" The Volunteer asked Roxas, just as he dropped a few folded bills in the red tin.

"_'How's it feel?'"_ Roxas asked himself. He wasn't sure how to answer that. Dropping the money in didn't do anything to rouse some type of feeling inside him, he knew that. But, then the thought of somehow helping someone else.."It feels great!" He answered eagerly as Axel dropped in his few bills.

"Well, God Bless and Happy Holidays!" The volunteer said. Axel donated some of his money as well, "Ad the same to you, sir!"

"Yeah, thanks, you, too." Axel replied.

"Here!" Xinck said, forcing a few bills into the small red slit at the top of the can, "Do you want my blood as well!" Xinck hollered at the now laughing volunteer.

"No, no, that isn't necessary, though I think the Blood Drive wouldn't mind a visit from an eager beaver like you!"

Xinck made a horrible face at the volunteer, then turned to his two friends, "Let's go."

"God bless and happy holidays!" The volunteer said.

Xinck stopped, his body twitching noticeably as he turned around to face the volunteer. Oddly, he feigned an odd smile. "Ha ha, uh, I think you may mean, 'Merry Christmas.'"

"Nope." The volunteer's smile did not waver, "Happy Holidays!"

"It's Merry Christmas!"

"Happy Holidays!"

Roxas chimed in, "Xinck, come on, it's not-"

"No! No! It is important!" Xinck fully turned on the volunteer, "It's Merry Christmas, idiot!"

"Sir,"The volunteer finally said, "There are different holiday celebrations other than Christmas. Its wrong to assume everyone celebrates Christmas when they might celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or-"

"Ha! Shows what you know! No one even knows what Kwanzaa is! _And, _lighting candles and keeping them lit for eight days sounds like a friggin' fire hazard to me! Besides, you fucking hypocrite, you have a Santa hat on your stupid, fat head! Now I demand you give me what I want and wish me A MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS!" Xinck was nearly on the man, inches from his terror-stricken face when finally Axel and Roxas grabbed him by the back of his shoulders and restrained him.

"Xinck, just calm down!" Roxas struggled, nearly straining himself in pulling Xinck's large frame back.

"Stop overreacting!" Finally, Axel dug in his feet and hauled a screaming, growling Xinck away. He pulled open the mall door, and with the help of Roxas dragged Xinck inside.

"Agh!Aaaaggghhh! Say Merry Christmas! Say it, dammit!" Xinck grabbed onto the mall doors as Axel and Roxas pulled on his torso, "I'm gonna eat your children!"

"Happy Holidays, sir!" The volunteer called.

"AGGHH!" The Deviant cried in agony, his two friends finally throwing him into the shopping mall.

* * *

"...emnes..." A voice called on the wind. It was a whisper, but it was not soft,more like a gruff voice attempting a falsetto.

"Uh..." The Superior moaned, his eyes clenched tight and his head throbbing horribly.

"...xemnas...Ebenexemnas..."

"Oh, no, not this..."

Then, another voice shouted abruptly, "Wake up, you wank!"

Xemnas shot up abruptly and found himself in his bed and immediately greeted by the visage of Xaldin standing in the corner, arms folded behind his back. Xemnas's eyes narrowed to slits. He opened his mouth, a single word on his lips, "Treachery."

"No, no, no!" Xaldin said, "Hold for a second and let me explain!"

"Die." Xemans bounded form his bed, still fully dressed, and a single energized ethereal blade. Gracefully, as if in a dance, he spun and flew over to Xaldin's corner and readied to strike. He brought down his blade on a cringing Xaldin, and the red energy rebounded off of thin air, the force of which threw Xemnas's arm in the opposite direction.

"What is this?" Xemnas didn't wait for an answer, attacking the invisible forcefield with no effect.

"If you had listened to me as opposed to leaping into action all willy-nilly,"Xaldin said, "you'd know that the nature of the spell protects against all acts of violence." The Superior spat a curse and his blades vanished. He then eyed the Lancer with slits for eyes intensely. Suddenly, Xemnas reached to Xaldin's face and callously gripped his nose between his index and middle fingers, wringing it wildly. "Agh! Agh! My nose! Quit it, Quit! Agghhh! You're going to bruise it! Agh!"

Xemnas released the nose then wiped his fingers off on his coat, turning on his heels away from Xaldin, "Apparently not all acts of violence. Now get out of my room, fool."

" As much as I'd love to, Superior, I'm afraid I cannot." Xaldin winced, lightly gripping his nose.

"And why is that, Dilan?" Superior had the habit of referring to both Xaldin and Xigbar by their true names whenever he meant to intimidate them. "I don't entertain the idea that you may speak to me after rendering me unconscious."

"Superior," The lancer sighed, "Luxird did that. When we are finished with this, I will be more than willing to hold Luxord down while you put a cigarette out in his eye."

"...Interesting..." Xemnas murmured.

"But...for now..."

"For now what?" Xemnas was never angry, having no heart, but this Curse placed on his head was beginning to rouse something he could only liken to Irritation. Suddenly, a flaming light destroyed the darkness of the Superior's room. A warm, hearth-like glow prompted Xemnas to turn back around to the lancer. "What the hell is this, Xaldin?"

Xaldin stood there, glowing, his dreadlocks flaming with white light and his eyes set ablaze, but his fiery aura did not burn his new form-fitting white robe that seemed to end in a tail instead of an opening for his legs. He was floating, bare-chested, eyes and hair flaming, with a ghost-like tail as white and murky as wax. "Behold, Ebenxemnas!" He proclaimed in a booming, obnoxious voice, "Do not fear, for I bring you tidings of great joy!"

Xemnas could only stare, his face stuck between 'impossible' and 'this dumbass is not serious'. "Huh?" Was all he managed to say.

"For on this night," Xaldin continued, "A child is born-"

"Wait, you fool, that's the Nativity, not the Christmas Carol."

"Huh?" The lancer stopped abruptly, "No, no, I think I have it right."

"The scriptures say an _angel _came to shepherds laying in fields to announce the birth of The Christ, not a...half-naked, floating man-candle with arms."

"Uh..." The lancer looked panicked, his eyes darting about as if looking for assistance, "I am the Nihilistic Ghost of Christmas Past But From The Future!"

"Of course you are." Xemnas replied with a roll of his eyes.

"...I am a candle..."

"I can see that."

"...With arms."

"Get out of my room, now." Bearing the awkwardness of this situation no longer, Xemnas turned away for his bed. Xaldin appeared in front of him instantly, his tail and flaming deadlocks wafting about him weightlessly.

"You can go nowhere, Ebenexemnas-"

"That is just bad writing.." Xemnas murmured.

"For I am here now, and I will show you the folly of your ways, you scrooge." Xaldin's flaming eyes seemed to grow in intensity, forcing the cold of Xemnas's face to retreat to the back of his neck. Xaldin was obviously committed to the role, this was odd because Xemnas never knew him for his acting abilities.

"There is nothing in my past you can show me, spirit. Now begone!" Xemnas waved him away, but the Lancer grabbed his arm in mid-swing.

"Look." He started in a hushed tone, "I'm floating here _on Fire_, my eyes are _on Fire_. This spell is screwing me over _way _more than you. I would give anything to be in your position, to just sit back and see a bunch crap you've already seen. So, the quicker we go, the quicker we can finish and you can get some sleep and I can go outside and dunk my head in a snowbank."

Xemnas made a grimacing face, "Oh, so your eyes actually..."

"Yes, it is indescribably painful. Saying its like pouring gallons of sand and hot sauce into your open eye sockets does not even come close." Xaldin said. Painful as it was, he didn't seem entirely affected by it. Why Xaldin would even agree to to this was beyond him, Xemnas thought. But the thought of revenge against those who cursed him to endure this asinine venture piqued his interest. For now, he would just have to play along. He had taken the time to read _A Christmas Carol_ ever since Xigbar warned him, so he should know what to expect.

With a heavy sigh of irritation, The Superior relented, "Lead on then, Spirit." And the power of The Nihilistic Ghost of Christmas Past But From The Future began, and Xemnas and Xaldin did the Time Warp. Again.

* * *

There was the oddest tingle in Saix's spine as he finished writing out his activities schedule. He looked upon his own work and, for a moment, wished he could feel pride, for only a true genius could construct such a fool-proof piece of Machiavellian art. With the faintest of smiles, The Luna Diviner tucked the activities sheet into his black coat and got up from his desk. He strolled over to the door, the faint hum of The King's _A Blue Christmas_ playing on his lips and grabbed his extra-long Santa hat. He placed it gently on his head, the white-poof ball falling all the ay to the small of his back.

With all his might and willpower, Saix mustered a tight-lipped smile. This charade would have to endure for a little longer, but it was worth it. Just before he opened the door, he looked into his mouted wall mirror and gently re-adjusted his hat. He smiled a true smile to himself. "It will indeed be a Blue Christmas this year." He turned sharply on his heels and bolted out the door and loudly proclaimed for the entire Castle to hear, "Time to go Caroling!"

* * *

Second part is coming up later in the week, then we will be getting back to Veridis Quo in January.


	53. Too Blue!

Yes, I know this is extraordinarily late, but I've been really sick and worse yet, I had trouble with my laptop so I couldn't write for weeks. Worse yet, I had to start over a few times. So here is the rancid fruit of my labor. Enjoy it, because I got sick of writing it last Tuesday.

Standard Disclaimer, yadda, yadda...Ugh...

* * *

_Christmas Town..._

In this world, Elves were generally docile creatures whose skills were best suited for crafting toys. Their peaceful nature worked perfectly with their lifestyle as Santa's unstoppable workforce, their numbers ranging in the tens of thousands.

Life in the North Pole was meant to be peaceful, though around Christmas it does tend to become stressful. But when a single elf came running in a panic-stricken manner to Santa himself, one could only take that as a bad sign.

"What is it?" Santa asked.

The elf had tired himself out and was on bended knee, breathing for his life with a piece of paper gripped in his hand. "The...the latest reports just came in!" He waved the paper for Santa to take, but he seemed reluctant to take it.

"What report? I hadn't requested any reports."

"But, Sir, ever since...well, last years' unpleasantness, we thought it best to keep our ears and eyes on The World That Never Was. And you have to look at the report!"

Santa finally took the paper in his hand and scanned it, "What is this? What am I looking at?"

"Sir, the numbers show that that world's spirit, their _holiday _spirit, is up! _Way _up! Higher than its been in ever. And worse, if it gets too high-"

"Then I'll have no choice but to pay Organization XIII a visit come Christmas Day." Santa said sternly. Per Santa's vows, whenever any place was sufficient in the joyous and happy spirit of the season, he would be there to bestow presents. He really had no choice.

As far as Organization XIII went, Santa stayed out of their affairs and off their radar, so long as they didn't step foot in the North Pole. But something like this did not bode well with Santa. Something was a amiss.

"Santa," The Elf continued, "Our computers show that these numbers are steadily rising, the worlds' spirit is getting higher ever hour! Me and the other elves think its best to skip over The Worl-"

"No." Santa proclaimed. Where his normal, jolly tone once was, now there was nothing more than a strict monotone. Pure authority pure out through his voice and nothing more. "I have no choice." Santa handed back the report to the elf and brushed past him. "Inform the elves in the Surveillance and Intelligence Department to give me updates on Organization XIII and The World That Never Was every half hour. Inform the elves on Production line Zeta to re-open the Armory."

"Yes, Sir!" The elf said, "But, Santa, what are you going to do?"

"I'll be in the weight room."

* * *

Neither Xemnas nor Xaldin, The current Nihilistic Ghost of Christmas Past But From The Future, had ever time traveled before. But neither wanted the other to know this truth, so while the process of moving backward from a certain point of time to another point in time was slightly painful, both Xemnas and Xaldin ignored the highly potent and dangerous, testicle-killing radiation now leaking into their bodies.

In truth, the Curse was much more powerful than mere time travel, it only appeared that way on the surface. The Curse actually worked on a small, but powerful axiomatic reality shift and illusion on a local area (In this case, Xemnas's room). A "baby" timeline is created, completely identical to that of the current universe, but only spanning 99 years in the past for the convenience of the Ghost of Christmas Past. The Ghost of the Present need only the present 24 hours, while the Ghost of the Future uses a more "Illusion" based shift in reality.

There was actually a high risk of danger associated with the spell, but as long as everything went smoothly and nothing entered the spell to cause an anomaly, then there was nothing to worry about other than testicle cancer.

* * *

**Radiant Garden**-Some years ago.

A humming noise pervaded the air, space swirled and distorted itself around an ever-expanding hole. Electricity crackled and clung to both Xemnas and Xaldin as the pair walked out of the vortex and onto land.

"That was...unpleasant." Xaldin murmured, dressed in white with his dreadlocks aflame as the Nihilistic Ghost of Christmas Past But From The Future.

"Fool." Xemnas cursed, the electrical side-effects of time-travel caused his hair to spike up in all directions, "Where have you brought me?"

"I hope a cancer clinic. That does _not _seem like a safe way to travel."

Xemnas scoffed and turned away from the spirit. He found himself in an old corridor somewhere inside the castle at Radiant Garden. Blue and light blue tiles decorated the floor, and copper pipes peaked out from the ceiling corners then quickly tucked themselves back in. They were in the exact center of the corridor, there was a passageway to their right, and up ahead the corridor turned left. Various Christmas decorations littered the walls.

When Xemnas was still Xehanort, these halls and passageways were his stomping ground. He spent hours, even sleepless days pacing and running up every hall, down every stair and back again, trying to contemplate the mysterious of the heart. Even though the current Hollow Bastion was in ruin and decay, if he went there he could still navigate these corridors blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back.

The Spirit drew in closer, just behind Xemnas and leaned down to whisper in his ear, "Do the memories come flooding back like a riptide?"

Xemnas said nothing.

"Tell me, Superior, do you _feel_ anything?"

Xemnas said nothing.

"Or, do you think there is something here you wish to not see?"

Xemnas said nothing.

"Perhaps, you-"

"Perhaps I shall ask Xigbar to go in with me on a years' supply of mouthwash. Your breath is hot and foul." Xemnas finally said.

Shocked and noticeably offended, Xaldin backed down, "Halitosis is a real disease."

"That does not mean you have to share it with the world." Xemnas snapped back,

"Whatever." Xaldin scoffed, "Let's move on." The Spirit snapped his fingers and the scene vanished, and was quickly replaced by a new one. They were now in a large office with no windows. There was a desk, more of a lab table than a desk top, a computer and a few chairs. In various corners were highly sophisticated containment units. Jars, basically. Inside them, small, luminescent, semi-ethereal objects beyond simple comprehension or reason floating in suspended sequence. Hearts, basically. The entire room was devoid of the Christmas décor seen around the rest of the castle.

"This is my old office." Xemnas said, as he scanned the room. He moved to the nearest wall and traced a finger along its surface, "I cannot believe I chose this wallpaper color. What was I thinking?"

"We're not here to discuss your questionable tastes in decorations." Xaldin said.

"Then what are we here for, Spirit? You have shown me nothing and-"

"Shh! Silence!" Xaldin quickly dove for Xemnas, cupped his mouth with his palm and pulled him closer to the wall farthest away from the door as the lock jiggled.

"What is the meaning of this!" Xemnas hissed.

Xaldin whispered back sharply, "Quiet! And Watch, Ebenexemnas, for Xehanort is upon is!" Xemnas mumbled another comment, but went unheard through Xaldin's hand. Their attention went to the opening door and a tall, well-built man walked in. Xehanort looked exactly like Xemnas, save for lighter tanned skin, not-as-spiky hair, brown eyes, white lab coat and purple ascot. He had the oddest look on his face, a look that Xemnas inherited as a Nobody: annoyance.

"Worry not, poor Ebenexemnas," Xaldin said, "For they cannot perceive us. They have no consciousness and are but shadows of things that have been."

"No." Xehanort muttered, fist-clenched as he rushed into the room.

"Oh, come on, man!" Another voice said, unseen from outside the room, "It's Christmas!"

"Don't care." Xehanort went behind his desk and began to type at his computer while jotting down pointless notes on paper.

"But we've been planning this for months!" Finally, coming into view was Briag, Xigbar from the past. He was an apprentice, just like Xehanort, but also had duties that pertained to guarding the castle grounds. He currently had two, scantily-clad young women dressed in green and red holiday attire under his arm, a brunette and a blonde.

"Wrong, Briag. _You've _been planning this for months." Xehanort said, "In fact, I believe you plan to spend EVERY night with loose floozies you met at the bar."

There were practically no differences between Xigbar and Briag. Same laid-back attitude, same voice, same hedonistic tendencies and perpetual smile, "Oh, come on man!" He whopped and hollered, grabbing at the backsides of his female companions, "I've been out with Dilan and Aeleus, hell, even Even and Ansem! But you're the only one who just refuses to chill out with me outside of work! Dude, its Christmas, don't be a scrooge!"

"I said no, Braig!" Xehanort barked, "Christmas or not, there is still work to be done. And with the rest of you away I can, hopefully make a breakthrough."

"Man, just come back to it later! We can go round up some bitches!" The two woman on his arm seemed to protest his language, but did nothing other than exchange quick glances.

"As much as I'd love to "round up some bitches" with you, I have better things to do. Now, leave before I have the on-duty guards escort you and your hoes off grounds."

"Hey, asshole!" Both the girls shouted in unison, "Who're you callin' a hoe, hoe!"

"Ho, ho, ho!" Braig chanted.

"Excuse me." Xehanort corrected, feigning interest "Bitches, floozies, sluts, all of the above, etc." Xemnas remembered this more of this as he watched. Odd how these women preferred 'bitch' as opposed to 'hoe'. Perhaps it was a seasonal thing.

Finally, Braig left the women at the door and made his way to the front of Xehanort's desk, "Dude, really, you can't spend the rest of your life behind this desk! Come on, get out of this hole and have some fun!"

"No!" Xehanort replied forcefully.

"It'll just be a few hours, you can come back and keep working."

"What part of 'no' do you not understand?"

"Xehanort, stop being just a damn stick in the mud!"

"Goddammit, Braig!" Xehanort stood and slammed his fist on the desk, howling "I SAID NO!"

Silence fell and the soon-to-be Freeshooter cautiously pulled away from the desk, shockingly loosing his trademark smirk. "Alright, dude, chill out. I'll leave you alone." Xehanort sunk back down to his seat, his stare never wavering. Braig went back to the door and placed his arms around the perplexed females. "Hey, man, if you change your tune, you know where to find me. Let's roll, hoes."

"And roll with hoes Braig did, indeed." The Spirit spoke to Xemnas, "You chose to stay behind and work on an unneeded report as opposed to cavorting with your fellow man in the practice of hollering at bitches."

Xemnas scoffed, "First of all, you fool, he said "roll with bitches", not holler at bitches. Second, I thought you were the Ghost of Christmas Past. None of this nonsense happened in _A Christmas Carol_. I don't remember Ebenezer Scrooge being offered bitches at Christmastime. Third, it's a good thing I didn't go with Braig, because he came back with chlamydia!"

Xaldin's flames brightened in intensity, sending Xemnas stepping back noticeably. When the flames settled, Xaldin began to speak, but stopped when Xehanort spoke aloud.

"Is someone there?" He said. Xaldin and Xemnas froze in place, neither of them taking their eyes off Xehanort, who in turn had his eyes on the space where he had heard their voices. Briefly, Xemnas tried to remember if this truly happened or not, but there were so many similar incidents of him hearing voices that he could not recall.

Xehanort rose from his desk, and carefully strolled over to where the voices were. Xemnas and Xaldin, the adrenaline rushing through them, stayed perfectly still with their hands over the others' mouth. "I know I heard something." Xehanort said, cautiously reaching out his hand, "I can feel heat, so reveal yourself."

Finally, unable to bear the pressure, Xaldin reacted, "Fudge it! Run!" The Spirit lifted his leg and implanted it in Xehanort's groin. While he was going down, Xaldin hauled on Xemnas's arm and darted out the door, around the corner and down the hall. Once again, only briefly, though, Xemnas tried to remember if this truly happened or not, but there were so many similar incidents of him being assaulted in the groin that it was hard to be specific.

Not even bothering to stop running, Xemnas said, "I thought you said they couldn't see us!"

"Xehanort has always been a weird one, I'm not surprised!"

"Imbecile! "

"Hey! I said I was the Ghost of Christmas Past! What part of that means I am actually good at my job?" The duo rounded another corner and began to slow down to catch their breath. "Well now, I think you've learned your lesson, Ebenexemnas."

"What?"

"Back to the present!" Xaldin proclaimed. With less effort than it took to swat a fly off his face, Xaldin warped space and time. The air spiraled around and energy surged for a brief second, and as quickly as it started, it was over and the pair were standing in the dark of Xemnas's bedroom. "I pray my lesson was not lost on you." Xaldin whispered in a ghostly manner. His image began to fade as he waved his arms about like a vanishing spirit, "Fare thee well...!"

"Wait, you damn fool." The Superior lunged forward and tightened his grip around the Spirit's neck, his image re-materializing, "What was that? What lesson? That was nothing but a waste of time."

Xaldin cracked a smile"Time obviously means nothing to those who only dwell on the past."

"I do not dwell on the past." Xemnas said, "What's done is done."

The Spirit's smile grew wider, "And you ask me what the lesson was..." Like a gust of wind extinguishing a candle, Xaldin's hair blackened and his body vanished from the Superior's grip.

Xemnas was left alone in the darkness with only his thoughts, though he refused to contemplate on the meaning of his "trip" to his past. Even by normal, human standards it was hardly worth remembering. Why not go farther into his past? To before he was found half-dead in Radiant Garden by Wise Ansem, Dilan and Braig. Xemnas didn't know why he thought that when he already knew the answer: He didn't remember it, so of course this spell wouldn't be able to craft an illusion. _That_, or Xaldin truly was bad at his job.

All of that aside, The Superior had stomached enough of this asinine insubordination. It was time to confront his Second-in-Command.

With more energy than he meant to release, Xemans blasted open his bedroom door and emerged from the darkness into the whiteness of his Castle's Corridors. Fists clenched, eyes sharp and forward, he marched down the halls towards the Castle Commons.

"There are a myriad of things I could do to punish them all for this act of insolence." Xemnas said to himself, as he rounded a corner. "A freak like Saix only understands brute force, therefore, I-" Xemnas rounded the corner and stopped abruptly when confronted by something he had never encountered in his Castle. All he could do was look down as this creature looked up, wide-eyed and fearless, not from bravery, but from naivete.

Xemnas, on a whim, found himself bellowing, "WHOSE DAMN CHILD IS THIS!" He knew he did this in an attempt to gain the attention of whatever member was responsible for bringing children in his domain.

She was a little girl, possibly no older than 7 or 8. She wore winter-ready clothes, including boots, gloves and a hat. "Oooh!" The girl said, "You said a swear! Now you have to put 5 dollars in the swear jar!"

Xemnas didn't hesitate as he reached down and picked the girl up by her armpits and brought her up to his level. "Girl-Child," He said, "How did you find your way into my castle?"

"You owe 5 dollars to the swear jar!"

"5 dollars? For 'Damn'? That's highway robbery. It should only cost no more than a dollar fifty."

"Nope! 5 dollars!"

"Damn is in the bible."

"Nuh-huh!" The little girl replied.

"I will not argue with-"

"Nuh-huh!"

"Stop this, no-"

"Nuh-huh!"

"Yeah-huh!" The Superior shot back, and instantly hated himself for it. Before the little girl could fire off another 'Nuh-huh', Xemnas pinched her lips shut. He pinched hard, but not too hard, he applied just enough pressure to make her listen to him, "Now, listen, child-girl, you will tell me how you found your way into my castle. I will let your lips go, and when I do, I want you to answer me. If you do not, I will tear off your lips. Do you understand that?"

The little girl nodded, "Mm-mm" She mumbled.

"Alright then." Xemnas removed his fingers from her lips.

The little girl blinked and licked her lips. She said, "The blue man brought us."

"The blue man? 'Us'? There are more of you?"

"Yeah-huh." The girl said.

* * *

"Merry Christmas, my Ho, Ho, Hoes!" Xigbar chanted, sauntering into The Grey Area behind Demyx who was bent over forward, hauling a truck's worth of gifts and presents.

The only members in the Grey Area were Axel, Roxas and Luxord, the former of which was in a fetal position, clutching a bottle of scotch for dear life.

"Don't come in! Don't come in!" Roxas was in the middle of wrapping Xigbar's present, an eye patch rack with several different eye-patches already included. He hurriedly stuffed the half wrapped present under the sleeping Luxord's cloak.

"Whoa, what's with all the gifts?" Axel asked Xigbar, "I know you are WAY too..._you _to be so generous."

"Damn right." Xigbar replied, marveling at the load of presents on a struggling Demyx's back, "I mean yeah, you guys' presents are in there, but these are mostly for, well, you know."

"'You know' what? What are you talking about?" Axel asked.

Xigbar made a motion downward to the figure clinging to his coat for dear life. Axel squinted to get a closer look and the image of a child, a small boy, came into focus.

"Hey, Xigbar, you have something right there," Roxas said pointing at Xigbar, "Like, right on your leg."

"Everybody, this is Lee." Xigbar said, nudging the child out for everyone to see. Lee was small, possibly no older than 5 and wore a hat, a heavy coat and snow boots. Like most children, he was small. "Lee, say hi."

The little boy waved.

"He's shy." Xigbar added.

"Why the hell is a kid here!" Axel shouted, "More importantly, who would give you a child!"

"Hey, you red-headed freak! No one ever says anything about the two rugrats suckling at your teats all the time!"

"Ha!" Roxas chuckled, trying to hold back a laugh.

"What are you laughing at?" Axel snapped, "He's talking about you."

"I know, but it was kinda funny."

Xigbar continued, "And I have one child, One Kid with _me _and suddenly everything's _Weird _or _Strange_. How very damn trite."

"Oh, don't worry, Xigbar," Demyx piped up, finally setting down the enormous strain of presents, 'You still have me!"

"You're a grown-ass man. Act your age."

"Ouch..." Demyx piped, taking a seat.

"Xigbar!" All heads, excluding Luxord's, turned to the doorway to see Saix walking in and up to Xigbar. The faintest hint of a smile was on Saix's face, only viewable if one were to look really, really hard. A long, white and red Santa hat at the top of his head draped behind him to the small of his back.

Saix came to Xigbar, saying, "Don't be a jerk. It's Christmas."

It was the oddest thing. Everything happening with Saix and his sudden interest in the yearly festivities boded negatively with everyone else. It wasn't natural. At least not for him. In fact, Saix's new attitude was so overwhelming, that with a single sentence, Saix was able to stump Xigbar. "I..uh..wha...huh?"

"Here." Saix said, pulling a red and white object out of his coat and placing it in Xigbar's hand, "Have a Candy Cane."

Suddenly, behind Roxas, Luxord stirred. The Gambler shot up and proclaimed to no one in particular, "What great evil doth wish harm on us, we who are simple and true?"

"What?" Asked Roxas.

"Ignore him, he's drunk." Axel chimed.

Luxord sniffed the air, like a rodent sniffing for its next meal, "They come on the wind." He whispered.

"Children." Saix called out, "Come in and see what everyone got for you."

A deluge of unprecedented noise, cheering, shouting, stomping and yelling rushed into the Grey Area. Dozens of children, all shapes and sizes came barreling into the room, their eyes growing wide with excitement as the large pile of colorfully wrapped gifts and presents came into view. They blew past Demyx, sending the Melodious Nocturne flying onto the couch and into Luxord.

"Saix!" Axel shouted over the noise, "What the hell is wrong with you! Why would you bring all these kids here!"

"Is it so wrong for me to want to extend the joy of Christmas to these less than fortunate orphans?"

"For you? Yes!"

Saix shook his head remorsefully. Several children began to climb upon the Luna Diviner, they clung to his arms, hung from his hips and struggled to top his shoulders and head. Saix was completely unfazed by their presence, he didn't even flinch as they tugged on his hair. "Axel, it..._hurts _me that you think so low of me."

"It _Hurts _you? Are you insane?"

"Why do you hate children, Axel?" Saix asked calmly, "Or perhaps, its just orphans you hate. It isn't their fault that they are bereaved of parents."

"I don't hate kids!" Axel's argument with a calm Saix continued. Meanwhile, another child, a young girl, had taken interest in Roxas.

"Please!" Roxas struggled over the noise, "Stop pulling my hair! Ow!"

"He he ha!" The young girl laughed in glee, her iron grip latched on to a nice chunk of the Thirteenth's hair.

The seemingly indomitable Organization XIII had been brought to it's knees by their lack of readiness to eliminate small children. Luxord panicked in the corner, clutching his alcohol and musing why it stopped working on him. Demyx was buried under the pile of presents and gifts and was trampled savagely by the tiny feet of excited children. Xigbar was in hot pursuit of the child Lee who had snatched his eye-patch and hidden it on his person.

The chaos did not stop, the noise did not subside. Only when the Superior stepped into the Grey Area, left arm out at a 90 degree angle with a small girl hanging off it, did his appearance bring much needed peace and quietude.

"You son of a bitch." Xemnas's monotone and overall personality failed to convey his angry intent as he neared Saix.

"Ooooh!" The little girl on his arm gasped, "You've been swearing all the way here! Now you owe me-"

"Silence." Xemnas ordered, "You'll get your Fifty Dollars later, you damn shyster."

"Now it's fifty-five!"

"Silence!" The Superior came to his subordinates. Saix and Axel turned to him, ceasing their bout. He brushed past Axel and went straight for Saix, the children, immediately becoming weary of this man, jumped off the Luna Diviner and scattered. "You have completely overstepped your boundaries for the last time, Saix."

"The last time!" The little girl hanging off Xemnas's arm shouted.

"For this insolence,"Xemnas continued, "You shall receive your just punishments."

"Just punishments!" The little girl repeated.

Xemnas spoke to the girl, "Thank you, Nisza, but I shall handle this." With little effort, Xemnas shook the little girl off and she casually strolled over to the pile of presents.

"Superior." Saix started, completely unfazed by Xemnas's treats, "I merely thought it courteous to-"

"Place a curse on my head and use its effects to humiliate and torture me? You have taken my allowance of you to celebrate this thing entirely too far."

"I agree!" Luxord mumbled, his grip on his bottle never loosening "...'sides, isn't it, like, February...or somethin' by now?"

Saix stood perfectly still, his gaze never wavering from Xemnas's, and his odd, uncharacteristic smirk staying stayed firm. "Worse still, "Xemnas continued, "You allow children into my stronghold. Your actions go against your nature and is a cause for concern. Obviously the duties of my second-in-command have been too much for you. Perhaps I put too much stock in you."

"Superior?" Saix said, "May I say one thing?"

"What?"

"Mind your head."

"Spouting nonsense will get you nowhe-" Suddenly, without warning, a great shadow fell. A syringe containing an unknown liquid found its way into the side of Xemnas's neck. Xemnas staggered, his vision blurred and his limbs went limp too quickly. Even so, he would still have been able to keep his balance if Xinck had not wrapped his legs around Xemnas's waist. He fell like a stone, bashing the back of his head against Xinck's face.

"Oh, my god!" Xigbar jeered, "They killed Xemnas!"

"Ya Bastards!" Luxord shouted, though he was not truly paying attention and was actually screaming at his bottle.

"Xinck!" Roxas and Axel ran over to the unconscious body of their Superior, just in time to see the Deviant poke his head out from underneath Xemnas.

"His hair smells like peppermint." Xinck said, Axel pulling on his arm to help him up "I bet its delicious."

"Why would you do that!" Axel exclaimed, "He's gonna kill you when he wakes up, you know that right?"

"Possibly." Xinck sighed, "But I'm sure someone else will take the blame, or at least get me forgiven, _right_, Saix?"

The Luna Diviner nodded, brushing past Axel and Roxas to Xinck, "Yes, if he wants someone to blame, then I will take the hit. At least until we can confirm that the Curse of the Carol can cause selective memory loss in the target. Hopefully he'll forget that we had a hand in this and he'll assume he truly was visited by three spirits." An odd, devious laugh left Saix, adding to the already uncomfortable situation, "In the meantime, Axel, I believe you have an agreement to fulfill."

No. 8 shook his head, "I don't know, you might be taking this a bit too far."

"Too bad." Saix said, "You already agreed to it, so just get it over with. Don't be a jerk, it's Christmas. Besides, after you finish, you'll have no memory of your part in this, just like Xaldin."

"The tranquilizer I gave him should keep him knocked out for about 5 hours." Xinck said. "You could take your time in getting ready, no need to rush."

"Ugh!" It was irritating to say the least. Axel knew this was a bad idea the moment he was forced to sign on to the Curse. Anytime he had to get dirty jobs like this he found himself scratching at the back of his head. It was a bad habit. Just the other morning he found a small bald spot in the back. He knew he had to find a better way to deal with stress. Axel resolved to look into smoking when this was over.

"Axel?" Roxas always took noticed of his friends' thinking faces.

"I'm gonna take up smoking. I think I can afford it."

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

"Oh..uh..I'll do it now, you know? I'll just get it done now."

"That's the spirit!" Saix exclaimed, "No pun intended."

"Stupid..."Xinck mused.

"That's...awkward." Roxas sputtered.

"Just weird." Axel said, opening a Corridor of Darkness. He motioned for Roxas and the pair cautiously lifted Xemnas and left into the shadows, leaving Saix with Xinck. Xigbar, Demyx and Luxord, still somewhat consumed by the surrounding children, were too distracted to notice the slight, but meaningful eye contact between the Fallen Deviant and the Luna Diviner. It was small and lasted for less than a second, and Saix quickly turned from the Fourteenth to address the other three and the children.

"Everyone!" Saix called, and the children instinctively began to gather to him, as if candy were glued to his ass, "How would you all like to take your pre-Christmas presents and tour the rest of the Castle? We gotta get you tired out so you can fall right to sleep for Santa's arrival."

Cheers of 'Yay' and 'Yeah' sounded throughout the Grey Area. With the approval of the children, Saix called on Demyx and Xigbar, "How about you two take the children around to see the rest of our home? I'm sure they'd love to-"

"No Way! NEVER!" Demyx said.

"Shove it, X-face." Xigbar spat.

"I'll pay you both 100 Dollars."

"I'm your man!" Demyx said.

"Candy is dandy, but Cash is king!" Xigbar spat. With that, the duo rounded up the dozens of orphan children and herded them out of the Grey Area while Saix made his way to Luxord with Xinck behind him.

"Luxord, I can pay you 100 Dollars to get lost for the next few hours."

"I don't want your whore money!" The Gambler spat, "I'll whore for my money!"

"Isn't that the same thing?" Xinck asked.

"Shut it, black one!"

"Hey!"

The Gambler of Fate staggered to his feet, careful not to let go of the wall or his bottle, "Yes, indeed. I shall sell my body to a thousand and one fat girls. The chubbies, the fatties, the quadruple-chinners, and yes, even the ones who posses that skin in the back that resembles a stack of hot dogs. Yes...hotdog-necked girls."

"Luxord, you merely need-" Saix was cut off by Luxord placing a gloved finger on the Diviner's lips.

"Shhh!" Luxord hushed calmly, "Fat girls need love, too, yes, I wholeheartedly agree, Saix. No pun intended. But they gotta pay for it, yes, quite right. I'll take that money up front, don't you fret." With that, Luxord saluted Saix and bowed to Xinck, almost falling over. He then opened a Corridor behind him and performed a backwards somersault into the shadows.

"I can't tell if I like him or not when he drinks." Xinck commented, eyes fixed on the shadows that receded into nothing. Saix then turned to Xinck, and the attitude Saix had been carrying vanished, replaced with the horrible, icy calm of his nonexistence. Xinck couldn't suppress his insane grin, "Ha ha ha! There's that face again! The face only a mother could love."

Saix cut and rolled his eyes, "Be prepared. The bait is set and now we must wait."

"How much longer?"

"2 Hours, 3 at the most. Our camera and alert probes in the atmosphere of this world are directly linked to my personal systems and will warn me when _he _arrives."

"Ok, sounds good." The Deviant turned and began walking towards the door, musing out loud what he would do for the next three hours. "In the mean-time, I think I'll go poo and pee."

"For three hours?"

"I haven't pooped in three days, so, you know, I'm expecting." He replied, patting his stomach.

"You aren't regular because your eating habits are atrocious. Just because it says 'non-toxic', doesn't mean you should still eat it."

"If Play-Doh didn't want to be eaten, then it wouldn't be advertised as cookies, cakes and pies!"

* * *

The feeling of being drugged and trying to wake up was like having every muscle in your face doused with slowly drying cement. No matter how much you want to open your eyes or twitch a muscle, your body will continue to weigh it all down. Xemnas knew this very well, for this was not the first time he had been drugged and dumped on a bed.

His limbs worked, and his only thoughts were using them to kill Saix by bludgeoning him with Xinck's recently-torn-off-limbs. Odd though, that despite being drugged, he could still feel and move. Perhaps the contents of that syringe weren't potent enough to bring down a man of Xemnas's status. Still, something did seem off.

Xemnas stood up from his bed and faced his door. He could have sworn he had blown it off its hinges when he had been released from the Ghost of Christmas Past. Underneath the door, a bright yellow light shined.

There were no bright yellow lights in the Castle, "Damn it." Xemnas spat. Everything began to fit. The reason why he could continue to feel and move despite being drugged was because the curse was still active. More than likely, his body was still drugged and incapacitated, so the spell gave movement and power to his mind, allowing the curse to continue on. Essentially, he was in an astral body.

A growling sigh of annoyance escaped Xemnas as he made his way to the door and thrust it open. He came into a great room, warm with a hearth fire on the far wall. It was a red room, trimmed in gold and laced with decorations befitting the season. In the farthest corner was the largest Christmas Evergreen Xemnas had ever laid eyes on, underneath it were a bounty of gifts and presents.

"Come in, Come in, Come in!" A jubilant voice called, "Come in and know me better, man!"

Xemnas's attention turned to the corner adjacent to the tree. Standing at the top of a mountain of food and gifts, was a giant man with blazing crimson hair, green eyes and a spiky beard. He wore a green robe, a cornucopia in one hand and an empty scabbard in the other. The man reached down to the pile of food and retrieved a turkey leg, offering it to Xemnas. "Want some turkey?"

"Axel?"

"Got it memorized?"

"You say that so much its lost all meaning." The Superior said walking farther into the room. "So...The infamous Flurry of Dancing Flames was coerced into taking on the Ghost of Christmas Present. Oh, how the mighty have fallen..."

"I prefer 'Sexy Spirit of Nowness'. Turkey leg?" The Spirit offered up the food once more.

"Axel, I haven't the slightest interest in this. Now, show me whatever it is you must so that we can end this. I must find out Saix's motives."

The Spirit of Nowness descended from the pile of food and gifts and stood before Xemnas. The nature of Axel's aspect of the Ghost of the Present caused him to tower over his Superior. He loomed over Xemnas in what seemed almost like a threatening manner, but Xemnas remained unswayed.

The Spirit sighed, and scratched at the back of his head, "I'd really like to, but..."

"But...?" Xemnas repeated.

"This isn't exactly something you can rush."

"And why not?"

"Because, Superior, you can't rush the Present!" Axel fell into a fit of laughter, gripping his sides and he went back for his pile of food and and gifts, "You sure you don't want a turkey leg?"

"You're stalling!" Xemnas grunted.

"Of course I am!" The Spirit snapped, "I actually have to think about what we have to see! Just give me a sec!"

There was a silence between the two. Axel sat the foot of his pile, his head on his hand in thought as Xemnas stood before him, unmoving. "I'll take that turkey leg now." Xemnas said.

* * *

_Christmas Eve-9:32 P.M._

_**Saix**_

Calm, December nights gave off the best Lunar activity. Kingdom Hearts snuggled itself comfortably in the sky, watching and shining its pale glow on the whitened black city below. There was no wind, only the still cold that, if it weren't for an occasional twitch or eye blink, seemed to freeze Saix in place.

Lunatic was with him, pointed downwards in the snow in his right hand. The claymore was just as still as her master. In his left hand was the device that would alert him when The World That Never Was' airspace would be breached.

Saix looked to the sky, watching the stars, his gaze so sharp as to pierce through the blackness.

He just stood there. Waiting...

….and waiting...

For Santa Clause.

* * *

Time and space unraveled itself around Xemnas and Axel, The self-proclaimed Sexy Spirit of Nowness. The power of the curse ripped open a portal and the duo departed.

"You know," Xemnas said, carelessly tossing away a bare turkey leg bone, "I've never been one for turkey, I find the meat too dry and I end up chewing for much too long."

"Yeah, I get that same thing with roast." Axel said. It seemed inspiration had finally struck the Spirit, as such he took his charge to the city trapped between night and day. A snowy blanket covered the ground and, reflecting the afternoon light of the world and appearing almost pale golden.

"Twilight Town. Why Twilight Town?" Xemnas asked.

"This is where you can best learn your lesson, Superior. This where you can see the culmination of man's happiness on this special day."

"Do you have anymore turkey on you?"

"No! Now grab my fantastic robes and lets be away!" Axel flung out his right arm to Xemnas, though with his height his arm was more like a bar above Xemnas's head.

"What exactly makes them fantastic?"

"Dolce&Gabbana."

"Very well then." Xemnas hesitated for a moment, unsure of what would happen. But as soon as he tightened his grip around the sleeve, Axel tore his arm away.

"Okay, we're here!"

"Already?" Xemnas removed his hand and took notice that they had actually changed location in Twilight Town, "We didn't move, how can this...?" Before, Xemnas and Axel were in front of the Twilight Town Train Station, but now they stood in the center of a neighborhood by upper-middle class condos.

"Look over yonder, Ebenexemnas!" The spirit gestured and pointed to the nearest foggy window, its surface clearing at Axel's command. Xemnas peered inside at the strange family sitting down at the table on Christmas Day. "Tell me, what do you see?"

"Some fat child and his parents, why? How is this relevant to me?"

"Xemnas, I'd like you to meet Pence, a resident here at Twilight Town." Axel explained, he, too, peering into the window. The boy, known as Pence was sitting with his mother and father in a white house, at a white table. The inside of the house seemed dull and just the slightest bit devoid of individuality. The family sat at their table, heads bowed in silent prayer. "His parents," Axel said, "Are..well, a bit extreme on the religious side. His real name is actually Penance, but he goes by Pence when with his friends."

"Why in the world does this matter?" Xemnas snapped.

"Look at him! See how miserable he is right now." The spirit exclaimed, "His home life isn't well, his family isn't a family."

"So?"

"_So_, he found a new family."

Xemnas groaned and grabbed at the bridge of his nose, "You're worse than Xaldin. What does this fat child have to do with me? Why show me his family? I have no family, Spirit, this is not relative to me!"

Axel struck a devious smile and held out his robed arm, "Take hold of my fantastic robes and I shall show you." He did not give Xemnas much time to protest or argue as he thrust his arm into the Superior's face. The next moment, the duo were in a tight alleyway that lead to a chain-link opening covered by a torn purple curtain.

Furiously, Xemnas pushed away Axel's arm, "Now where have you taken me?" He exclaimed taking in the surroundings, "Trying to get me to _feel_ pity by taking me to some homeless vagabond's hideaway?"

"No." The spirit said, drawing back the torn curtain, "Behold." He gestured to a small hideaway, behind the chain-link doorway were three children, one of which Xemnas recognized as the boy Pence. The other two children, a blonde boy and a brunette girl. They seemed to have decorated the hideaway to function as some sort of den.

"See how happy he is now?" Axel pointed to the boy Pence. He was sitting on the floor with the other boy and girl, laughing and talking as they played a card game. Brightly colored wrapping paper lay around them, obviously indicating that the three had exchanged gifts.

"So?" Xemnas said, "Fat people are often jolly."

"But he is jolly with his friends! On Christmas Day! His friends are his family! You asked what does this have to do with you, so consider this: how do you address your Organization?"

Xemnas thought for a second, but was unsure of the Spirit's intent. "How do you mean?"

"Does this ring a bell?" Axel dropped his eyes to slits, lowered his voice to a monotone and raised his hands high above his head in exaggeration, " 'Good Tidings, Friends!' and, 'My Friends! Look to the skies!'"

"You are overstepping your boundaries, Axel."

"Tell me I'm wrong!" The Spirit hollered gleefully, "You said it yourself, you have no family. But every meeting, you call us your friends and you tend to stress the concept of teamwork and how beings of similar circumstances must come together. Does that not sound like a family or is everything you say a lie?"

"You waste words." Xemnas sneered, turning on a heel and leaving the alleyway. What possible point could he be trying to make, Xemnas thought. This had to be more than just the effects of the Curse. Whether they were under its power or not, there was no way his Organization would have the gall to do this.

"Wait!" Axel shouted from behind. Instinctively, Xemnas turned, but carried an unreleased blast of energy in his hand ready to fire. But when he looked, Axel was gone. "Over here." Axel's voice called.

Xemnas whirled around and was greeted by the top of Axel's gray-haired head. The Spirit was leaning over, struggling to breath as he used the empty scabbard as a makeshift cane. The spirit turned its head upward to Xemnas, his eyes turned into pale green disks in his wrinkled face.

"Axel...you're so old. Are spirit's lives so short?"

His voice, now raspy and decrepit, sounded as if it had to crawl out of Axel's mouth, "So much for the Sexy part of the Spirit of Nowness. That's the thing about the present, it only lasts so long."

"Are we finished then?" Xemnas asked, "If I say I, quote, unquote, "Learned my lesson", can we end this charade?"

"One moment," The spirit coughed, "I have one more thing to show you. Quickly now...!"

"What, do you want me to grab your fantastic robes again?"

"No, no." Axel said, "But, please, if you would, take a look at this." Slowly, Axel reached down and gripped the edges of his green robe, which had turned pale green since the Spirit's quick aging.

"Wait a minute, I don't want to see-" Before Xemnas could protest quick enough, Axel through back the robe to reveal his clothed legs and a small creature strapped to each: A scruffy boy with faded blonde hair, and an almost identical girl who appeared both wide-eyed and half-dead.

"You have children strapped to your legs, have they been there the whole time?"

"Yeah," The Spirit replied, "Why do you think I was teleporting everywhere?"

Xemnas grimaced, his eyes unmoving from the children, especially the girl, which he was sure had long since died. Then he looked to the boy, who was very much alive, and stared right back at Xemnas. "Wait a minute. Roxas?"

"Hey, Superior." Roxas waved.

"Oi..." Tentatively, Xemnas grabbed the bridge of his nose.

"Do you guys have anymore turkey legs?" Roxas asked. Axel reached down and smacked the boy in the head.

"Quiet! You're ruining it." The Spirit spat, then quickly he turned his attention back to Xemnas, "Beware these two children, subhuman in appearance and loathsome to behold."

"_You're _loathsome..."Roxas murmured, still gripping onto Axel's leg.

"This is sick," Xemnas gagged.

Axel continued, "Beware, for the boy is Ignorance! Act ignorant, Roxas!"

"Oooh, look at me, I'm ignorant, yadda, yadda, yadda..."

"And the Girl," The Spirit said, pointing to the rigor mortis child "Is Want."

"That girl is dead." Xemnas said.

"Maybe she _wants _to be buried." Roxas said.

"_But!_" Axel interrupted, and slapped the top of Roxas's head, "Beware the boy most of all, for upon his brow is written the word of Doom, unless the writing be erased."

"I don't like this role anymore." Roxas murmured, "I didn't know you'd be talking bad about me..." Axel closed his robe harshly with a gust of wind, Roxas and the girl were no more. With that, the sunset of Twilight Town began to vanish, heralding a darkness Xemnas had never known.

"Ignorance, want, strapping hungry children to your legs." Xemnas scoffed, "Preposterous."

"You say that, but do you truly mean that?" The Spirit asked, aging rapidly before Xemnas's eyes into a bleach white skeleton with its pale, faded green robe hanging off its bones, "Were all my words lost to you? And I thought you were a smart man..."

"I suppose if anything I've been through in the last few hours had any merit, I'd experience some sort of revelation in the future, no?"

Axel was gone, only his bones and a pale green rag remained. The bulk of whatever was left of Twilight Town faded into blackness with only a cold wind breezing by. His voice, just a whisper in the cold air, "I wouldn't know...not my department..."

The last remnants of light faded out with the Spirit's whispering echo, like a blown out candle. Left alone in a cold, unfamiliar darkness, Xemnas waited.

* * *

"I needed something to get Xemnas out of the way." The Luna Diviner explained, "I couldn't have hoped to execute this plan with him around. So the Curse of the Carol worked perfectly."

The Fallen Deviant swayed on either foot, a bit confused, "Why the hell are you telling me!" He shouted, "I already know this! I cast the damn spell! It was a powerful one, too!"

"Yes, I know. I was merely explaining for both our benefit."

"That's weak sauce, man."

"Possibly." Saix said, "The Curse of the Carol was a great move that only could have been executed by you. How fortunate that you hate The Klaus possibly as much as I do."

"Why. The. Hell. Are. You. Telling. Me. This! I ALREADY KNOW IT!" Xinck bellowed, "We already know the plan, Saix! While Xemnas is dealing with the Curse of the Carol, you do your best to raise the holiday spirit in this world so that Santa Clause has no choice but to come on Christmas Day. Also, you smuggle in several orphan children to not only help in raising the spirit, but to also act as hostages, thus giving Santa another reason to come here! Yes, Saix, I know-Oh, God! I did it, too!"

"Yeah-huh, not so easy to resist the influence to blurt out your entire plan, is it?"

"Oi..."A gloved hand worked its way down the Deviant's face, "Worse friggin' subplot I've ever had to be in...trying to kill Santa. You know, as a little boy...all I ever wanted were my two-"

"Wait!" Saix clamped a hand over Xinkc's move, silencing him. The Diviner's ears perked up like a dog's, detecting a coming threat. In Saix's pocket, the alarm system he created to respond to the world being breached began to vibrate violently. But the device itself was moot at this point, as Saix could use his eyes to perceive the coming trouble. A great foggy cluster of furious red lights were drawing nearer towards The World That Never Was.

"What...what is that?" Xinck managed to wretch his mouth from Saix's grip.

"What we have waited for." The Diviner answered. He took hold of Lunatic and the claymore responded with a plume of azure flame on its tip, "Santa Clause is coming to Town..."

* * *

There was a chilling atmosphere with this surrounding blanket of darkness. So cold, Xemnas's breath wafted in front of his face. He shouldn't have been able to see his breath floating in front of him, nor should he have been able to make his body in the darkness. This surrounding blackness was unprecedented. Xemnas found it unnatural. Waiting for the Ghost of Christmas Future was becoming uncomfortable, unbearable even.

Unsure of what to do, Xemnas tried to walk, but quickly found it a pointless gesture since he could only perceive his body and nothing else._ "For the Ghost of Christmas Future, the spirit is awfully late." _He thought to himself_, "Or...perhaps I am early?_"

After what seemed a lengthy amount of time, The Superior finally called, "Hello?" His echo traveled through the darkness and faded away. After another lengthy amount of time, Xemnas found himself breaking into a run, trying to outlast the never ending blackness around him. Another pointless gesture.

Was it another worthless attempt at symbolism by his Organization? Utter, bleak darkness in relation to the future could only symbolize its uncertainty and ever-unpredictable nature. It was only when this thought occurred did Xemnas take the time to notice how the blackness around him shifted in what looked like a velvet cloak a velvet cloak in the breeze.

Finally, Xemnas raised his head and stared straight up to the vast darkness, "Am I in the presence of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come?"

Upon his words, the darkness wavered as if giving a nod.

"I am under the impression that you are the one to be feared above all other spirits."

The darkness moved again.

"You'll have to forgive me, for I don't _do _fear."

The darkness grew colder as a wind blew past Xemnas, the movement of the blackness grew in intensity. "Xinck, I've grown weary of this. I don't much care for your dramatics." Xemnas commanded, "Show yourself so that I may be finished. I assure you your punishment will be quick, but only if you show yourself now."

Immediately the darkness above began to rip and tear itself into long shreds of black, while the darkness below Xemnas receded away in the same direction. The darkness leaving, a real environment came into view. The ground became white with snow and Xemnas found himself on an old road rising towards a nearby hill crest. A late afternoon sky loomed above.

At the top of the crest was where the shredded, torn darkness began to gather into a humanoid form. Soon the blackness settled into the shape of a man, hooded and clad in torn black garments that wafted and swayed around him. Casually, the Spirit began its trek down the hill crest for Xemnas, placing one foot in front of the other.

"I want you to know something." Xemnas explained as either being approached each other, "I knew you would take the guise of the Ghost of Christmas Future, Xinck. It's a dark, Grim Reaper-esque being, of course the Fallen Deviant would want to get in on that. You are the one who set this curse and you will be the one to take it off."

The Spirit came to a stop in front of Xemnas. Its face under its hood was a two dimensional surface of obsidian with two shining points of light for eyes. They flickered with every blink.

"Are you listening to me, Xinck?"

The Spirit said nothing.

Xemnas groaned, "Xinck, you will-"

"How long are you going to keep calling me Xinck?" The Spirit's voice was ambiguous, cold and metallic. The Ghost raised its thin-fingered hand to its hood and casually pulled it back at the brim, revealing pale skin and a swirl of blonde hair.

"Roxas?" Xemnas was noticeably taken aback.

"Yeah, I'm just as shocked as you are." Roxas replied, scratching his head, "Wasn't I in the other thing?"

It was only when Xemnas looked into the eyes of the Ghost of Christmas Future did everything begin to fit. It wasn't simple chance that Xigbar represented Jacob Marley, or that Xaldin took the role of Ghost of Christmas Past. They were his past, they knew Xemnas before he was the man he is today. And Axel, his odd attempt to showcase his present and his relationship with his Organization. Then, Roxas as his Ghost of the Future. It made sense, as Xemnas's future depended on Roxas, and here he was, a representation of that future.

"We might want to get started." Roxas said, pulling up his hood and returning his voice back to cold steel, "This should be precious time for you."

"Precious time for me? How do you mean?"

"I think you'll like what I've set up for you. Come on." The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come motioned for Xemnas to walk beside him as he made his way back up the hill crest.

_What could Roxas of all people have in store? He offers so little._

"Are you coming or not?" Roxas called.

Xemnas nodded and began to follow, "Lead on, Spirit." He joined Roxas at his side and the duo began their trek in silence. The Ghost of Christmas Future stared straight ahead and seemed to pay Xemnas no mind, Xemnas on the other hand, was busy surveying the area. So far he had been to Radiant Garden in his past and Twilight Town in his present, but this world was unknown to him. Perhaps because he was technically in his future, he had not visited this world yet. He quickly thought of this as a question, but before he could voice it, The Ghost of Christmas Future answered.

"This is the only vision I have for you." Roxas said, "If we're lucky, it'll be enough."

"Enough? Enough for what? What, are you going to go on about some nonsense about me learning some lesson? Allow me to enlighten you, Roxas. We are Nobodies, all of us. I do not know why you all are so unwilling to truly accept that fact. Morality and the human spirit pertaining to Christmastime are beyond us, but you all seem intent to-"

"This is the longest time you've spent with your Organization outside of the Round Room. How can you call us friends or comrades if you never spend time with us? That's the lesson." The Spirit said, quickly adding, "If this were a test, you would've failed. Horribly."

Not very often was Xemnas at a loss for words. He had no idea that Roxas, the amnesia-stricken child, could be so cold in his words.

The Spirit stopped in his tracks in the middle of the road.

"What? What is it?" Xemnas inquired.

Roxas raised his thin fingered hand to the distance. Not far from them, a lone hill stood out next to the road with a single, withered tree at its top. "Look." The Spirit said, "In some time, either it be in a few days, or months, or years, how will your so-called friends remember you?"

"And what exactly-"

"Stop talking and look where I''m pointing." Roxas ordered.

Xemnas shot a discerning eye at Roxas, who continued to point towards the hill, and reluctantly turned his head in the right direction. With his eyes cut and focused, Xemnas could just make out three men trotting up the hill to the base of the tree and a large stone underneath it.

"What am I looking at, Spirit?"

"Visitors to a grave, apparently." Roxas replied.

Xemnas strained his eyes as hard as he could and the shapes of the men began to manifest themselves, "Wait one minute...Demyx? With Axel and Saix?"

"Yep." Roxas said, popping his lips.

"What are they doing? Whose grave is that?"

"Whose grave? Not sure. What are they doing? Looks like they're dancing."

"They're dancing! They're actually dancing on someone's-IS THAT MY GRAVE? Are you trying to imply that that is my lone grave on that silent hill?" It could only be his name on that grave. In the _Christmas Carol_, Ebenezer sees his name on that grave as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come watches on.

"Hey, look, Saix is doing The Stroke. You know, that dance Alpa Chino did in _Tropic Thunder._" With enough fury to snap a neck, Xemnas grabbed hold of Roxas's shoulders, knocking off his black hood.

"Answer me, NOW. You're saying that I have died and now my Organization dances on my grave?"

The Spirit's expression turned to anger, but his voice was calm. He effortlessly tore himself from Xemnas's grip, "Can you die? Do you think you can? And if you did, how would you be remembered? Probably not too well, you know, since Demyx is doing The Macerena."

"Is that my grave or not?" Xemnas demanded.

"Only one way to find out." Roxas replaced his hood and his cold metallic voice returned. He gestured along the road to the hill in the distance. Xemnas sneered and brushed past the Spirit, his eyes still on the hill. The images and noises of jubilation of Saix, Axel and Demyx eventually faded and was replaced with another lone figure making his way up the trail.

"Oh, great." Xemnas spat sarcastically, "What could Xinck possibly want to do with my grave?"

"You named him the Fallen Deviant." The Spirit said coldly, "What do you think he'll do?"

"Oh, look. He's lowering his pants...and, yes, he's urinating. He's peeing on my grave."

As Xemnas and the Spirit drew closer to the hill, visions of the other members visiting his grave. Xaldin appeared and savagely began kicking the stone until his foot got tired. "Bastard." Xemnas cursed. The image of Xigbar dropped by and took a drink of alcohol then poured out a few sips to the ground out of respect. Then, Luxord came by and dropped to his knee in mourning. Though, in truth, he could have just been mourning for the spilled booze. "Ah, yes, semi-loyalty."

Finally, they came to the base of the hill just as the last lone figure trekked up to the grave stone.

"Tell me something, Spirit. This is no longer about Christmas...is it?"

Roxas didn't answer. He placed a single bony finger to the front of his hood for silence. Then he pointed up to the vision kneeling down at the grave. From the outline, Xemnas could tell it was female.

"_I do no_t know that woman, Spirit. You must be mistaken."

Roxas continued to point at the woman.

"I said you are mistaken, Roxas. I do not kno-"

-LOOK!- A hollow, raspy voice carried by an angry gust of wind blew past Xemnas. Roxas still had his finger pointed towards the woman at the top of the hill. The wind conjured a squall of snowfall and ice cold breezes, the advent of a small blizzard

"I cannot even see her! She's only an outline with-" Besides her outline, the only thing Xemnas could perceive was her strikingly natural blue hair. The blue-haired woman left what looked like several roses at the base of the grave and began to leave down the other side of the hill.

"No...It couldn't be.." With little warning, Xemnas found himself charging up the hill after the mysterious woman. "Wait! I said wait!" He shouted over the howling winds, but the woman did not turn to look at him. He ran to the top of the hill, underneath the barren tree, but as soon as he stopped, she was gone in a flurry of falling white snow.

He had not seen her face, but there was a haze of familiarity just by seeing her hair. Xemnas must have known this woman some time before, but for all he had, he could not think of a name or face. He could quite literally feel a gnawing sensation in the back of his mind.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see the roses she had left at the grave. He wondered if they should mean something to him. If he were truly dead in this future then would they actually matter?

But it was the grave itself that brought him to his knee. The grave had been partially snowed over from the cold winter and only a few letters of Xemnas's name could be made out ; the 'E' and the 'A'.

"Tell me, Roxas. How did I die?" Xemnas immediately denounced his asking of that question. Why did he want to know? Why did he care to entertain this drivel?

The Spirit had appeared behind him, silent and still.

"Why have you stopped talking? Grown tired of my company already?" Xemnas didn't expect nor care for an answer. Xemnas could just make out a date at the bottom of the grave through the snow. The writing, 'December 2-'. "Still keeping with the Christmas theme, I see." With his sleeve he wiped the snow away from the date, oddly enough it showed December 29th instead of December 25th.

"How anticlimactic..." Xemnas murmured. He glided his sleeve over the rest of his grave and wiped off the snow obscuring his name.

A lump formed in his throat. He looked at the name on the tombstone, but it was not his.

For the second time in the same day, Xemnas found himself in a haze of familiarity as this name filled his mind.

TERRA

"Spirit," Xemnas, nearly choking on his words, said, "You said it was my name on this stone."

Roxas's voice was hushed and raspy, more of a whisper instead of the cold and metallic tone he once spoke in, "..._I never said that..."_

Something was wrong. This name on the stone, the woman with blue hair. How could Roxas possibly know this would have an effect on him so?

"Roxas...answer me, do you know something you should not know?"

There was silence.

"Roxas! Answer me!" Xemnas whirled onto his feet to face the Spirit, who stood before him, head bowed and swaying in the wind. "Enough. I will tolerate this no more!" Savagely, The Superior reached for the hood of the Spirit and ripped it off.

What he saw, instead of Roxas, was enough to wring a gasp from the Superior's lips.

Black raven hair atop a perfectly sculpted face. Her normally large blue saucer eyes were cut into slits, alive and bright with anger and hate.

Her Rage awakened, Xion attacked.

* * *

This, Saix imagined, could only be the precursor to a much larger event. Santa must have rallied his forces for an assault on the World That Never Was. Saix had no interest in battling elves, he only wanted Klaus. So, he let Xinck handle the little people. It didn't matter how large their numbers were or how skilled in close combat they were, Xinck would easily do away with them. Saix, on the other hand, walked around the outer rim of Memory's Skyscraper, waiting, and occasionally striking down any elf that dared confront him.

"The insult." Saix spat to himself, "How dare he send his slaves as opposed to showing himself. Where is the testicular fortitude?"

An elf, overhearing Saix's tirade, came running for the Nobody, a candy-cane colored sword in its grip. He, of course, was wearing a form of armor, but it was no match for whatver a Nobody could unleash.

The elf, screaming its battle-cry, jumped for Saix with its sword extended. "Die, you monster!"

Saix reached out, grabbed the Elf by its arm and mercilessly ripped it off, tossing it aside in a bloody spray. The elf fell before Saix, desperately pinning for its lost limb with the hopes of reattaching it, but the Nobody raised its foot and pinned the elf down, smashing its tiny lungs.

"Answer me. Where is Klaus? Why does he not show himself?"

"I'll never tell!" The little elf squealed. With his free hand, the little elf reached into its pouch and produced a small pill.

"A cyanide capsule?" Saix was actually surprised at the elf's devotion. The elf tossed the pill in its mouth, Saix reached out his hand to keep the elf alive, "Don't you dare bite down, you son of a bitch!"

"For Santa-ugh-ugh...agghhhh!" It was too late. Foam arose from the elf's mouth, waved over his lips and seeped down to the ground as is eyes rolled back into its head.

"Worthless!" With a flick of the wrist, Saix tossed the dead body into the crowd of elves fighting—more like being slaughtered by-Xinck. Just as the body was airborne, a chained sword came to protrude through its chest, Xinck pulled on the elf body, swinging it in a wide circle and taking out nearly rest of the elven fighters.

Unlike Saix, Xinck was wholeheartedly enjoying his slaughter of the elven warriors, taking out a set of five as if they were nothing but a fly on his face. He enjoyed it so much that he began to lose track of his battle taunts. He went from sensible taunts, such as, "You think you're the only midgets I've killed in my lifetime? Ha!" To completely unrelated taunts, such as, "_I_ was the original Pretty Woman, you little bastards!"

Finally, there were only two elves left. Xinck grabbed the female one by the hair and legs and tore her in half. The other one, a male, had fallen to the snowy, blood-spattered ground in shock and fear. Xinck pounced on the elf and stomped his left foot on its windpipe, a sick snap of its adam's apple followed by a hissing as whatever air in its mouth escaped. "Chocolate Rain!" Xinck exclaimed, "Some stay dry and others feel the pain!"

"KLAUS!" Saix bellowed skyward, his growl startling even Xinck, "Is this it? Is this all you have to offer! Coward!"

"Yeah, show yourself, you fat jolly son of a bitch!" Xinck added.

"Milk-drinking, cookie-snacking bastard!" Saix exclaimed.

"Beard-having, old-as-the-hills asshole!"

"Judgmental, present-hawking, contemptuous motherfucker!"

"STINKPIG!"

"Stinkpig?" Saix asked.

"What? Hey, you took all the good ones!"

Saix could have offered a rebuttal, but decided to drop it, for at the moment a new sound pervaded the air. The oddest rhythm of sleigh bells. The ringing grew louder and louder, until its sound seemed to be pulsing all around them. Finally its source revealed itself in the sky and Saix and Xinck turned their gaze in its direction.

An armada of elves on flying reindeer back that seemed to number far into the hundreds. With pointed swords, the elves cried a terrible wail for battle. With sharpened antlers and hooves, the reindeer snorted and howled as they neared their targets. And in the exact center of the armada of elves, riding in his own personal sleigh, _The Saint_, drawn by nine, armored reindeer, Santa stood, his last minute weight room training paying off. Santa now stood at 6'5 with 235 pounds of muscle, bare chested and bearing the cold like it was nothing. Army boots and red pants, his white beard wafted in the wind and slapped his long red cape.

Saix growled and hissed, unimpressed as his hair caught on azure fire. Xinck, on the other hand, was amazed. "Oh, man, Santa's hot..."

"Xinck, Focus!" Saix roared.

"Right! Of course, angry face, growl!"

Gripping the reins of his sleigh and slapping them against the backs of his reindeer, Santa hollered, "I'm coming for you, Saix! Hee-yah!" Out of nowhere, he produced a great candy-handled Battle Ax six feet in length. Santa hoped over the side of his sleigh and plummeted straight down, his Ax ready to cleave Saix in twain.

* * *

"This is a surprise. All the data and information I had never pointed towards your return, No._i_." Xemnas was never one for theatrics, but at this moment he almost had the desire to scream out 'Awkward!', but decided not to as it was neither the time or place. "But then again, I never counted for magical variables."

"YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!"

"Everything, Xion? _Everything_?" Xemnas found himself goading her, for what could she possibly do? "Someone call the Exaggeration-Police so they can haul you off to Exaggeration-atraz. Oh, yes, I'm funny when no one is around."

"Ragh!" Xion spun out her leg in a large sweeping motion, tossing up a veil of snow.

"You're not a Nobody." Xemans snarled and dove into the veil of white "You're not even a person." He flailed a single ethereal blade wildly through the veil, slashing at the snow and empty space. Finally he felt a clash of metal and came face to face with Xion, her Keyblade sparking against his Interdiction.

"You're a puppet! You're less than nothing!"

The image of Xion faded from view and her voice from behind shouted, "Just die!" Xemnas turned on a heel just in time to block a strike to his abdomen. He pushed off from Xion's strike and took off into the air, leaving a trail of multiple ethereal shots in his path to fire after her.

Xion blocked and dodged them all just as Xemnas come around again, this time both blade of Interdiction crackling in his grip. "I'm not afraid of you anymore!" She shouted. She charged and met Xemnas in a clash generating bolts of lightning that fired out around them. Xemnas forced the girl back, but she stood her ground and kept up her strength by digging into the earth.

"You rose from the depths of Roxas's mind just to die by my hand?" Xemnas pushed again and Xion's arms began to shake under the pressure, "It doesn't matter. All your hate and fury brought you back, but its not enough. You're still weak!" He raised his boot and implanted it into her gut, brutally kicking her away. Xion's body bashed into the stone grave, shattering it into shrapnel then bounced off the rubble and into the barren tree.

"Argh!" Xemnas was on her quicker than she could react. He slashed directly through her abdomen and the tree behind her. "AGGGHHHHH!" The severed tree fell with a horrid thud as Xion's own blood painted the snowy ground a sickly pink. "Agh..."

Xemnas came around to her front to see her bent over, holding her sliced stomach with hand hand and keeping her grip on her Keyblade with the other. "Why don't you vanish?"

"Not while I can still fight..." She spat back.

"What do you hope to gain? You cannot destroy me. Even now, I am still your Superior in every way." As Xemnas spoke, he peered down to Xion's stomach. He could see the flowing blood slow to a stop and he could just make out the sound of crawling flesh, repairing and fixing itself anew. "A Healing factor? I made you very resistant to damage, but I didn't give you a healing factor. Explain how-"

Then it hit him. Quickly he dismissed his blades, went up to Xion and savagely gripped her throat with his hand, "You little bitch." He spat, nearly feeling the anger he spoke so highly of, "How dare you use his body! And have me damage it! That's why you can heal, you're using Roxas's body, his power!"

"And...and..." She chocked.

"And what?"

"And...I CAN DO THIS!" Her scream projected a blinding light from her eyes and mouth, forcing Xemnas off of her and covering everything a brilliant white glow.

Unable to see, the Superior shielded his eyes and stumbled to the ground. Quickly he scrambled to his feet as his vision struggled to return. Xemnas found a blurry Xion floating into the air, her Keyblade on fire with a furious white light. "Axel...Xinck...Roxas...help me!" She came to a stop and raised her Keyblade up over he head. Shinning ribbons of light worked their way across the sky over her. The atmosphere changed and became heavier and heavier with every syllable she bellowed.

"**Reign Over Creation's King...!**"

"Wishful thinking." Xemnas barked, "You don't have a Redux!"

"...**Luxifera!**"

_**Luxifera**_

_Even With The Tremendous Radiance of God Shining Upon Her..._

Though he watched it with his own eyes, Xemnas could not bring himself to understand how it was possible. Xion was a puppet, in truth a replica of Roxas. She was not a Nobody, so she could not hope to have a Redux, though she tried during her time in the Organization. But right now, Xemnas knew she was using Roxas's body, his powers including his Redux as her own. This could only mean that whatever abomination she produced was just a perversion of Archangelus Lucifer.

For a moment, the entire world darkened as Xion took every particle of light and formed a ball around herself. Electricity crackled and sparked the ground underneath her, and a white bird, like a phoenix rose from the ball and fired for the darkened sky overhead.

"Dammit." Xemnas cursed, _"I cannot risk damaging Roxas's body too badly. Just enough to force Xion to abdicate."_

A _Boom! _ofthunder sounded, recalling the light to the world and shattering the orb of light around Xion. Her appearance brought silence. Snow stopped falling, replaced by small tears of light that pooled into puddles on the ground. The light was ethereal and began falling in reverse back into the air. Several golden ribbons of an aurora borealis weaved its way across the sky then made their way down to Xion, forming rings around her body.

Xion had aged, now taking the form of a young woman in her 20s. Her hair had grown, reaching the small of her back, it had infinite volume as it moved on its own. She wore a darkness black garment on her body that shined with its own dark light. The garment covered all the way down to the bottom of her waist, thinned out then continued down to cover each leg to its ankle. She was barefoot. Tied around her waist and held in place below her pelvis by a silver hoop, was a long silver-white piece of cloth.

The most stunning part of her transformation where the 19 blinding white peacock feather wings that were affixed to the outer rim of her back. Nineteen thin, peacock wings at least nine feet in length that swayed behind her at the most minute amount of movement. Each wing was thinly outlined with gold and appeared nearly translucent in the natural light that radiated around her. She constantly floated just out of reach of the ground, never touching it.

Xemnas could feel her power shooting out in every conceivable direction, and it was growing exponentially by the minute. At the moment, Xemnas could just barely measure it at an equal to his power. "It doesn't matter what form you take." He said while taking a stance, "You will still only be...a puppet."

Xion's eyes ignited in white vapor. She pulled up her lower body just as great golden rings began forming before her. "ENJOY HELL!" The rings collapsed into each each, forming an open path; she fired like a ray of light and immediately slashed at Xemnas's abdomen with a golden blade of light.

* * *

Alright, I'm trying to make up for lost time. So the next thing will be up within a few hours of this being posted, and the next chapter will be up shortly after that. Its not gonna be twenty pages long like everthing else, because, quite frankly, its almost Valentine's Day and I am sick to my ass with Christmas. Ugh...


	54. Redux Profile?

**Xion**

**-**Name: _Luxifera_

-Command: "Reign Over Creation's King."

-Xion is not a Nobody, therefore it is impossible for her to have a Redux. This transformation is actually a perversion of Roxas's Redux, Archangelus Lucifer, if, hypothetically speaking, Xion were to absorb Roxas as opposed to vice versa. While _Luxifera _is not a true Redux, she does function and operate as one.

Xion begins her Redux with her Keyblade cloaking itself in a giant plume of white fire. She turns the blade upright and while moving it in a circle before her, drawing a white circle, an identical white circle is drawn in the sky above and the ground below. When she calls out the name, her entire body is consumed in a pillar of white that extends from earth to heaven. Simultaneously, every local photon is pulled into her body, temporarily rendering her entire surroundings in darkness, save for the white pillar.

When she emerges, Xion appears to have aged, now appearing as a young woman in her 20s and growing in height. Her hair grows much longer, reaching the small of her back. Her hair, perfectly black, contrasts intensely with the white halo around. She wears a darkness black garment on her body that seems to glow with its own dark light. The garment covers all the way down to the bottom of her waist, thins out then continues down to cover each leg to its ankle. A long silver-white cloth, tied off around a matching belt and a silver hoop below her waist, falls below in between her legs. She is barefoot in this form.

Xion has a total of Nineteen, shining white peacock feathers translucently fixed to the outer rim of her back. Each feather is just about 10 feet long and outlined in shimmering gold. The feathers sway and follow her with even the slightest hint of movement.

* * *

**Powers/Abilities**

Xion's physical powers are greatly enhanced, her strength and speed are also augmented further by a developed telekinesis. Her Lumokinetic abilities have grown so much that they not only branch into Pyrokinesis but they have also advanced beyond their own limits, granting her a small form of Umbrakinesis.

**Holy Steps**- Xion's speed is one of her greatest skills. Golden rings of varying sizes spin in front of her wildly, when the rings stop, forming an opening, she can rush through at a blinding speed. She can ricochet about her opponent and come back around several times. She's fast enough that she can disrupt time around her, preventing her opponent from seeing her until the very last moment.

**A New Day Dawns**- Combining pyrokinesis and lumokinesis, Xion can create a miniature sun in the palm of her hands. Unleashing it on a target can incinerate an area as wide as 500 yard radius.

**Bringeth Forth**- An Ability giving Xion to open a small, local portal and summon a phantom-like fist to punch and assault her enemy nearby.

**Dea Mortis**- Xion channels a large bulk of her power into her right hand. She grabs her opponent and envelops them in a blinding light. Several bursts of black exploded in the light, and when it fades, the opponent is defeated/dead/or dying quickly.

**Mistress of the Heavens-** Taking over the entire sky above Xion, gathered clouds begin to part in circles while revealing an abode filled with tens of thousands of angel-like creatures. They all fire brilliant shots of light simultaneously down around Xion.

**Vector to the Heavens- **Xion surrounds herself in a sphere composed entirely of giant light arrows. The first half of the attack causes the arrows to extend outward in every single direction, searing and slicing through every piece of solid matter around her. The second half, Xion sends out every arrow to attack and impale her opponent(s).

**Third of the Fallen: Last Child of Darkness- **Xion's attack symbolizing her relationship with Xinck. Xion surrounds herself in a sphere of shimmering white and black. When she extends her limbs, a flurry of black and white tendrils fire off in a dozen directions, finding opponents to impale in the heart.

**Second of the Fallen: Crimson Tears of Flame- **Xion's attack symbolizing her relationship with Axel. Xion, with a gesture of her hand, can call eight, flaming pillars of fire from the earth to the sky, instantly incinerating everyone and everything in their path. Then the pillars curve over the clouds and came raining back down on the field.

**First of the Fallen: Dying of The Light- **Xion's attack symbolizing her relationship with Roxas. Xion calls an orb of light into her hand. As she does, the orb pulls and draws all surrounding enemies to her. When close enough, Xion separates herself from the ball, spins around and detonates the orb and obliterating every enemy.

**Eden's Destruction**- Xion can solidify light into a wide laser blade. When the blade cuts an enemy, the wound shows no blood because the blade is so intense that it sears the wound upon contact. While no pain is actually drawn from the attack, the pain is doubled.

**Black Fire Upon Us**- Combining umbrakinesis and pyrokinesis, Xion causes a single fissure of giant dark flames to rise up and rotate around her in a repeating pattern. The attack is meant to disperse a large group of enemies.

**All Enemies Diminish!**- A move capable of both damaging strong opponents and destroying weaker ones. As Xion is constantly staying afloat in this form, she need simply step on the ground, thus sending out a white shockwave.

**I Am Nobody's Puppet!**- If Quickly angered, Xion can fire a full-force beam of light from her eyes.

**La Porte Des Cieux (**The Door of Heaven**)**- Xion can generate a yellow/golden shield to protect herself from oncoming attacks. This shield can also surround her in a 360 sphere.

**One on High, I Cast You Down!**- Xion charges her energy through her body and channels it through her open palm to the earth below, causing an ground shattering earthquake capable of re-forming the entire local area.

**Armageddon- **Combining lumokinesis and umbrakinesis. Xion unleashes a great darkness underneath her, letting it spread out to consume the land. Simultaneously, She unleashes a great brightness above her, letting it spread out to consume the sky. On her command, a Hand of Darkness rises out of the earth, reaching for the sky and unleashing tormented wails and screams. From the sky, a Hand of Light emerges and reaches down, unleashing siren-like singing and chorus. The Hand of Light and the Hand of Darkness embrace and merge as one. The resulting symphony of Dark and Light can destroy an area equivalent to the amount of energy Xion releases. At just half of her full energy, she can obliterate an area about 1/4th the size of Earth (Which is about the size of the Moon...and Pluto. At full energy, she would destroy herself).

* * *

**Weaknesses-**

No known weaknesses. Kill her before she kills you.

* * *

**Inspiration**

Xion's appearance in this form was heavily influenced by the secret boss from the video game _Bayonetta_. If you want a better visualization of what her outfit looks like, look up 'Father Rodin'. I thought it was interesting how peacock feathers were used as opposed to normal angel feathers. Originally, I wasn't going to give her a Redux since she isn't really a Nobody, but as I was writing, it just came to me. And listening to _Rage Awakened _also helped.


	55. I'll Have a Blue ChristmasIn March

Finally, here it is, the last Christmas thing...finally delivered in friggin' March. But like I said, computer problems and sickness kept me from writing. And then, writer's block came and backhanded me across the face. Trying to write without inspiration is like walking in the dark and hoping for the best. NO ONE IS HAPPIER THIS IS OVER MORE THAN ME!

-Alright, alright, calm down, its not a big deal.

No! No! I started this at the end of November of 2011, its now March of 2012, this took way too long to finish! If I was getting paid for this, i would loose readers and sponsors!

-If you were getting paid, you'd have a writing team to make sure you reach your deadlines.

And pay those lazy plagerists? Reveal my secrets? No!

-Okay, just calm down. You're being testy.

_You _have testes...

-Ugh, fine. Whatever. Have your little bitch fit. After this we are going back to Veridis Quo in Full Force. Standard Disclaimer and yadda-yadda-yadda...

* * *

The Curse of the Carol inflicted on Xemnas by Xinck at the orders of Saix followed as thus: A visitation and warning by an old acquaintance or friend in the guise of Jacob Marley. This role was fulfilled by Xigbar, who instantly regretted it as soon as Xemnas shot him in the leg. Of course, his performance was less than adequate, finding it funnier to appear as Bob Marley the singer.

In the next hour and next stage in the spell, a person from the targets early days is taken in the guise of the Ghost of Christmas Past. Since most people in Xemnas's past are dead, and Xigbar already put in his two cents, Xaldin was the only one left who had significant knowledge of the role. He did a hit-and-run job at best.

The third phase of the Curse could only be performed by a significant person in the subject's current state. Saix would easily fill this category, but because he was the cause of all of this, it would have been foolish of him to do so. Instead, Axel the Flurry of Dancing Flames took over as Ghost of Christmas Present, or as he put it, "The Sexy Spirit of Nowness". He performed an adequate improvisation of his duties, but left thinking Xemnas missed the point entirely. It didn't help that Xemnas wasn't really paying attention.

The Final part of the Carol is the one meant to instill a realization of great truth on the target and can only be performed by a person if the target, ironically, holds a secret truth concerning that person. Persuaded by Saix, though opposed to by Axel and Xinck, Roxas came into the role of Ghost of Christmas Future. He did this of his own free will, though the moment he entered the spell and encountered Xemnas, an odd occurrence began. Slowly but surely as he escorted Xemnas about, Roxas began to grow quiet and lose himself.

Through no fault of his own, but by the randomizing and chance influence of The Curse of the Carol's nature, an old, long thought annihilated being arose from Roxas and took hold of his body to exact revenge on Xemnas.

Xion, the failed replica commissioned by Xemnas, who left her life at a horrible end, rose up to fight Xemnas with whatever strength and power Roxas's body could give. His Keyblade, his Light and even his Redux.

Her faux-Redux, _Luxifera_, a sight to behold, caused her to age into her twenties, her hair to grow and her body to become wrapped in jagged fragments of darkness black clothing. Nineteen white wings of a peacock swayed behind her, lined, edged in gold and measuring near nine feet in length.

–

Xemnas could feel her power shooting out in every conceivable direction, and it was growing exponentially by the minute. At the moment, Xemnas could just barely measure it at an equal to his power. "It doesn't matter what form you take." He said while taking a stance, "You will still only be...a puppet."

Xion's eyes ignited in white vapor. She pulled up her lower body just as great golden rings began forming before her. "ENJOY HELL!" The rings collapsed into each each, forming an open path; she fired like a ray of light and immediately slashed at Xemnas's abdomen with a golden blade of light. He tried to dodge as she passed by, but she came around again and sliced against his leg.

"_Damn! She's too fast._" Xemnas retreated as fast and as far back as he could and took off into the sky. He made it several yards into the air when Xion re-appeared and her roundhouse collided with his face sending him plummeting back down. "Dah!" On his way down, Xemnas recovered in mid-descent and fired back into the air, ethereal blades crackling with unstable power in his grip. But when he turned his gaze skyward, Xion was nowhere in sight. "With all that power and speed, you hide from me?"

"I'm through hiding from you!" Her voice, now more mature, sounded from on top of the hill below. Her presence hovering above the icy ground melted the snow and replaced it by a shimmering pool of light. "I'll do what someone should have done a long time ago, so that no one will ever have to hide from you again!"

Xion's Luxifera raised her hands, cloaking them in blazing white fire. All around Xion a bounty of light shined and pervaded the air. The light began to grow in size and divide itself into the shape of great, white arrows. Soon, Xion was surrounded on all sides, above and below, by the arrows of light, and as she lowered her hands, the arrows grew to greater length and size. They began to rotate wildly, searing and cutting through the very crust and earth of the hill. "Vector To The Heavens!" The volley of arrows curved about Xion and fired off for their target.

The Vectors closed in and Xemnas began to maneuver about them in his free-fall back to the ground. At first he was capable of dodging a few to his body, subsequently letting others graze his outer limbs. But the full speed of the attack became too great for him to handle. Dozens of vectors came to impale and pass through his abdomen, burning so hot that they seared the wounds upon contact.

Xemnas lost count of how many arrows hit him, and the pain soon became too much and he lost control of his limp body. Finally after taking what seemed like a full salvo in his gut, the attack stopped and Xemnas fell to the earth like a comet leading a trail of blood. He smashed into the ground, the impact creating a large crater deep enough to sink him into the sediment.

"_This...cannot be..._" His thoughts raced as his body healed. Xion was getting stronger and stronger in her current form, but Xemnas knew there had to be a cost to that much power acquired so quickly.

"Get up." Xion called, floating along the perimeter rim of the crater, "_GET UP!_"

Standing, Xemnas trudged up and out of the pit. His upper body, tinted a heavy blue, crackled and hissed with his nihilistic energy. Coming to the edge of the crater and stopping to wipe the dust from his shoulders, Xemnas swatted a lose hair from his face, then spat out a glob of blood and a tooth. "You're attacks are powerful, but they lack substance, possibly because you yourself are immaterial. Even after all your rage...your hatred...you're still not good enough."

"_RAGGGHHH!_" He golden light condensed into a blade, her speed propelled her towards Xemnas and she slashed at his body. Just in time, Xemnas dodged and bounded away as fast as he could. Xion's follow-through left her open for just a moment. Xemnas quickly drew a small pattern before him in the air, bringing his index and middle finger close to his face, "_Suffer and Burn Upon the Undying Crest of the Demon's Head._" As Xemnas touched down, he fired his attack, sending ahead a series of red and white flaming pillars to bombard Xion.

An explosion consumed her body in a flurry of pinkish flames, nearly obliterating the land around her. "That's not enough to stop me!" She shouted from the inferno, "Nothing will stop me!" The fires vanished with little more than a thought on Xion's part. Even before they dissipated, she moved to Xemnas, much faster than he could keep up with. She grabbed his hair, raised him into the air and roundhouse kicked him in the neck.

On his way down, Xemnas caught himself, spun out his legs and ethereal blades. In a brutal spin he could feel his counterattack making contact with her clothes and flesh, but she did not stagger or flinch. Xion reached out and grabbed Xemnas by his shin, reared back and slammed him into the snowy ground, hauled him up then threw him back down.

"Bah!" Her brute force was enough to draw blood from his mouth. "Is that it?" he managed to spit, "Much too green, much too green. Especially for a Redux. I imagine if Roxas were fighting me, he would have killed me by now."

"Rah! Fight back!"

"Nuh-uh." Xemnas replied, "You're so not worth it."

In a flash, Xion re-positioned Xemnas right-side up and took hold of his silver hair with her left hand. With her right, she let fly a single punch and released his hair, sending the Superior flying off into the distance at break-neck speed. In mid-flight, Xion moved so fast so as to reappear behind Xemnas, she prepared her leg and implanted her foot into the base of his spine, hauling him like a rocket into the air.

"If you won't fight me, then I'll make you fight!" Xion stood to her full height, taking her time as Xemnas still fired into the sky. She raised her hands, twisted her wrists around each other and pulled on the ambient energy around her. "Axel...Cry For Me!" Eruptions sounded underneath her, and she could feel the heat underneath her rising, hissing with the melting of snow. All around her, eight great golden pillars of fire spiraled into the sky, incinerating the earth about them.

Xemnas, in a recovering stupor and finally in his free fall back to the ground, found his entire body consumed by a single golden plume. The force of the blast propelled him back into the air and even further into the upper atmosphere above the clouds. Xemnas's wailing became smaller and smaller the farther he went.

It was the first time Xion had ever heard Xemnas scream.

Seconds later, his screams became louder as the flames curved and came falling back with Xemnas leading them, like a comet or meteor leads its tail. Xion leaped and floated into the air, away from the impact zone as Xemnas's flaming carcass closed in.

Another shock-wave impact and Xemnas was once again writhing in a flaming crater, seething, and hacking up his own blood as his body tried to repair itself. "Ohh!" The Superior wailed and gnashed, "Damn Fool!"

"_Yes!"_ This was it. Xion knew the moment was here! She reared back into the air, She recalled her blade of light to her hand, and with a look of triumph and truth in her eyes, she took off to deliver the final strike.

Xemnas picked up his broken body, his vision blurred, his eyes filling with his own blood. Forcing his body to move despite the agony of its failures, Xemnas took up a position and raised his azure-sparking hands. He began to make gestures with his fingers, drawing thick blue lines all around his body. Finally, the lines began to condense and take the form of a ball. Xemnas jumped and spun in the air around the shimmering orb, just as it exploded and took on a much larger shape.

Xemnas's stood his ground and cradled a large silver cannon on his right shoulder, adorned with dozens of Nobody sigils and a single prominent number 'I' on the top. His cannon charged, it sparked and readied to fire, Xion flying towards him in his sights, Xemnas howling into eternity, "_**BACK TO NOTHING!**_"

He unleashed the weapon's fire, the power of the blasting recoil pushed him down further into the air. A sparking silver-azure sphere sliced through the air and made its way to Xion with no stalling.

Xion did not falter in her dive-bomb flight and took the sphere head-on. With little effort, her blade of light raised, she sliced through the sphere, and continued on through the hole between the severed halves. Xemnas could only watch, unable to move as Xion came upon him, her blade pointed for his throat, "Now vanish!"

* * *

"Uh...should we do something?" Demyx asked, oddly showing concern for Xemnas's well-being.

"I'm gonna say 'no'." Xigbar said, "I, uh, don't really like dealing with magic, you know? Shit gets unpredictable."

"Still." Demyx said, "If he dies, don't we stop getting paid?"

"If so, I can always go back to pimping. I have no idea what you'll do."

"Pish-posh!" Xaldin cut in, "You haven't been pimping since you came back with chlamydia all those Christmases ago."

"Side note." Luxord spat drunkenly from a corner, "This entire Christmas was a total waste of time. Bloody awful."

"Okay, okay, okay." Axel stepped in, "Can we get past all this and try to get them out? I mean, they could die."

"Relax." Xaldin said, "If Xemnas is involved in it, there's no way he'd endanger Roxas as well as himself. He's much to valuable."

All Six of these members stood, with the exception of Luxord who sat, in Xemnas's open room. In the largest space in the Superior's chambers, there was a great, shimmering sphere of azure and purple with archaic and mystical symbols shifting around it in orbit. This was the physical manifestation of the Curse of the Carol in the real world. It sparked and radiated an intense energy around it, giving off the smell of burning rubber. On the inside of the sphere, floating and unconscious, were Xemnas and Roxas.

"Perhaps they're playing a game?" Luxord halfheartedly, "I do enjoy games, I'm sure they do, too. Beer pong and strip poker both count before you bastards judge me."

"If this is a game, I'm not impressed." Demyx said.

"Can't help but wonder what the prize is." Xigbar said.

Xaldin scoffed, but offered his two cents nonetheless, "Maybe its bologna...or ham."

"No, no, no." Luxord said, "According to Guild rules, such games involving magical components have prizes of varying degrees depending on the level of magic used. I'd say this...sphere-like sphere-shaped...thing is at least around level 7 magic, meaning the prize, where lunch meat is concerned, would be turkey with a light glaze."

"Mmm, and what about Tofurkey?"

"Oh! I love tofurkey!" Demyx exclaimed, "Its 'tofu' and 'rkey' put together!"

"Tofu and Turkey, Demyx, not Rkey." Luxord said, "God only knows what Rkey is..."

"Sounds like a sex thing I did once, Rkey does." Xigbar said, "For those of you who don't-"

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" Axel commanded.

Demyx started, "But-"

"Shut the fuck up!" Axel commanded.

Demyx scoffed, muttering to himself, "Where's your Christmas spirit?"

"It's nearly March, mate..." Luxord muttered.

"Shut up, you lousy drunk!" Axel commanded again, "We need to get them outta there, at least Roxas if not Xemnas."

"You sure about that?" Xaldin inquired, "Looks to me Roxas is fine, its the Superior who's bleeding all over the blasted place."

There was an odd thing about this that did not sit well with Axel. No matter how hard he tried, he could not put his finger on it. Unbeknownst to him, this was a fail-safe administered by Xinck and commissioned by Saix. After Xigbar, Xaldin and Axel played their parts, a little memory wipe would occur to prevent them from remembering their experience. Saix ordered this to protect them, in case Xemnas saw fit to punish them for their participation, at least they would honestly believe they did nothing.

On a side-note, he did not have to worry about Demyx, since he was half idiot and a quarter stupid. He didn't have to worry about Luxord, either because he was blissfully drunk.

"That's it." Axel said finally, "I'm calling Xinck. Maybe he can figure it out."

"Or be the cause of it." Xaldin said.

"Or just tell you to pee on it." Xigbar said, "I bet that's what he does, tells you to pee on it."

"Ugh..." Axel ignored their comments and produced his phone from his inside pocket. A few moments later, a candid picture of the Deviant sleeping on a sofa with a hand in his pants popped up on Axel's phone.

It started to ring. "Put him on speaker." Xaldin said. Axel obliged, then held the phone in the exact center of the group for all to hear. A few seconds later, the line picked up, the phone rustled, then the sound of Xinck's cackle came through.

"_Ahoy-hoy!_"

"Xinck! Hey, its Axel."

"And the rest of us!" Demyx sounded.

"_What? What do you want? I'm a little busy at the moment!"_With that, the sound of a tiny voice uttering a war cry was heard, Xinck howled, and chains rattled as a response, "_All you midgets, if you're just gonna stand there YOU'LL DIE! HA HA HA HA!"_

"He seems happy." Luxord commented.

"Dude, Xinck, we got a problem." Axel continued.

"_Oh, yeah? Try peeing on it?"_

"Oh! Told you!" Xigbar howled, "Right on the money!"

"No, Xinck, its a real problem. Its Xemnas and Roxas, just floating around in this...orb thingy sphere."

"_Saix!_" Xinck screamed, _"He's sending in his Reindeer! We have to retreat further downtown!"_ An explosion rocked through the phone and Xinck screamed. Faintly, far in the background, Saix's muffled voice shouted a savage cry.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"_I'm fine! I'm fine! Its...Agh! Fuckin' little shit! _Burn! HA HA HA HAAAA!" An explosion rocked near the phone and tiny screams slowly began to fade away."_Okay, you said they're floating around in a sphere thing?"_

"Where the hell is he, anyway?" Xaldin asked.

"Yeah, and Xemnas is kinda bleeding all over the place." Axel said, "You wouldn't happen to know what's going on, would you?"

There was a moment of pause on the phone. Xinck was still there, they could hear him breathing, when finally he said, "_...Yeah...I'm gonna say No. Send me a picture of the sphere and I'll tell you what I can."_

"Oh! Oh! I got this one! I'll do it!" Demyx exclaimed. The Nocturne whipped out his phone, made his way over to the sphere and began to take several photos.

"Okay, Xinck, Demyx is taking the pictures and sending them to your phone." Axel said. There was no immediate reply. Seconds later, Xinck broke into a shaky breath, one of both awe and anticipation.

"_No...it cannot be!"_

"Xinck, what's happening? Due what is going on, where are you?"

"_I can't believe it."_ Xinck said, _"Those horns...that collar! And of course...that damn shiny nose! Red as the flames of Hell!"_

"Horns and a collar? The bloody hell is going on?" Luxord jeered.

"_Rudolph..."_Xinck seethed, _"I thought you died in Marrakesh! Back for revenge?"_

"I sent the pictures!" Demyx shouted.

"Xinck, we sent the pictures, now tell me what's going on! Who're you fighting? Do you need backup!"

"_AGGHHHH!_ _My arm! You shot off my arm!"_

"Was, uh..that a laser? It sounded like a laser." Xaldin said.

"That was definitely a laser." Xigbar replied, "I would know. They're kinda my thing."

"I didn't know Xinck could shoot lasers."

"He can't." Axel said, "He better be okay."

"Sounds to me like he's fighting Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and losing." Demyx commented, "_But_...that's just me."

Sounds of battle sounded over the phone. Xinck fought savagely, and his opponent seemed to be fighting on par and just as ferociously. _"Take this! Die! Ha ha!" _More rustling over the phone and Xinck began breathing heavily again, _Okay, I got away, I don't how long I have, but I've gotten the pictures. Alright..um...everything should be fine. That spell is on a time release, you can tell by the markings that keep flashing on and off on its surface. It'll end itself around midnight. Xemnas looks like he's been mauled by King Kong, so, you know, you might wanna have a potion ready just in case. Or don't. I don't care. He dies, I still get paid._

"Good to know, now where are you? I'm coming to help!"

"_No! I'm fine, I swear! Aggghh!_" Another rustling and Xinck's phone went out of his grip and skid across concrete, _"Agghhh! No! Rudolph! Don't stick your antlers up my-_ The phone cut out and the busy signal started ringing, and then silence.

* * *

"I'm sure he's fine." Luxord mused.

Frozen and defenseless, Xemnas stood, battered and bleeding in the snow. Above him, Xion floated, her Keyblade bathing in glorious light and merely inches away from slicing through Xemnas's throat.

This was that moment in battle where adrenaline and the instinct to live and survive are at their peak in the warriors' bodies. Their focus was at such an intense magnitude that Time itself slowed to a near crawl. There was little Xemnas could do. Xion had him and she knew it. Her blade, his throat. She would finally have revenge, for her and her friends.

But she had already lost...

_Time resumed..._

_The Wind blew..._

_Xemnas seethed..._

…_..And Xion's Redux shattered like glass hitting pavement._

Her body still remained in its position in the air, but her blade of light had shattered into her standard Kingdom Key. Her long black hair dissolved back into its shortened form, and her white peacock feather wings melted away into nothing. Her aged appearance reverted back into its youth, her halo faded, her dress transformed into the Black coat.

But above all else, her blue eyes, once filled to their brim with furious hatred and revenge, had now softened into sadness and anguish, filled to the brim with tears.

"Dammit..." She sobbed, failing to hold back her despair, "Dammit...dammit...dammit..DAMMIT!"

Xemnas let a smile work its way across his face. "I knew it." He boasted, "All that power, gained so quickly...power that even surpassed my own, couldn't have possibly have lasted the way you were using it. All it took was a little goading on my part..."

"I only had...a little time..." First, it started slow, then the fading became more and more noticeable. Soon, Xion's entire left leg had vanished into nothingness.

Just as Xion was fading, Xemnas was healing. "Oh? What happened to your leg, No._i_? More importantly, what happened to all your piss and vinegar? You were so set on killing me just mere moments ago." Xemnas's smile seemed to grow wider with every sentence, and with every bit of Xion that faded. He drew closer to her, taking his hand and caressing her face in his cold glove.

"Worst. Puppet. Ever." He said, then he struck her across the face, spraying her tears onto the snowy ground. Half her body had faded, leaving only her floating torso, but even so, though her arms and even her head began to vanish, she started to raise her Keyblade with what little strength she had.

"Wait...you...wait!" Xion managed to move her Keyblade up along Xemnas's body, along his stomach and onto his chest, planting the flat end of her blade in the exact center.

Xemnas was not intimidated nor worried, knowing she could do nothing. But he was impressed, for though there were tears streaming down her face, the pure hatred had returned to her blue eyes.

"I...I'm still your Ghost of Christmas Future..."She seethed, "...But I don't have to see the future to know _your _end_,_ Xemnas." Her body was nearly gone at this point, "This Keyblade...piercing that empty cavity where your heart never was." Her grip, in fact, both her arms, went limp and vanished. "I can see it." She mused, Her Keyblade fell and shattered against the ground. "Your face, your anguish ...your friendlessness...your eyes wide in hopelessness ." Xion was gone, only her voice remained. "I wait for that day...all of us might be gone, but we'll rejoice...that day is coming, Xemnas...its coming...its coming..."

* * *

"_**Velut Luna!**__ (_Latin: 'Like the Moon'_)_" The head of Lunatic ignited in a plume of concentrated azure flames. Followed with one powerful downward swing by Saix, the earth around him shattered as he fired a great, crescent shaped bolt of blue flames, easily 30 feet high.

The crescent cut down a myriad of elf and reindeer that dared stand in Saix's path. Incapable of being dodged, the crescent came to the muscle-bound Santa himself. With his bare hands, The Saint grab hold of the unstoppable flames and braced himself. His muscles tensing, he dig his heels into the earth, and lifted the flames up and over his head, sending them crashing into the landscape of empty buildings behind him.

"Klaus!" Saix, battered and injured from battle, came charging, his fangs bared, his hair blazing, and his blue flames laying waste behind him as he went. Despite his wounds, he would not stop. Santa redrew his weapon, a great battle ax striped in red and white. He charged and clashed with Saix, unleashing an outburst of frenzied red and blue strikes against each other.

Sparks fired and waves of energy burst around the combatants. Strikes and stabs intent on maiming flesh, and blocks bent on preservation of life. Saix's gaze stayed on Santa, his focus intent on burning a hole in his head. But Santa, strong as he was, had his attention divided.

Far off to the left, the screams of a Deviant being mauled and thrashed about by viscous reindeer brought no concern to Saix.

"Mmm." Claus grunted, struggling against Saix, "Seems like my reindeer have already taken down Nick. You don't seem too concerned, though, Isa."

"Why should I?"

Claus grunted again, "How unfortunate. You should be."

For a mere moment, Saix's berserker state faltered, "...why?"

An incoming noise, growing louder and louder turned into a scream. Out of nowhere came Xinck's howling carcass at top speeds, bashing into Saix and sending the pair crashing into the air with the sickening snap of bones and torn flesh.

"No! Xinck, no! You idiot!" Saix roared and thrashed, desperate to remove Xinck's body off of his.

"Gah! Oh! I'm sorry, you asshole, for getting my fucking skull caved in by a damn reindeer!"

Santa found his opening and rushed the two, jamming his ax into their bodies repeatedly and juggling them in the air with each strike easily. His attacks, fast enough to appear as if he were striking at them from every angle, hitting them from the left while simultaneously on the right. His speed and strength were far beyond that of a human.

Finally, Santa wedged the pair between his ax and its hilt, spun them about in wide circles while they screamed and wailed. He released them and let their limp bodies fly off in an arch that ended with them smacking back into the earth. There they laid, twitching, but otherwise unmoving.

"Naughty children receive coal in their stockings for Christmas." Santa proclaimed, marching towards them, "But Naughty Nobodies receive an ass whooping."

"Ragh!" Saix attempted a roar, but produced more of a groaning nuisance, "To Hell with you, Klaus! Passing out poorly crafted toys with one hand and judging with the other! Who are you to decide who is naughty and who is nice? What gives you the right!"

"Yeah!" Xinck agreed, though his voice was more of a mumble since his jaw was dislocated, "And what kinda guy comes to your house one day a year, eats your food and leaves you crappy gifts? That's sounds more like a deadbeat dad to me..."

The Saint said nothing, showing no emotion in his empty, icy blue eyes. He eyed them, as they did he, but their gaze faltered, though his did not. There was something unseen seeping from this man's body as he stood above him. A force of his own, like a pressure building up behind a wall that he himself was desperate to unleash. "No matter." He said, brandishing his ax above them both, "Kidnapping and holding Children hostage...unforgivable."

"Oh, he's gonna kill us?" Xinck spat, "Dude, not cool. _So _un-Santa like."

Saix scoffed, "Next year we're celebrating Kwanzaa."

"What the hell is Kwanzaa?"

"Exactly."

"There won't be a next time!" Sant roared and brought down his ax. But as he brought it down, in midswing he stopped himself, as a single elf came running, screaming his name.

"Santa! Santa!" The elf screeched, frantically waving his hands for attention, "We have the children! We have the children! They're safe, Santa, they're safe!"

It seemed to take a moment for the information to be processed, but soon a wave seemed to wash over the Saint's face. Something filled the empty nothingness in his, icy blue eyes. Santa lowered his battle ax and took a step back from Saix and Xinck.

"Ha!" Saix laughed, "I knew it! You're weak! Even after you win and have your enemy on his knees, broken and defeated, you're too weak to kill him!"

"I don't know." Xinck muttered, "I don't think I could ever live it down knowing I was killed by friggin' Santa Claus..."

"Shut your ass, Xinck!" Saix shot back. But his reply was cut short when Santa raised his ax once more and placed its blade directly before Saix's face. The icy nothingness had returned to his eyes.

* * *

The sphere, actually the physical manifestation of the Curse's time traveling phase, began to crackle and bubble with instability. The bodies of Xemnas and Roxas began to shift and move around. Only Axel took notice of this because he was the only one who seemed to care, while the others were either reading, drinking their whiskey, staring out the window or talking to their drug dealer via phone.

"Hey, guys." Demyx started, staring at something out of Xemnas's window "How can you tell the difference between an elf carcass and a midget carcass?"

Xaldin, laid out on the floor with a bag of chips and a small book, replied, "Elf carcasses are usually more colorful. Usually, at least."

"Oh. Okay, then."

"Why do you ask?"

"Hey, hey! Look!" Axel exclaimed, pointing to the sphere, "They're moving around! Everyone look!"

"Eh," Demyx shrugged, "Curiosity. Plus, there's a bunch of them out there."

Xaldin rolled his eyes, "You're seeing things again."

"Are you sure? I mean, that's like a _mountain _of elf bodies. You'd think those little people have been through enough, you know, with Mini-Me and all."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Luxord snapped, "I happen to like Mini-Me."

"Of course you would." Xaldin said, only half paying attention, "Your people are renowned for their love of all things related to Austin Powers."

"_My _people? I'll have you know Austin Powers is played by the _American _Mike Meyers-"

"Ok, its opening! Guys, its opening!" Axel shouted, once again being ignored.

"I like _GoldMember_." Demyx added.

"You guys wanna keep it down?" Xigbar shouted, leaning against the far wall, "I'm on the damn phone!"

"No you're not!" Demyx said. Xigbar turned around and pointed to the headset in his ear. "Oh, I hate those stupid things!" Demyx started, "No one can ever tell if you're talking to them or the person on the phone, and I'm standing there, like an idiot, talking to _you_ and you're not even paying attention!"

"Demyx, shut up!" Xigbar exclaimed, "No ones giving your dumbass any attention!"

"See! That's what I'm talking about right there!"

Quickly the room became alive with frenzied argument. Demyx against Xigbar, and Xaldin against Luxord. Fortunately, and at the same time, unfortunately, Axel came flying across the room and bashing against the wall with Xemnas's grip tight around his neck. Hanging by his hood in Xemnas's free hand was a sleeping Roxas.

"Where. Is. Saix!" Xemnas roared.

Axel opened his mouth to respond, but only made choking noises.

"Holy Fucking ass-crackers!" Demyx screamed. Xemnas turned around towards Demyx, releasing Axel in the process. He grabbed the Nocturne by the collar, backhanded him across the face and threw him against the nearest wall.

"Demyx!" Xigbar shouted, only out of concern for himself, "Oh, shit! Oh, shit! Run away!" The Freeshooter was soon to teleport away, but Xemnas directed an open palm at Xigbar and fired off a high powered ethereal blade. The blade impacted Xigbar in the chest, exploding and blasting him through the window.

"Oh, whoa! Wait, Xemnas, Superior! Wait Wait!" Xaldin tried to back up and away from the approaching wrath, but Xemnas quickly caught him. He grabbed the bottom front of his coat, pulled it up over Xaldin's head, spun him around and began kicking the Lancer repeatedly in the backside. He kicked him all the way out the door and sent him stumbling blindly into the corridor walls with a _Bang!_

Finally, he turned his gaze towards Luxord.

The Gambler raised his hands in surrender, a bottle in one of them. "Hey, man, listen." He said, " I have been..._inebriated_ this whole time, I haven't the slightest idea about anything or anything else, so...yeah."

Xemnas scoffed, grabbing the bottle from Luxord's grip and bashing it over the Gambler's head. Though the bottle shattered, it was not enough to knock him unconscious, "Dah!" he howled, "My alcohol! I wasn't finished yet!"

The Superior paid him no mind, and with a wave of his hand, opened a dark corridor and was gone in an instant.

Out of the broken window, luckily Xigbar had landed on hi back on a nearby ledge. "Uh..oh, man." He gasped and chocked, still speaking into his headset, "Yeah, yeah, I'm still here. Motherfucker just shot me..."

Demyx was unconscious, as was Xaldin, and Axel, on the other hand, stayed sitting up against the wall and nursed his bruised neck. Not far from him, Roxas began to stir from his slumber, and slowly arose with a stretch and a yawn.

"Oh, whoa..." He gasped, though blurry eyed, "What happened here?"

"I spilled my alcohol." Luxord sobbed, "And Xemnas has a great stick up his arse!"

* * *

"_Though you sit there defeated, my gesture's quite Clear._

_You pull this shit again, and I'll kill you next Year!"_

_-Santa Claus_

The Luna Diviner and the Fallen Deviant sat in the center of their own battlefield, tied together back to back and bound by specially woven elf rope. Santa, and the remainder of his elven and reindeer forces had already left The World That Never Was, more than likely off to deliver presents to the good children of various worlds.

The two Nobodies took this time to sit, rest, heal, think about their defeat and their place in the universe.

"_Bow Down, bow down, before the power of Santa. Or be crushed, BE CRUSHED! By..his Jolly Boots of Doom!"_

"Xinck..."Saix groaned, "Shut up. I command you, stop singing."

"Yeah, well, look where your command got us. _Bow Down, bow down, before the power of Santa...!_"

"I had him! I had him on the edge! I was so close to my revenge!"

"Until he stuck his jolly boots of doom knee-deep in your ass. _By...his Jolly Boots of Doom!"_

Saix scoffed, "I was defeated by a worthy opponent, you were beaten by a reindeer, an animal with a radioactive nose. That's a bad look Xinck. Wait until every hears that Xinck the _Great _and _Terrible _was beaten by Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer!"

Xinck shifted around uncomfortably, "...No shame in being _mauled _and _wounded _by a wild animal. It happens all the time-"

"Is that the lie you're going to tell everyone?"

"It's not a lie if its true! I've got the scars and antler wounds to prove it, you know, until they—oh, my god..." The Deviant broke into a stammer, wriggling and squirming against Saix's back.

"Though I suppose it doesn't matter." Saix said, "Once Xemnas is released from the spell, he'll-"

"Paint the Castle red and pink with our brains."

"Yes, something like that, I imagine. Creative imagery, by the way."

"He's here! He's here!" Xinck howled and wriggling wildly to get free, "Quick, kill me before he does! Oh, god!"

Saix could only turn his head so face, but in his peripherals could make out the approaching outline of Xemnas. "Gah! Quickly, run!" Surprisingly fast, the two Nobodies were able to work together to forcibly pick themselves up, back to back, and head in the opposite direction away from Xemnas. But they did not get very far, as Xemnas was upon them. He tripped the pair and once again they were on the ground, cowering before him, as he held an open palm before them.

"Oh, man, not in the face, not my face, oh, please, oh, god!" Xinck sobbed uncontrollably.

"Superior, listen, " Saix started, "I understand that what we did could _possibly _be seen as as form of treason, but really it was a way to...to..."

"Entertain!" Xinck shouted, "Entertain you!"

It was a longshot, but Saix had little else to go on, "Yes! Entertain you! You've seem so bored lately, we thought it best to take it upon ourselves to give you little something...interesting to be caught up in. you could also think of it as a Christmas present. Happy Christmas, by the way."

Xemnas's palm burst in crackling blue energy, "Are you both quite sure you want _that _to be your last words?"

"Okay, okay, okay!" Xinck started, "Okay, Superior, I don't like to point fingers or anything, but.. IT'S ALL SAIX'S FAULT!"

"Judas!" Saix shrieked, "It's his fault! He cast the spell!"

"He ordered me to do it! I was just following orders! I'm a soldier, a soldier following the chain of command!"

"I didn't order him to drug you, Xemnas! That was all his doing!"

"He allowed children in your home, your domain! Without your permission! All so he can fight Santa Claus!"

"He got his ass handed to him by Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer! How can one of our number be defeated by an animal! He's weak! Kill him first!"

"Wait." Xemnas's powerful voice quelled theirs so easily, "You are saying...that you placed that Curse on my head in order to get me out of the way, so you two can fight Santa Claus and his forces. And you both lost. Horribly."

Both of them swallowed hard, then awkwardly cleared their throats. Xinck said, "Uh...well, yes.._but_, if it makes you feel any better—ha ha, no pun intended—whatever happened in the Carol, no one will ever remember. It was really just to...keep you occupied."

The Superior leered at his Second in Command and his Last subordinate, what exactly went through his mind while he studied them, they could never know or begin to understand. Steadily, though, Xemnas began to lower his hand, the energy sparking in it slowly started disappearing. He cleared his throat, "So, Santa Claus, huh?"

"Yep. Jolly boots of doom so far up Saix's butt, he left with dried shit on his shoes." Xinck wasn't sure exactly why he said that, perhaps it was the lowered threat of pain that allowed his mind to work its magic.

"Xinck, shut your face and your fat ass." Saix fired back.

"Fools." Xemnas cut in, "Don't you know that Santa Claus isn't real?"

"Huh?" Xinck said.

"Uh, Xemnas," Saix said, "He is quite real. We..have the bruises as proof."

"Santa Claus isn't real." Xemnas insisted.

"Yeah, he does." Xinck replied, "He practically had an army, and this big candy cane battle ax. He was ripped, too, like a 50-year-old bodybuilder."

"He was an expert fighter, much more ferocious than last year." Saix muttered, "I will not stop until I see him dead in my hands..."

"No." Xemnas's voice once again quelling theirs. He knelt down on his knee to their level, look them both intensely in the eyes and spoke calmly and slowly. "Santa Claus does not exist, not truly, anyway." With that he quickly turned away from the confounded two, leaving them in bewilderment over his statement as he began walking off into the distance. The wind began to blow, and it was almost possible to hear what sounded like laughter, "I'd punish you for your betrayal, but getting your respective asses handed to you by "Santa" is...well, quite hilarious."

"Wait..wait!" Saix called out, "Aren't you going to release us?"

Xemnas waved them goodbye, "Later, you two."

"Uh...just out of curiosity!" Xinck shouted, "Did you...learn anything?"

Xemnas was gone, left into a Corridor of Darkness whose destination only he knew. Though gone, he did answer the question"...If I didn't, I'd probably be killing you now. Consider your life as a...Present...from me to you."

* * *

_**A Few Days Later...**_

Twilight Town-Clock Tower

"Here's to another Christmas...gone horribly, _painfully _wrong!" Axel proclaimed, holding up his ice cream in a toast.

"What makes you say it went wrong?" Roxas asked.

"Everyone got the crap kicked out of them except you, just like last year."

"Oh, yeah." Roxas, too, held up his ice cream

"Cheers!" Xinck hoisted up his ice cream as well.

After finishing their ice creams, and going for seconds, Roxas produced a small box-shaped present from the inside of his coat and presented it to Axel. "Happy Christmas, Axel."

"Wha-oh, for me? Thanks, man." Axel took the box in his hand, "Hey, its got a nice weight to it. You know, I thought we agreed to a 20 Dollar limit."

"Just open it!" Roxas laughed.

Axel shrugged and began removing the red wrapping paper and the bow. In it was a black, suede covered box. "What is that, a ring?" Xinck asked, "Oh, man, Axel! Roxas finally wants to propose! I'm so happy for you two!"

"Shut up, fat boy!" Axel shouted, receiving a middle finger from Xinck. Axel opened the box and his jaw fell open, "Oh, my god!"

"Its a diamond ring, isn't?" Xinck exclaimed, but Roxas shook his head.

"Oh, my god!" Axel shouted again. From the small box, he produced a shining titanium wristwatch with an attachable chain. Its face was aesthetically complete with silver, crimson and jet black designs.

"Oh, god!" Xinck cried, "No way _that _was twenty bucks!"

"Oh, man, Roxas!" Axel held up the watch to perfectly reflect the light of the setting sun, "This is the Elite Full Metal Jacket Swiss automatic Watch! This costs, at least, 9000 Dollars!"

"You spent 9000 Dollars on Axel!" Xinck cried.

"This is amazing!"

"I can't believe this!"

"How can you afford this!" The two shouted in unison, turning on Roxas in an instant.

The young Nobody seemed to retreat into himself and he shrugged, "Well, I have money. I thought we talked about this?"

Axel opened his mouth to speak but was trumped by Xinck, "Tell me, Roxas, did I do something to piss you off royally to make you hate me!"

"No, Xinck, it's not that, I-"

"No! 9000 dollars, Roxas! 9000 dollars! That is a lot of money to spend on your friend! Oh, your _best _friend, I almost forgot! I get it, Roxas, I understand! I came along second, I'm a third wheel. Am I not that important? Do I mean so _little _to you!"

"Xinck! Xinck! Calm down! I got you something, too!" Quickly, before the Deviant blew a gasket, Roxas produced a medium-sized green envelope.

"An envelope!" Xinck shrieked, "An envelope! Is that all I'm worth to you! AN ENVELOPE!" He ripped the envelope from Roxas's grip, "Maybe I should just finish the job God started and kill myself! Again!"

"Xinck!" Roxas bellowed, "You know I hate it when you talk like that! Now shut up and open your gift!"

Xinck scoffed and began fiddling with the envelope, "Is this how you treat your friends? Well, now I know where I stand, Roxas, and I'll have you know-OH MY GOD!"

"What? What is it?" Axel asked.

"Now, its not _as _expensive as Axel's gift, "Roxas explained, "But it's no way cheap and it was really hard to get."

"!" Xinck chanted to the point of incoherence.

"Wait, wait, wait, what is it!" Axel yelled.

Xinck pulled out several laminated pieces of paper and presented them, "He got me season tickets to _Wicked_!"

"...Uh...what the hell is _Wicked_?"

"Its a musical." Roxas said.

"Xinck likes musicals?"

"Yeah, you didn't know?"

"I do now, apparently."

"Oh, God, Roxas!" Xinck started, "I take back everything mean, horrible and evil I've ever, ever, ever said about you! Even the stuff behind your back!"

"You talk about me behind my back?"

"No! Well...not _now_, I mean, I just took it all back! I mean, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"You're welcome."

"Oh, man, Axel, this blows your crappy gift out of the water!"

"Hey, I'm more than happy with mine!" Axel replied, "Thanks, Rox-"

"Shut the hell up, Axel!" Xinck yelled, "Don't ruin this for me! _No one mourns the Wicked! No one cries 'they won't return'..._"

"Guys, guys! I'm glad you like your gifts" Roxas said, "Now, what'd you get me?"

Then the party stopped. Suddenly the 15 Dollar Wal-Mart shoes Axel bought, and the 5 Dollar Gift Card to McDonald's Xinck bought seem to drastically pale in comparison to the Elite Full Metal Jacket Swiss Automatic Watch and Season Passes to the Broadway Production of _Wicked_. Slowly, Roxas's expression began to sink lower and lower.

"Oh..you guys forgot...again."

"No, no, no!" Xinck said, "It's..not that we forget..its just that, well, compared to what we got you..."

"Our gifts suck ass." Axel cut in, "Like, an unnecessarily _Large _amount of ass."

"Well, I was thinking it was the thought that counts with stuff like this." Roxas said, "Like, Xinck, I know you like musicals because you're always singing in the shower, or when you think you're alone. And, Axel, I know you like collecting stuff, and you're always talking about how the best assassins have high style and symbols of status."

"It's true, they all do. Check out the dude from _Hitman_." Axel said, with a sigh, "Alright, Roxas, we're sorry-"

"So, very, very, sorry." Xinck added.

"And, we wanna make it up to you. Right, Xinck?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Whatever you want, anything you can think of, we'll do. Just name it."

Roxas thought for a moment, his expression beginning to lighten up once more, "Anything, you say?"

* * *

_**10 Minutes Later...**_

"Okay!" Roxas shouted from the rooftops, "First one to the mansion gets his clothes back, last one there has to run all the way back here to the Plaza!"

Axel and Xinck, naked as the day they were born, began to stretch and limber up for their footrace. "Thank god he let us keep our shoes on." Axel said.

"Oh, yeah." Xinck said, "I, uh..see you're wearing a watch, you're expensive, shiny watch."

Axel jiggled his wrist in front of Xinck, "Yep, you gotta admit, the kid's got taste. Where'd you put your tickets?"

"Back pocket."

"You're not wearing any pants, or underwear."

"Other back pocket."

"Agh! Dude, that's sick!"

"What! I don't want them to come loose! Besides, they're laminated. Nice birthmark, by the way."

"Hey! My eyes are up here, you pervert."

"You guys ready!" Roxas called from above.

"I'm gonna run like the naked wind!" Axel shouted.

"After you eat my naked dust!" Xinck bellowed.

"GO! GO! GO!" Roxas cried.

One foot forward and the race started. Axel pulled at the back of Xinck's hair, pulling him down and propelling himself forward. By the time Xinck recovered, Axel was already halfway down the winding slope out of the Plaza. "Aw! Cheating, red-headed bastard!" Xinck stomped his foot on the earth, casting out a great shadow that reached Axel in no time, produced a single tendril and wrapped itself around his ankle, forcefully pulling him to the ground as Xinck sprinted past him.

"Hope you like the the look of my ass flapping in the wind! Ha-ha!"

Axel growled, pyrokinetically incinerating the black tendrils around his foot and summoning a ball of flame in his fist, "Hey! You gotta burn off some of that fat!" He hurled the flame, letting it sail through the air and exploded on Xinck's backside.

"Aghggghhh! That was a cheap shot! And you're still losing!"

"Not a cheap shot if the target's big enough!"

"Yes! Yes!" Roxas shouted, laughing and rolling over as he clutched his sides, "Best naked Christmas race ever!"

* * *

Finally! Now back to Veridis Quo!

Next Chapter_** Veridis Quo, The Book of The In Between.**_


	56. Our Name Is Orphan For I Am Many

**_ -)THE DEVIANT-THE ORPHAN(-_**

* * *

_**O**_nce upon a time, in a land far far away, there was a little girl with gorgeous black hair and shining emerald eyes. The beautiful little girl lived with her parents and they loved her very much. She lived in a large town and all the townspeople loved her, too. She was their little princess, she was their light and when she was happy, they were happy.

One day, the little girl was playing outside

and she heard a horrible noise come from the forest just outside of town.

She was frightened by the terrible noise.

She told the adults and they quickly became worried.

A small group of the town's strong men were sent out to find out what the noise was.

They never came back.

The people mourned...

Rumors spread about the demon in the forest...

Weeks passed and tragedy struck

when a Dark Man with a Dark purpose came.

He came like a plague, with ghost-white demons at his heels. He set them loose on the people with no remorse. The Little Girl was chased down by one of the demons, but her mother and father fought them off to protect her. All three of them ran for the edge of town to escape the Dark Man.

Before the family could make it out, a great black pyre fired into the air and spread out over the land.

No one could leave.

* * *

**VERIDIS QUO**

_White Realm-Black Cathedral_

Orphan the Desolate continues her onslaught against Xinck. Her black blade, Sunyata, cancels out his healing factor and negates his darkness. Her physical fighting power is greater than his, her magic is unstoppable, so much so that she is far beyond the level of what an ordinary human could attain.

Xinck nears his limits. His training was all useless when confronted with Orphan. His darkness was nothing to her and she was slowly wearing out his magical abilities. She had even managed to permanently mark him. A black tear line that thinly ran down the bottom of his eye to his chin.

–

An azure inferno raged throughout the white expanse of space. The fires burned and troubled, scorching the white floor into a charred black. The blue flames began to turn on themselves and as Xinck directed them with his hands, they turned upward into the air, curved downward and separated into a myriad of pulsating fireballs to rain straight down on Her en masse.

"_Vocivus!" _Orphan proclaimed. Tearing open just above her, a black spiral of air twisted wide and devoured the oncoming assault. Just as quickly as it came, the black spiral imploded in on itself, leaving a light mist of blue hovering down around her.

"I see." She said as she studied Xinck, who was bent over and breathing loudly from injuries he had sustained. "Nobodies are said to learn quickly, much faster than the average human. You've studied the mystical arts and are at a high level, but you lack the years' experience and training that is supposed to come with it."

Between bouts of breathing and swallowing, Xinck managed to snap back, "What's it to you?" Parts of his body tried to heal, though the parts that had been wounded by Sunyata continued bleeding. Orphan was perfectly fine, barely a scratch on her. There were no signs that she'd been in a battle, at least no signs that she was losing.

"It means you are nothing but a Witch-boy!" She replied, "For twenty years I have spent every waking moment perfecting my magical techniques and have the appropriate strength that comes with it. You, on the other hand, simply read a few spell books, parroted their texts and thought yourself a master."

"You don't-"

"Don't try to deny it!" She cut him off. "You can't hide it, even if you tried. The proof is in every spell you've fired at me since we've started."

Orphan could see right through him, and Xinck knew it. His magic was quickly learned and strong, but not mastered and powerful. "Witch-boy!" He spat savagely, "At least I'm a sexy Witch-boy, aren't I? Ha ha!"

"Always with the jokes..." Orphan broke into a high-speed dash, leaving a streak of black and purple as she went. She reached Xinck before he could move and unleashed a flurry of punches into his skull. "You WILL take me seriously!" She bellowed, jumped and whipped her heel against the side of his head.

Xinck's body spun towards the ground. As he went, he stuck out his foot and swept Orphan's feet out from under her, sending her to the ground. "I do take you seriously, Orphan!" He raised his foot and drove his heel into the small of her back, "But its your cause that's the joke, not me! You ruin the memory of your people by denying their true part in this. Kill me for them, not for yourself!"

Orphan screamed, breaking out from under Xinck's heel and tackling into him. She pushed Him down to the floor, readied her fists and broke into a rage, pummeling him repeatedly.

* * *

The town and even its townspeople were engulfed in flames,

Burning,

Screaming,

Dying.

The Dark Man laughed and sneered, pouncing on the people

Hurting them,

Breaking them,

Eating them.

Soon, the once prosperous town was nothing but an empty, blackened husk of its former self, forced to hang open like a rotted wound. Its once happy people, slaughtered, cut down, mutilated beyond recognition.

The Little Girl and her family had managed to stay safe, by sheer luck. The father stood guard outside, doing his best to protect the house from collapsing from the fire. Even still, their home became an empty, black skeleton that blended in with the rest of their now decayed town.

The Dark Man was coming towards the house. The Little Girl's father signaled for his family to hide.

The Little Girl's mother, for her daughter's protection, placed her in a box, hidden in the back of the house.

A series of gun shots were heard. The Dark Man howled, and his howling then turned to laughter.

In the box, the Little Girl could just see the figure of her father, standing his ground, proud and unafraid as always. For a moment, her heart was assuaged. But then the silhouette of the Dark Man came into view,causing her heart to rise into her throat. Her father attacked, punching and landing several blows into the Dark Man, sending him to the ground.

The Little Girl wanted to cheer, to scream out in praise and joy. So must have her mother, who sensed this, turned to her daughter and placed a forceful hand over her mouth. They met eye to eye, and the mother removed her hand and kissed her daughter on the head.

It would be the last time she would do so.

The mother turned from her daughter, and as she did they both bore witness to the horrible fate of the man they knew and loved. The Dark Man lowered the now deceased man, his face now just a mutilated, concave aberration.

The Little Girl wanted to scream, but felt the phantom hand of her mother clasp over her mouth, forcing the sound back down her throat.

Her mother wasn't as lucky. Seeing her husband in that state forced a loud gasp from her lips, and soon the Dark man was on her, in plain view of the little girl. She couldn't see what her mother saw, feel what she felt, but whatever it was that she saw in the Dark Man made her confident enough to lay hands on him and push him down.

A small triumph, another, smaller relief of the Little Girl's heart. But that relief, too, turned to infinite despair. The Dark Man grabbed the mother and took off into the air, out of sight.

The Sounds of screaming,

tearing flesh.

Blood.

The Dark Man fell back to the ground, ruby red rain fell on him, as if he had split open a cloud. Two, parts of the Little Girl's mother fell, her legs and her torso. They twitched, then moved no more.

Her Parents were dead. She was alone. The Little Girl was paralyzed with fear, she couldn't run, though her brain screamed at her legs to move. She could neither breath nor scream, as her mother's phantom hand still had itself affixed to her mouth. All she could do was let the tears streak down her face, blur her vision and burn her eyes.

Through her tears, she saw the Dark man walk into the house. It was then she could truly see him. Blood-soaked, murderous and as merciless and vicious as a beast, He was just a boy.

The Little Girl's heart beat like a war drum. This was it, she was going to die. She could wouldn't be alone, then, she could be with her parents and all the townspeople again. She hoped he saw her, hoped he could see her through the ash-black house. But he turned his attention to the small, white husk that appeared. They seemed to be speaking, though no words came from the white husk, only an eerie humming noise that the Dark Man seemed to understand.

Soon the Dark Man turned from the house and from underneath him, his shadow erupted into black fire that over took both him and his white husk companion. Before he disappeared, The Little Girl could feel his eyes looking deep into hers, his gaze breaking her paralysis just before he vanished.

Alone

Silent

In Fear

She closed her eyes, she fell limp and lost consciousness.

* * *

Orphan bombarded the Deviant's face with her left and her right repeatedly. Xinck kneed her in the groin, flipped her over on the ground and delivered a succession of backhands across her face. The pair grunted and outburst with every hit, they turned over each other as they rolled along the floor, beating, punching and kicking nonstop.

It was odd. No powers, no swords, no magic, just bare-fists, scraped knees and blood. The physical contact, their bodies together, rubbing together, in pain together. Hands grabbed at each other, yanked and pulled at body parts. They screamed and moaned in hate and pain of the other. Finally, Xinck, atop Orphan, he bound her wrists with his hands, raised his head in preparation to bash in her face, when he stopped, his eyes meeting hers.

They stopped moving, only to gaze at the other.

"It would do nothing...if I said I was sorry, would it? Even If I tried to truly mean it?"

"You could say Sorry all you want, say it until you're blue in the face." Orphan replied, "It wouldn't matter. Outside of seeing you die, _nothing_ matters." The Azure Stone hanging around her neck glimmered and shined brighter, taking Xinck's attention from Orphan.

Xinck started,"This rock...I can feel it. It's like a little heart beat..." Freeing her hand from his grip, Orphan recalled Sunyata to her hand, raised it up over Xinck and impaled him in the side of his thigh. "_GAHHH!"_

"_Enclose_, Sunyata!" Her blade exploded in a flash of green flames, consuming a portion of Xinck's upper left leg. He rolled off Orphan and started bounding away on his one good leg as quick as he could. His other leg, now rendered incapable of healing, bled profusely. The blood stained puddles on the floor, his footing was off due to his injury and his foot flew out from under him, sending him crashing to the floor while clutching his side.

"Aaaargh! Bitch!" He screamed and hollered, "Why!"

Orphan began making her way over to him, swinging Sunyata to and fro, "He asks stupid questions, do you hear? Xinck, don't bleed out before I've had a chance to make you squirm around some more."

""Gah!" The Deviant cried, splattering blood from his mouth onto his chin. He sees Orphan, advancing on him closer and closer. Desperately, he raised a hand that sparked with an intense orange glow, "_Soulevez Le Haut, Caché Dans Les Chapeaux Magiques! _Fr: ('Lift The Top, Hidden Within The Magical Hats')"

Falling out of nowhere came a large black construct. It quickly took the form of a large black top hat with a checkered pattern of red and white on its band. A large question mark was superimposed over the front. The hat hid Xinck away from Orphan, then its surface began to shimmer and shift and soon there were a multitude of identical clones, a total of 9 in rows of three.

"You're hiding? Coward! Abaddon Flare!" Black and Crimson flames erupted underneath the nearest hat to Orphan, obliterating it on the spot. There was no sound, save for smoldering leather.

From Orphan's view, she saw a row of three magical hats, with two rows behind them, totaling Nine hats. Minus the one she just destroyed, there were now 8 hats. Xinck was hidden away, in the first hat to the left in the third row, cowering, bleeding.

* * *

Time

How much of it passed?

Minutes

Hours

Days

When did the little girl finally find the strength to move from her spot?

It was when feeling finally returned to her body.

And when it returned, it brought a horrible hunger with it.

Slowly, almost akin to the Sloth, the Little Girl moved, crawled out of her box. Quietly, she moved through the back of her house to the outside. She wouldn't dare go through the front and risk seeing her parents' bodies.

She came outside, the smell of death, rotting corpses and decay invaded her nose as a warm intruder. Vomiting, she feel to the ground, weak from hunger and trauma. When she finally raised her head, and beheld the carnage leftover from the Dark Man's slaughter, her spirit finally released itself. All of her pent of fear, her grief and sorrow exploded from her body in a horrible wail that nearly shattered her body.

It was a scream like no other. The only scream one who went through something beyond hell could produce. A scream that was horrible enough to burst blood vessels in her eyes, coating them in red, a scream frightening enough to strain her hair, streaking it with white. And finally, she lost her voice and could no longer scream.

She wandered Aimlessly.

Silent and in a daze.

She walked through smoldering embers of wood and broken metal

She walked over bodies,

corpses impossible to discern of they were human.

At her lowest, She came close to eating the dead flesh of her people.

She walked in circles around the ruins of her town.

The sun set, the moon rose, the sun rose again.

Days past and her body finally succumbed to her hunger.

She collapsed.

There was nothing left in her, save her intense hatred for the one who did this to her. Hatred so intense, if she had any energy left it would burn her own body. Her dying body.

Her breathing was becoming shallow now. Her eyes began to lose their light and darkness closed in. but the image of that boy was burned into her brain. His eyes would stay with her always.

The Little Girl started to let go, hearing her own heart beat slower and slower.

* * *

It was a special spell Xinck had tweaked to some extent. The spell hid the target away for some time and the hats would be destroyed in little time, but Xinck's meddling made it impossible to destroy all the hats at once and the attacker had to wait 30 seconds before he or she had the chance to attack again.

In the darkness, the Deviant tore off the right sleeve of his coat and gingerly bound his injured thigh to stop his bleeding. Normally, the pain would have already stopped and the wound would be healed, but the effect of Orphan's sword prevented this. He would have a limp for the rest of his life, and if things continued the way they were, that wouldn't be too long.

_BOOM!_ Another hat exploded into flames, bringing their numbers down to 5.

"_You weren't in that one" _Xinck heard Orphan say, _"I can tell because I don't smell your hair burning."_

Xinck said nothing, he remained silent, he even kept his breathing shallow. He needed a plan, something quick and effective. All he could do was magic, but even that was having little effect on Orphan. Xinck could check inside himself. Doing so, he was able to determine that amount of energy he had left for magic. It wasn't much, less than 60% if he had to make a guess.

_BOOM!_ Only 4 hats remained after another explosion, followed by a grunt of frustration from Orphan.

"_Damn! She's getting closer._" What could he do? He had to make her stop, incapacitate her somehow. If he could get just one direct hit, he knew he could stop her, at the very least slow her down or weaken her enough so he'd have a better chance.

Then it hit him. The strongest offensive spell he had in his repertoire. It was the one spell Xinck took his time to learn effectively. If done right, not only could it hinder Orphan, it might even help to stop her entirely. But there were also drawbacks, mostly the time it took to draw the needed script, chant the incantation and charge it. The spell would deplete the remainder of his magical energy, and if he's not careful it would begin to reach into his life energy.

It was all a gamble. If not done right, the spell would kill him and if he failed, Orphan would kill him.

_BOOM! _This explosion was much closer. Xinck was out of time and he had no choice.

* * *

The Little Girl was near-dead, so close to her people in a way.

By chance, an emaciated traveler happened upon the dead town. This Traveler, who through her own studies and determination, had become something more than human via magic. She was traveling, collecting data and information. This woman had grand plans and they had all just begun.

The woman became drawn into the town, feeling a strong presence amongst its dead inhabitants.

The Woman came to the Little Girl. Through her own means, she could see through the Little Girl's eyes, see what she saw, feel what she felt.

She sensed her Rage, her Grief.

"Would it be better to just let her die?"

The Woman thought.

But then

The Woman saw the Dark Man

She saw his Coat.

This Little Girl had been touched by the same hand that had ruined the Woman's life.

The Woman came to cradle the Little Girl in her arms. "You have to live, you _will _live." She said. She could care for the Little Girl, nurture her raw emotions. The Woman found the perfect addition to her grand works, a Little Girl named...

* * *

"Orphan!" Xinck switched to offense. He fired out from the top of the hat he was hiding in and coasted through the air.

""Someone's calling my name." The Orphan turned skyward to see Xinck. She brandished Sunyata and prepared to fire off a spell to intercept him mid-flight.

"_Gire druy ho! (_Restrain My Enemy_)._" A quick move, quicker than Orphan had anticipated. A violet colored ring sprang to life around Xinck's finger and he hurled it towards the Orphan.

The ring snagged Orphan by her legs, marking a purple sigil underneath her feet to lock her in place. Unfazed, she looked at the purple aura, shot a look towards Xinck, then back to the aura. "A level 25 Spell, 'Gire Druy Ho'. Restrains the enemy in place for a time."

Xinck came out of the air and collided with the ground. He hit his bad leg and promptly fell to the ground, "Ah!" He rolled up onto his good leg and limped/bounded away even further.

"A novice level incantation, really." Orphan continued, "You know of what I am capable, right? Why do you waste what little energy you have on these kiddie spells, knowing full well it can't hold me?"

"OF COURSE I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE CAPABLE OF!" Xinck bellowed. He took the zipper at the front of his black coat and pulled it down, ripping the zipper and its trail off the fabric and exposing his bare front, "You've trained for years, all in pursuit of killing me! Well, you must want to test yourself! Test how strong you really are! So you STAY RIGHT THERE!"

"Oh?" Orphan was actually taken aback at this, interested in his next move. She observed him dipping his fingers into the abundant amount of blood coming from his thigh. Xinck began to rapidly draw a large, intricate circle lined with markings and symbols. Once that was completed, he gathered more of his blood and drew a six-pointed star superimposed on the circle with different markings at its six major points.

"You called me Witch Boy," Xinck started, "Can a Witch Boy do this!" Once he finished the scribes on the floor, he gathered more blood once more and began to mark himself, starting from his bare stomach, to his chest, neck and concluding on his forehead.

"Those symbols..."Orphan observed. She knew she saw them somewhere, in one of the many volumes and tomes and articles she studied and memorized, the name of that spell came to her, "_Daten Goze_." She said, " 'Lamentations of the Deity'. " For the firs time, Orphan began the smallest hint of a smile, "You truly are insane, aren't you? You'll only hurt yourself, Witch Boy!"

"We'll see about that." Xinck replied heavily.

With no effort, and to Xinck's surprise, Orphan dismissed Sunyata and stayed her ground, paying no mind to the Binding spell around her ankles. "We'll watch this. You aren't capable of properly handling magic of that caliber, so we shall watch as Daten Goze chews you up and spits you out. Then I'll handle the rest."

Xinck paid her taunts no mind. He had to focus on his body and his energies. This spell was very particular in its handling. Xinck needed to evenly distribute the remainder of his power into the Six points of the star, while at the same time reciting the incantation word for word. As both tasks were in process, the spell would use his energy as a sacrifice to deliver a single burst of energy whose power reached near immeasurable levels. A single slip up, the spell would backfire internally, destroying him from the inside out.

"I don't have much of a choice." He said to himself, "I have to try." Xinck flexed out his arms, then brought the palms of his hands to his chest._"Tsovin Iiyalladin Havascin,"_ He chanted repeatedly, igniting the marks of blood around his body in a red light.

Xinck then stopped chanting and lowered his hands from his glowing body. He now hovered them around the edge of the six-pointed star and circle and spoke,"Taer Apuarte, Bi Eto Bey Svaharter ore Sciolovacion." The blood runes on the ground and marking on his body began to hiss and effervesce red and white steam. The star and circle beneath his feet shined brightly and at the six points of the star, white, translucent pillars begin to rise up exactly 2 feet in the air.

The bulk of preparation for the spell had been finished. Now came the long run of chanting an incantation. With that in mind, Xinck pulled up both his knees to a criss-cross position, he floated just above his glowing Array that began to hiss and effervesce a white mist. He started,

"Hear me, Ancients from the—_AGHHH!"_

Xinck fell out of his mid-air position, half of his face smoldering and burning from an impact fireball. His wound would heal, but his vision was lost in his eye. He looked to Orphan, still bound by his previous spell, smirking at him with an open palm freshly smoking, "Oops. Finger slip." She said.

"Ah!" Groaning with difficulty, Xinck picked himself up, struggling to maintain his concentration to keep his Array alive. He continued:

"_Hear me, Ancients from the Earth!_

_Hear me, Fathers from the Sea..."_

A quick bursting surge of energy cracked and thundered along the border of the Array. Xinck regained his position, floating mid-air with his legs crossed.

"_Through Me, Sing Your Sorrows To My Impious Enemy!"_

He threw a hand into the air, cast in burning purple flames that caught his black coat on fire, but did not burn him. White mist and red lightning struck around him, billowing upwards high over his raised hand, struggling to take shape.

"_Reunite Above Me!_

_**REUNITE ABOVE ME, ELDERS!**_

_Reunite Above And Give To Me..._

_A Hymn To Set Her Free!"_

Out of the mist and red lighting, phantom faces, composed of only hollow mouths and empty eye sockets. There were six of them, each representing one of the six pillars at the point of the star, each varying in size, but all of them filled with an Eldritch presence. They opened their mouths, slowly at first with no sound, but then words were born in the form of a song chant.

"…_.JAI XSIY MOUU-TSI SEY KCANTRA MEGIDDO..."_

A Furious tempest of purple flames, red lightning and white mist erupted about Xinck's body. The purple flames had completely stripped him of his black coat, had affixed themselves to his body like chains, around his stomach, neck, chest, wrists and ankles, that savagely suspended him in the air. The flaming chains were bound in a myriad of directions, some stuck in the air, others wrapped around the surrounding pillars.

"_...JAI XSIY MOUU-TSI SEY KCANTRA MEGIDDO..."_

The pain and chains were symbolic of the energy being drained from his body to drive the spell."Hear me, spirits, now!" Xinck opened his eyes, now burning brightly with the purple flames attached to his body. His screams coincided with his chanting as he thrashed about his legs and arms. "Jai Xsiy Mouu-tei Sey Kcantra Megiddo!"

Orphan watched as the flames intensified, the pillars filled and Xinck's body deteriorate. She could see his energy being sapped by the spell. The amount of force he was exuding was becoming painfully obvious to her. As the spell readied, winds blew outward, extinguishing the fires they had created and blowing back the debris that littered the White Hall.

Then, a thought occurred to the orphan girl. What if he actually succeeded in loading the spell? Would it be more than enough to kill her? This did not bode well with her, and a need for self-preservation was born inside her. "Enough!" With her hand, a rush of ice and snow collected in her palm. She took aim and hurled the high powered Blizzagun spell. As it closed in, it began to shrink in size and became nothing more than water at the perimeter of the Array. "Damn!" Orphan cursed.

With both palms open, Firagun and Blizzagun spells formed and she unloaded barrage after barrage at Xinck and his Array, but as the spells came in closer to the Array, they continued dissolving into nothing.

"It's almost Ready, ORPHAN! Jai Xsiy Mouu-tei Sey Kcantra Megiddo!" Xinck now pulled with all his might his hands together before his chest. In the dead center, an ever-changing sphere of red and purple formed, ready to be released.

"Dammit, dammit!" She knew she wouldn't be able to dodge his attack. Orphan tore into a frenzy, ripping left and right with both index fingers as lightning gathered at her tips. She pulled her elbows in, then fired the shot directly for Xinck's head. The lightning cascaded across the White Hall and impacted the Deviant and his spell directly. He should have been injured, the spell backfired and killed him, but the spell merely absorbed the lightning like it was nothing.

It was now too late. All six of the pillars had been filled. The _Daten Goze _was at its peak.

Through burning eyes, Xinck saw Orphan, a look of shock on her face. This was it, He thought, he had won. He would live.

"Bye Bye." Xinck threw out his arms. The sphere consumed his body, then expanded outward, impossibly fast, impossible violent. A great flaming wall of purple and crimson burned in every direction, obliterating whatever was left of the Black Cathedral.

"Oh, shit!" The Orphan yelled. The spell reached its full extent, an outburst of chaos and eruptions sounded. Then everything went Black.

* * *

Revenge is never a straight line. It's a forest, and like a forest it's easy to lose your way … to get lost … to forget where you came in.

Have I lost my way?

I've trained, I've practiced, I've meditated for years. For Him. It's all I know.

I dedicated all of myself in pursuit of justice for my people. My hatred, my horror drove me to it. For Him.

It's been so long, I like to think I've come far from being that Little Girl who screamed so horribly she lost her voice, her hair turned white. I am a warrior, a fighter. I became those things to shoulder us, my people. For him.

For Him. The man who took everything from me and just laughed about it. There are no words left for me when I think about him. He's been with me for all these years. He's in my heart, he's in my soul.

I hate him. I Hate Him. I HATE HIM, I HATE HIM, I HATE HIM!

But that isn't enough. It's nowhere near enough to what I feel.

I Hate Him. And so much more.

I Hate Myself.

-Orphan.

* * *

It hurt to move. His body was so weak. It was still injured from the unhealing stab wound in his thigh, plus the various other similar cuts all over his body. Dazed and with his head still swimming, Xinck opened his eyes and saw nothing but black. The once stark pale walls and floors of the White Hall were now coal black. The spell had burned everything, reducing it all to ash and blackness.

Orphan was nowhere in sight. He could not sense her at all.

There was a light, shining and pale, coming down from above. Painfully, Xinck craned his neck upward to see a great hole in the middle of the ceiling. Light poured in and slow winds could be heard. The outside of Veridis Quo. He thought it must have been from the blast.

As much as it hurt, Xinck picked himself up. His body, with his torso bare and unclothed, twitched and shook, and when he looked closer, he could see his hand just slightly fading away. He was so close to truly dying. His body's energy reserves were basically gone, only having enough potential to keep him alive in his current state but not enough to heal him effectively.

He took a look around. Nothing. Just darkness around him and light above him. "What now?" He thought, unsure of what to do. He thought about Roxas, he wondered if he was alright. He wanted to scoff at the idea but found his body would not let him expend the energy. "Of course he's okay."

Xinck started moving forward, with no direction in mind, unsure of how he would even get anywhere. His walking turned to limping. Limping turned to strutting, and that, too, soon turned into falling. Xinck fell to his knees. He truly had nothing left. He would die here if he stayed, but he didn't know what to do.

The Daten Goze took everything and more from his already weakened state, even though he recited it perfectly word for word and it successfully destroyed his enemy, it was still too much for him. Maybe Orphan was right about him and his magic. Witch Boy was an appropriate title. "_She was right about everything." _He thought, caressing the black tear line she had carved into his cheek.

Before his lucid state-induced thoughts could take hold, a sharp sword pain in his solar plexus brought him back to reality. "WHHHAAH! He howled, peeking down at the black blade tip pocking out from above his bare abs.

"Enclose...Sunyata!" The blade erupted in green flames, burning the fresh blood as it came pouring out. Writhing, unable to escape, Xinck was being tossed around just enough for his head to lean back and catch a glimpse of Orphan.

She looked perfectly fine, undamaged, unscathed. In fact, she looked even better than she did before the battle even intensified. With her free hand, she flicked a section of her long black and white hair, revealing that the end had just a noticeable amount of singe to it.

"You missed." She said tauntingly. With no effort, she removed her blade from his body and kicked him to the floor. Instinctively, Xinck started crawling on his knees, trying to get away.

"No! S-stay away! WHY ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!"

"Shocked?" The Orphan asked, taking her time in advancing on him, her face alive with a grin, her azure gem necklace shining brighter than before. "I saw you place all you had in that spell. In the right hands, of course it would've killed anyone. Anyone but ME!" She lunged at Xinck and was quickly upon him. One swing from Sunyata and Xinck's right leg was ripped from his body.

"Arrgh! God, no! ARRGHH!" He turned his back on Orphan, pulling himself away as quick as he could with his bare hands. His severed leg faded away in a pool of blood.

"See that hole up there?" She casually motioned her head skyward. "Just at the last second, the VERY last second, I was just able to redirect all that energy intended for me up into the air. I tried to fire it towards you, but we only had so much time, so I pointed it up."

"Grrr!" Xinck tried to keep moving, but the strength in his arms seemed to give out, just as Orphan came over to him and struck him at the base of his spine with her heel.

"Nobodies overestimate themselves." Orphan chided, "You have these..awesome powers, near immortality, but you don't have hearts and you still consider yourselves superior to humans. All of you. No matter how much you say you want your hearts, no matter how much you want to be human, none of you TRULLY want to give up that power, that arrogance. Do you?" She nudged Xinck roughly with her foot twice, expecting some type of response, but received nothing but shallow breathing.

Orphan rolled her eyes and rolled him over, replacing her foot on his bleeding solar plexus, "You asked me earlier if my hate for you and your kind caused me to be conflicted while working with Xibre. To be honest, it did, but only at first. You see, I had no intention of working with him beyond my revenge on you. In fact, I planned on killing him along with every other Nobody I could get get my hands on. You...things, you living abortions are just plagues. What do you offer to the worlds other than destruction? NOTHING!"

"Ah...uh..gah!" Xinck groaned. His eyes were filling with blood, and rolling in different directions.

"Maybe," Orphan said, "After I finish you, I should go after that Blonde one. One less abortion to worry about."

With that, focus returned to his eyes. Xinck grabbed at Orphan's leg through what sheer will and attempted to pull her foot off his stomach, "N-NO! Take me! I did it! I did everything to you, not him! My sins are my own!"

"Sins!" Orphan replied, "Man can sin, Xinck. Sins can be forgiven, absolved. There are no words or reprieves for what you did!" Her grip came to his neck and she hauled him up to her level. She looked into his bloody, slightly askew eyes and said nothing.

"What more do you want from me?" Xinck sobbed through blood-laden words.

"What more do you have to give?" She asked back, "I've waited twenty years for this, twenty years for you, twenty years for this time...with you."

Then it all just came together. His eyes returned her gaze and they widened in enlightenment, "Of course! You...you've done nothing but _obsess _over me for twenty years. You hate me, but no one's hatred could last for that long, no one's..."

"True," She said softly, softer than any of the words she had said before. She dropped the Deviant, on one knee and one bloody numb, at her feet and turned away from him while brandishing Sunyata. "Everything I did for you, every second of training, preparing, meditating, I did for you and I did it with every emotion in me to drive myself. My hatred, my grief, my fear, my envy. After so many years, my hate evolved into something more because the hate itself was not enough. I had become so involved with you, that it had turned into a love at the thought of seeing your end, your suffering the way I had suffered."

"Is that it?" His head down, he mumbled into his chest. His body was going cold and limp. "Is it your love that makes your magic so strong? Your body so resilient to me and my attacks? Is it your _love _that makes you so powerful!" He raised his voice and lifted his head while he reached into his arm sleeve and pulled out the black-glass dagger he stored therein. Just as Orphan turned around to him, he lunged off his one leg for her.

He raised the dagger with one hand and grabbed at her with his other, taking hold of the first thing he could get, "Why? You're just a human! One human! Why are you so strong!"

The dagger coming for her head did not faze her. The anger in his stare did not scare her. But her azure stone in his grip excited her.

Shock entered Xinck's face as he took hold of the gem. A pulsing force, like a heart whose throbbing beats bred earthquakes ripped through his hand and through his body. Ethereal noise shouted into his mind. Thousands upon thousands of voices.

He dropped his dagger. In his confusion, Orphan struck him down, sending him crashing to the floor once more. A cold sweat ran through his already dying body. His voice was shaky, "No...no you didn't! Orphan, you didn't...no, ALL THOSE PEOPLE!"

The Orphan took hold of her azure stone and held it out to Xinck, her eyes shimmering with the stone's glow, "You want to know where my strength comes from, Xinck? It's not love, that is my drive. My strength..._OUR _Strength comes FROM MY PEOPLE!" Bursting forth from the stone came blue hued lights, dozens of them, all in the vague shape of people. They moaned, they wailed, they flew out in wide circles around Orphan.

They seemed to notice Xinck and began flying around him, they're souls passing through his and sharing their pain and anguish.

"_My Family, my babies, Gone!"_

"_Mommy, help me!"_

"_Why, God, Why?"_

"_Help Me! NO!"_

"_Please, not my husband! NOT MY HUSBAND PLEASE!"_

"_Don't leave me like this! Please, just kill me! KILL MEEE!"_

More and More souls of his victims came zooming around him, bashing into him, sharing their horror and grief. Orphan and Xinck were surrounded by an unyielding tempest of unknowable despair and loss. "The souls of my people rest with me." Orphan said, caressing the azure stone in her grip, "I am them and they are me. My name is Orphan, Xinck. For we are many. "

"AHHHHH!" The blue souls began to grab and wrap themselves around his arms and his one leg, around his neck and torso. He cries and sobs, nothing when compared to the wailing of the spirits drowning out his voice. They began to pull him toward Orphan, closer and closer. Then they hauled him into the air, not just to Orphan, but to the azure gem itself. He screamed, tried to resist, but his body had nothing left. The blue light intensified, his body started being absorbed into it as he looked to Orphan.

"No...Stop...Stop it."

She only smiled, saying softly, "They begged for mercy, too."

"Please! Stop!" His body began to vanish.

"Justice in its purest form. Our Justice."

"_**STOP IT PLEEEASE!**_"

A solitary burst of light and the Deviant was no more. The Souls had vanished. Orphan was alone in the darkness of the White Hall. She cradled the blue Necromancer's Stone close to her heart. "I love you, Xinck." She said to the stone, "I love you to death."

* * *

I am Trying to get back into the swing of things, yes I know it has been awhile, but thank you to all loyal readers. I will do my best to get the next chapter up as quick as possible. Next Chapter, **Veridis Quo, Roxas and the Book of the In-Between.**


	57. VQ, Roxas And The Book Of The In Between

Horrible news, folks.

-Oh, no. You're going on another Hiatus aren't you? Oh, my God, man, get your depressive emotional crap together! Go to a therapist!

No, no, it's not that. Unfortunately, I have run out of funds, so...Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance is gonna have to wait.

-Ha! Sucks to be you!

Oh, yeah, sucks to be me AND the voice in my head who won't get to look up Spoilers on Wikipedia.

-You Ass.

Deal with it, druggie! Anyway, about this chapter: Have you ever seen one of those Quentin Tarantino movies where there are really long, drawn out talk segments? Like the one in "Death Proof"? Yeah, this chapter is kinda like that. Kinda, JUST kinda, but Its completely worth it because you're finally gonna learn a few things. While I was working on this, I was also working on two more chapters at the same time and they could be up...sometime.

So, yeah, Disclaimer and yadda yadda yadda yadda.

Update-Sorry, I had to take this down earlier, I had some extra stuff to add.

* * *

There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the layout of Veridis Quo. No matter how many stairs Roxas climbed, the Super-fortress didn't seem to care, and made up its own mind whether or not He went down or up. Every chance he had, Roxas would look out a window or an opening, sometimes he would be high in the clouds, other times he would be mere inches from the ground floor.

With every step, he found himself hating this place even more. Roxas thought of all the damage he had caused while in these walls: his fight with Neri, which destroyed the Old Ruins, and his two battles with Baby, which devastated both the Atrium and later the Auditorium. He hoped he'd get a chance to destroy more of this horrible place, and Masq along with it.

Minutes kept dragging by, taking their time to pass.

How long had it been since he had killed Baby? 20 minutes, or an hour? Roxas couldn't tell. All he could do was keep running, searching for Axel and calling his name.

"Axel! AAAAXXXEEELL!" His voice echoed though Veridis Quo. He had been shouting his name so many times, he was beginning to think it was losing meaning, but then a thought occurred: He could just say whatever came to mind, and as long as he was heard, Axel was sure to respond to the sound of his voice.

"CHIMICHANGAS!" Roxas hollered. He hadn't eaten for a while, so he wasn't surprised that food was the first thing on his mind. "TAQUITOS! TOSTADAS!"

A normal person would have shouted themselves hoarse at this point.

* * *

**Earlier...**

"What? No! Sta—stay away! Get Back!"

The Good Doctor. From the perspective of the Fortress, his last Twenty years had been nothing more than inauspicious with the only light of hope being the resurrection of his family: His wife, his son , his two birth daughters and his wife's other child. His only regret was losing them and their love. How he hated himself for pushing them away in hopes of achieving notoriety with his work and research.

If only he hadn't squandered their love for years, they might still be alive.

This had to be _her _doing! Of course, who else could it be! On his back and inching away from the danger, the Good Doctor, exclaimed, "Masq should have kept you where you belong!" He knew she might pull something like this to get him out of the way, now he had no choice but to use his failsafe. It would mean the end of everything, himself, his life's work and the hope of his family's return, but at the very least he could stop Masq and her plot against the worlds.

Masq, the whorish Witch who promised their return from death was his only reason for anything: why he draws breath, why he moves his muscles, why he wasted countless days and nights constructing her blasphemous cannon.

Desperately, He reached into his lab coat and pulled out the trigger that would both destroy the cannon and all of Veridis Quo with it. He positioned his fingers to activate it manually, but a flaming chakram came for him and sawed off his hand cleanly. "Dah! No!" His failsafe activation device skidded across the floor, out of range. A circle of flames ignited around it and the device began to melt into the floor.

It was amazing. Once upon a time, the Doctor took great pride in everything he created, whether it was for the benefit of mankind or it's detriment, but this machine, and Masq's intent for it could only be for nothing but evil. And it was built by his hands.

The Doctor looked upon Axel, not with the fear of death, for he had died twenty years ago, but with the fear of the pain Masq had ordered Axel to inflict on his person. The Doctor looked into the cold, empty green eyes of his executioner, and he found a hint of relief. The poor fool was under mind control.

True, Masq provided all the needed materials and more, and they had both cooperated on the immensely, near-incomprehensible calculations, but when it came to actually building the monster up, bit by bit, piece by piece, it was all the Doctor.

Axel continued to advance, silent and intent on his target. The Doctor stayed where he was, studying the mind control devices attached to Axel's temples. He could easily break Masq's hold over him as he had a device in his lab capable of scrambling his aural senses, but if only he could get to it...

There was less than a foot left between Axel and the Doctor, and even less than that as the former raised a burning chakram. Suddenly, though, coming through the corridors, was a sound that stayed Axel's hand.

"_Axel! AXXXXEEEELLLL!" _

"...Ra...R..?" The assassin stayed his hand, his body twitched in confusion as his true mind tried to fight its way out from under Masq's control. "Roxas..."

The Doctor found his opening, "Ah, yes, Axel, can you hear him?" He seethed, suppressing the pain where his hand used to be, "The angel boy is calling for you, yes? Go on, go!"

"_CHIMICHANGAS!"_

Axel wavered for a moment, his face shrouded in an uncertainty. The devices attached to his temples began to blink faster and his body twitched in response, prompting him out of his stupor. Either way, the doctor had enough time to flee. With what energy he had, he kicked himself up, broke into a run and turned the nearest corner.

With only one hand, the Doctor tugged on a rectangular device, which also functioned as his belt buckle, and began to press buttons, "Computer, open a portal to my lab, now!" His orders received a beeping response and his belt emitted a brief shot of light for the nearest wall. The beam tore open upon contact with a flat surface, generating a shimmering, ethereal portal of gold.

Cutting through the air, another flaming chakram came and slashed across the good doctor's back, spraying his blood across the floor with a terrible wail. The Doctor nearly fell over. His body wasn't loosing blood, as the flames were also searing the wounds, but the pain was beginning to become overwhelming. He turned around, sweating and breathing heavily to see Axel catching the rebounding chakram and chasing after him.

"Come on, then!" The Doctor called, turning and leaping into the portal.

* * *

**Sanctuary of the Word**

"Why can't she just call it a library? God, she's so pretentious." Roxas muttered to himself. There were books as far and wide as Roxas could see, they stretched out on shelves far ahead and far above. The shelves towered above him, but in the distance he could just make out stairs leading to a second level. There were windows of painted glass placed about without any reason or intent for pattern. Pale light poured in from them. Bits and fragments of colorful light played and danced on every surface. Dazzling as this place was, it had the cold, empty feeling of a cave than an actual library.

There were so many books, big ones, small ones, same as big as Roxas' head. Books of every color, and shape, books bound in metal, paper, human skin and other materials Roxas had never seen. Some sections of the library were dedicated to entire series' and volumes, some were solely for magic and spells, others for science and technology, and then there were some strictly for knowledge, history, mathematics, geography and thousands upon thousands of other subjects.

"What could she need with all of these books?" Roxas asked. He came to an arbitrary shelf and plucked a random book from its place and read the title.

"_Death. Dead Again, One More Time."_.

"Wow, that's depressing." He said. Roxas replaced the book, trailed his finger along the shelf and then grabbed another. _"1001 Ways to Please Your Blonde-Haired, Blue-Eyed Future Husband."_ What the—Dammit, Masq!" Roxas slammed the book back onto the shelf when he read her name under the title.

He came away from there and continued down further into the Sanctuary. As he went, he began to notice the oddness of the atmosphere around him. There was something here, Roxas could feel it. It was a force, a very large aura and he sensed it as soon as he had walked in and it had been growing the further he went. When he was far enough, he found he could distinguish it as two separate forces.

The first aura, while small, was the first to catch him. It filled the air with a familiar heat. "Axel!" Roxas shouted into the cavernous room, "Axel! Can you hear me! Please, just say something!" There was no reply, save for silence, yet Roxas wasn't disappointed. He had jumped to conclusions and failed to notice that the aura was considerably faded, which only meant that Axel had been here and Roxas had just missed him. "Axel, please, just hold on, I'm coming."

Then, there was the second aura and it was not faded, but from a quick scan, the only thing Roxas could discern was that it was much more magical than anything else. Axel's aura had faded, but this one was still present and Roxas could follow it. He let his body lead him through the maze of shelves and books, of lexicons and ancient tomes. The more he followed Axel's aura, the stronger the magical aura became;he was getting closer. As he went, Axel's aura became dispersed in some spots, mostly around places that suffered damage both by a bladed weapon and by scorch marks. Roxas knew this meant a struggle on Axel's part, he had been fighting someone or something.

Roxas came into a larger section of the Sanctuary with dozens of evenly placed bookshelves on either side. He broke into a run down the center aisle. The magical aura drew stronger on his left, and on impulse he threw his body in its direction. He cut a corner and was brought in front of a desk table in front of a gleaming window, an open book prominent on its top.

"Oh, great, more books. That's _so _refreshing." Roxas muttered as he came up to the desk. He came to the book, feeling its aura pour out like a warming burst of air. It was refreshing and sent tingling chills along his body. Studying the book, he picked it up, nearly weightless in his hands, closing it and its aura faded away. He opened it again, and the warming aura came flooding back. He flipped it over seeing no pictures or art on the front cover, only a large embroidered Chaos symbol.

Lastly, he opened the book to its front page, and before his eyes, words began to fill up the empty canvas. They read:

"_Lux. Tenebris._

_Cum Humanitas Epigram!_

_Omnes de Discordia, infinita de Certamen._

_Superbiam Homini Extende Manum_

_Tuam Et Animam Dei_

_Virtutem Creandi!_

Just as quickly as the words appeared, they began to fade, leaving the page blank and white once more. It was Latin, Roxas knew that, but before he could even begin to think of a translation, the book took it upon itself to do the work. New words appeared on the page, reading: "_Light! Dark! Intertwined With Humanity! All the strife! The Infinite struggle! Arrogant man, stretch your hand, grip the Soul of God and take the power of Creation!" _Then those words disappeared, soon to be replaced with, _"I am sorry. Latin has never been my strong suit."_

"Agh!" Roxas gasped, dropping the book back onto the table.

"_Ouch. Please, refrain from dropping me."_

"You're talking! And you said 'ouch! Books don't say 'ouch!"

"_Technically, I am writing and you are reading. Books cannot speak. At least not in this world. And, point of interest, If I were to drop you on _your _head, I'm sure you'd say 'ouch' as well."_

"But..but...-"

"_Roxas, please, with your line of work I don't see how encountering an intelligent book tops your list of weird stuff."_

"I..uh..." As hard he tried, Roxas couldn't think of anything he could use to argue with a book. Cautiously, though, he reached for the book once more, "How do you know my name?"

"_There is nothing in the Present I do not know."_

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

The white pages of the book went blank.

"Hello? Are you there?" Roxas received no response, and suddenly the feeling that this was just another trap by Masq came into his mind. Just when he began to set the book down and leave, its white pages suddenly sprang to life with black writing.

"_I am called many things:_

_The Second Book,_

_Pages of The Present,_

_Tome of Omniscience._

_But I myself have taken to using the moniker of _

_Book of the In Between._

_I am the second book in a series. The First Book is _

_The Book of the Genesis,_

_the tome which recorded all of the events leading up to_

_The Beginning of Time and the Universe itself. _

_This book rests in the Ethereal Library of Alexandria._

_Next to the First book, lies the Third Book,_

_The Book of the Eschaton._

_When the time comes, those great pages shall be unlocked_

_and record the End of Time and All Things._

_But, meanwhile, I, the Second Book _

_The Book of the In Between_

_Shall know and record All things and events that transpire._

_The Past and the Future are not set in stone,_

_For Only the journey is written_

_And it's written within these pages._

_I am nigh-omniscient, I can see, hear and know_

_all things relative around me and in the universe to some degree._

_Despite the size of my bindings,_

_I have more information within these pages than anyone could ever now_

_or understand._

_That is why my pages are blank._

_Only by asking will I share my knowledge and-"_

"Where's Axel?" Roxas cut in, stopping the flow of letters on the page.

"_What? You're not going to let me finish?"_

"What's to finish?" Roxas asked, "I get it, you're a book that can answer any question."

"_Well, relatively every question. I'm Nigh-omniscient, I do have my limits."_

"Like?"

"_Why don't you just ask a question and we'll find out?"_

"Okay, then. Are you a trap setby Masq? Who is Masq and how does she know me? Where is Axel in Veridis Quo?"

The book went blank for a moment. Finally, it wrote, _"Well, you catch on quickly. I admire that. To answer your questions, at least the first one, this is and is _not _a ploy set by Masq. She did leave me here with the intention of encountering you. I assure you, I mean you no harm. It seems she wanted me and you to meet in order to help your progress through Veridis Quo."_

"Help my progress? What does that mean?"

"_She's getting bored, tired of waiting. She's ready for her plans to bear fruit."_

"That's why I'm here!" Roxas shouted, "Because I'm not going to let that happen!"

"_No need to scream. Your second question I cannot answer."_

"What? Why? You said you were Omniscient!"

"_Nigh-Omniscient. And I didn't say it, I wrote it."_

Roxas rolled his eyes, "You know what I mean."

"_Anyway, yes, I am _nigh-omniscient_, but I cannot answer that question because Masq has ripped that section about herself out of my pages hours before you came here. It will take at least 4 days for me to recover that information."_

"Great..._just _great." Roxas sighed.

"_As for your next question, Axel, as I'm sure you already know, is in Veridis Quo. Under Masq's orders, he is pursuing the Doctor in order to kill him. He is currently in the Doctor's laboratory._

"Thanks." With that, Roxas dropped the book back down on to the desk and began to turn away.

"_Hey-wait! Wait!"_

"Huh? What's that? Did you write something?" Roxas turned back around.

"_You're just going to leave me here? An omniscient tome that can answer any question you can think of?"_

"I thought you were only _nigh_-omniscient?"

"_Whatever! Besides, there are some questions I thought you might ask that you didn't. Like, ''How do I get to the the Doctor's Laboratory from here in order to find Axel?', or, more importantly, 'Where is Xinck and how is he?'. I think those are all valid questions."_

"First off, Xinck is the strongest person I have ever met. I _never _have to worry about him. Shows what _you _know, self-writing book."

"_Right..."_

"And as for Axel...well, you have a point. So tell me, how do I get there?"

"_I'll only tell you if you take me with you."_

"Why should I take you? You even said you were set here by Masq. Sounds like a trap to me."

"_I HAVE NO LIMBS!"_The book wrote frantically, _"WHAT COULD I POSSIBLY DO TO HARM YOU? I'M SICK OF THIS LIBRARY AND I WANT TO LEAVE! YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW TO GET TO THE LAB! I KNOW HOW! I CAN TELL YOU! BUT ONLY IF YOU TAKE ME WITH YOU!"_

Roxas scoffed with a roll of his eyes, "You know, writing in all caps doesn't really improve your argument." He saw the pages of the book moving slightly, its bindings expanding up and down as if it were breathing heavily.

Finally, it wrote, _"True."_

Roxas thought for a second, but could find no downside to bringing the book along. Besides, he was in a hurry, but now there were new questions rising to the surface of his mind that he wanted answers to. "Alright." He said, "I'll take you with me, but only because there are more things I gotta know." He took the book and held it open as he walked away from the desktop, "And if I think, for one second, that this is a trap, I'll burn you alive...or whatever a book is."

"_Thank you! And, yes, alive works fine, I understand."_

"Now," Roxas said, "How do I get to the lab?"

"_Make a left up here_." The book wrote, "_Then continue on for 30 feet then make another left, take the downward stairs to your right until you come to the basement. Walk straight ahead for 50 yards and there, you'll find a portal on your right."_

Roxas began to follow the Book's instructions exactly. After the two lefts, he found the stairs and jumped their entire length to the very bottom, uninterested in injury to himself at this point. He came to the basement of the library, dark and dank and littered with empty book backings that had had their pages ripped out and torn. Books that Masq had no interest in reading, re-reading or fixing.

He looked around through the dankness and Roxas could just make out, on the farthest walls, stone effigies of the symbol of the Sun he and Xinck had seen all around Veridis Quo. Xinck had told him the Sun represented God and that much of Veridis Quo was possibly a religious establishment before Masq began to add on to it using Techno Sorcery, the combination of science and magic.

"Hey, I've got a question."

"_Then I shall do my best to answer it._" The Book wrote.

"You said all of your information about Masq was ripped out, right?"

"_Yes, though the information and my pages are gone, they are incapable of being destroyed. __Knowledge attracts knowledge and the information will find its way back to me in a few days. In fact-"_

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever. But, what about things _around _Masq. Those have to explain something about her, right? Like this place, Veridis Quo, you must know something."

"_Just something? Or its entire History?"_

"History would be great."

The Book went blank, but for only a moment. Soon its page began to fill with words.

"_Before the Super-fortress of Veridis Quo_

_was constructed by Masq, _

_the enormous Mountain in which it stands _

_was once called _

_Jacob's Ladder._

_And Before Masq came to this world,_

_Jacob's Ladder was home to _

_a settlement cult of monks, called_

_The Priests._

_The Priests were a somewhat peaceful sect who believed _

_that the world, and the universe as a whole was chaos and_

_hopelessly lost to Darkness._

_They believed that they alone, living in such a magically-inclined land,_

_had the chance and duty to offer help. _

_Basically, they became obsessed with the _

_idea of giving birth to God,_

_The Supreme Creator and Master of the Universe. _

_Through His birth, would He take hold of the Chaos_

_and Darkness_

_and finally bring forth The Light._

_You see, unlike your normally visited part of the universe,_

_these people hadn't heard of the Keyblade, and thus took matters _

_into their own hands to save the Universe from Darkness and Despair._

_Though they were a strictly non-violent sect, they did perform_

_questionable experiments on their more than willing test subjects._

_Men and Women._

_They used magics so advanced to accomplish their long awaited dreams_

_that their spells could hardly be considered magic at all._

_They were surprised whenever they failed. _

_One failed birth after another. _

_Some children were still-born,_

_others were born horribly disfigured. _

_Some children, though, were born fine. Far from Godly_

_But more than Human._

_This way of life for the Priests lasted for centuries._

_This library once housed all of their tried spells, magics and various incantations._

_Then, 20 years ago, at least in the wake of the Time-Dilation spell, _

_A lone woman appeared on the steps of Jacob's Ladder_

_and-_

"And what? Then what happened?"

"_Sorry."_ The Book wrote, _"Masq has stricken out much of the rest as it deals with her. The basics of the rest only say she slaughtered the Priests in less then a day, as they were non-violent, and Jacob's Ladder became Veridis Quo."_

"So the woman who appeared at Jacob's Ladder was Masq."

"_Yes, but it was before she took on being called Masq."_

"I don't get it." Roxas said, "How was she able to kill all of those priests in less than a day? If it was before she was Masq, then they could have easily stopped her, right?"

"_You already know she is knowledgeable in the Enochian Art, correct?"_

"Yeah." Roxas had already fought Masq and her Enochian magic. It was powerful, and according to Xinck, almost impossible to fight against. "So that means she knew Enochian _before _she became Masq. You have to tell me, who was she before all of this?"

"_I told you, I do not have that information."_

"Ugh. Lot of help you are." Roxas replied with a groan.

Soon, Roxas came to the farthest wall of the basement. Coming up on his left was a golden-hued doorway, two-dimensional with a small splatter of blood leading into it. The doorway glimmered and shined ethereally with a smoky, white aura. "Is this it? Is this the way to the lab?" Roxas asked.

"_Yes. The laboratory is separated from the rest of Veridis Quo, as such, Masq and her associates are equipped with 'special channels' that allowed them to teleport in and out of the lab."_

"Strange." Roxas took to examining the doorway, seeing nothing beyond it but a metallic wall and a walkway underneath it, "Most portals close right? Why was this left open?"

The Book paused, then replied, _"I am seeing your friend running down the Doctor, he who first opened this doorway some time ago. He ran into it and had no time to close it."_

With his free hand, Roxas, cautiously, waved at the air beyond the doorway. Nothing happened, so he reached his foot in and the rest of his body. The atmosphere of this new place washed over him, almost as if he stepped outside from a hot room into a cold breeze. As soon as he stepped out and heard the metallic clang of his feet on the walkway, did he have a chance to take in the bulk of his surroundings.

To his left, taking up all conceivable space, was a black, blue and gray metal wall, sleek and flat as could be. It seemed to go on forever, ahead, behind and above Roxas, as he could not see its top no matter how high he craned his neck. It was overwhelming, as something like this made everyone and everything sink into insignificance.

To his right, was golden-yellow atmosphere, expanding outward as if all were sky. As such, there were yellow clouds floating lazily and spiraling upwards. Tiny, innumerable particles wafted by, paying no mind to Roxas. On closer inspection, Roxas saw that the dust wasn't simply dust, but magic itself in small, ever-changing symbols and shapes. Roxas had learned that this was magical residue, usually left over when large and powerful spells were at work.

Roxas then turned back around and looked to see the doorway behind him shrink, and vanish into nothingness. "Hey!"

"_Hey, look at that, it closed."_

"You said it had been open for-"

"_Said? Or wrote?"_

"WHY DID IT CLOSE!" Roxas shouted.

The Book thought for a moment, then came back with, _"It appears to be on a function, that, if it is not closed for a set amount of time, then it will close automatically. Just by chance happening, you crossed its border just before its time-release made it close."_

"Then how can I get out of here?"

"_I am seeing the Doctor near the bottom levels of this place. A device on his belt will open another portal and allow you to return to Veridis Quo."_

"The bottom?" To his right was a rail and just over it, Roxas peered down and saw nothing more but more yellow sky and pale golden clouds. "What bottom?"

"_There are stairs. My advice is to use them."_

True to the words of the book there were stairs a few yards ahead. "You know," Roxas said as he moved toward said stairs, "I'm glad most books don't talk. If they did, would they all be jerks like you?"

For a moment, the book wrote nothing, then replied with, _"More than likely."_

* * *

He saw the frozen front doors of Veridis Quo. His keen eyes could discern that the ice was magical in nature, due to its slow melting rate. The wood and iron of the doors were forced open in such a way that the force of impact happened on the outside, at a low point. These doors had been kicked open.

He continued onward through this place, not stopping to site-see or ponder the nature of his surroundings.

Eventually, he came to a darkened area, filled to the brim with rubble, debris

and the fresh corpse of a big, dead cat-like creature.

Or at least what was left of it. From what He could tell, the cat had been beaten, severely.

Then had its neck snapped some time ago. The odd why in which the rubble had fallen

suggests a cave-in brought on by a significant force. It was a struggle, and the cat obviously lost.

He soon continued on, finding a dimly lit Corridor.

* * *

Down and down dozens of flights of stairs, Roxas made his way along the side of the metallic behemoth. To his mind, no matter how far he thought he had gone, whenever he looked up, whenever he looked down, he seemed to be making no progress in terms of distance. It was such a long ways that the scenery became nothing more than a monotonous bore of blue metal and yellow sky.

Roxas' mind was able to drift while his body did all of the work. There was something on his mind that had been nagging at him for too long. Baby mentioned something about the Cannon, maybe it was just a slip of the tongue, but the way Masq reacted to Roxas knowing about it made him think otherwise. Either way, the way they spoke of it could only mean it was a bad thing, and something like that had to be kept away from people like Masq.

"Book." Roxas said, holding up the ancient tome.

"_Yes, Nobody?"_

"Tell me, do you have anything about this 'Cannon' thing Masq has? Or did she rip that info out, too?"

"_Just a moment." _Those words lingered on the page for a few moments, _"Yes, you are in luck. It would appear that Masq had attempted to remove the information concerning the Cannon some time ago, but it seems she...well..."_

"Well? Well what?"

"_It seems she was in the process of removing the information, but became enamored with a certain herbal substance meant to give airs and was soon taken off to her whims."_

"Uh...wha-..."

"_She got high and just sort off wandered off."_

"Wow, she's insane _and _a pothead." Roxas replied. "So what do you know?"

The Book went blank once more, then words started to appear, relentlessly coming in letter by letter. _"The Cannon originality started out as a relatively, small-scale Doomsday weapon. Masq had found the plans for it sometime ago. You see, the doomsday weapon works by crafting a cloud of radically fluctuating deviant particles called Chaotons, which penetrate the synaptic relays of the human brain. It is concentrated with a synchronous transport switch that creates a virtual tributary, focused on a biobolic reflector, causing mere hallucinations to become true reality and frying the brain from the inside out..."_

"Uh...wait, what? What's a...'bioclock vector'?"

The Book continued, uninterrupted, _"But, that was only the base that Masq started with. She added onto it over these past two decades, her and the Doctor created a complex system of 'netting' from dark matter that ricochets tachyon particles through a series electro-chemical filaments..."_

"Hey, stop! Slow down!" Roxas shouted. Despite his protests, the Book would not stop writing. The techno jargon had completely gone over Roxas' head, he had no idea what the Book was writing. He tried shouting at it, shaking it, even rubbing his hand over the page, but it would not stop.

"_...With the resounding negative chrono-energies being torn apart by the group of miniature, localized singularities, inducing a severely massive boost in applicable power superimposed upon the thermonuclear energy given..."_

"I don't know what you're talking about! Gah!" He slammed the book shut with a thundering clap. Roxas paused a moment, then re-opened the book, only to see it continue in its undecipherable writings, and with a sigh simply closed it shut again. "This is why I don't read." He added, tucking the book into an inside pocket in his coat.

With nothing to do now but to continue down the wall, Roxas was moments from breaking into a run. When just then, an electronic screech, loud and piercing like nails, sounded through the vastness of the space, originating from the bottom, followed by the gasping screams of two men.

Automatically Roxas flung himself to the side railing and peered down into the distance. He could have sworn he heard Axel's voice in that cry. In fact, it had to be. He gripped the metal railing in his tensed hands as he desperately scanned below for any sign of movement, or noise, a scream, a shout or anything.

"AXEL!" No response. His grip tightened, so much so that his strength alone was enough to bend and dent the metal in the shape of his called out again, but still received only silenced.

With little to no thought in his mind, Roxas pulled himself up onto the metal railing, easily finding his balance. He then jumped straight forward, away from the wall and into the empty space. With a twist of his body, He dove straight down.

The air zoomed past his head, the force and speed was great enough to forcibly streamline his body. His open eyes burned and watered, but he did not blink. As he went, the metal wall remained as massive and unchanging as it had been the moment he stepped through the portal. He continued on as gravity forced him downward, but as his descent was, He had already reached terminal velocity, _"Faster! Faster!" _His body became enveloped in a blinding white light, and for a brief second heard an immense boom fading behind him. He had broken the sound barrier.

He continued on, when finally, as he flew like a shooting star, Roxas could just make out changes in the metal wall. Great, square pillars, each easily the size of a small office building, protruded randomly from the flat surface. He was able to shoot past the first few, but there were too many that were too close together. He slowed down and just narrowly spun left and out of the way of one, but collided into another with his back.

He let out a yell and continued to fall, but as he tried to suppress the pain He collided with another and another. When he was free of the columns, he found himself suffering several broken ribs, internal bleeding and a mild concussion. He had been through worse, his body would heal, but the pain was another matter. His active adrenaline helped to dull it, but blood from his head wound began seeping into his eyes, clouding his vision.

The air around him was changing, becoming charged with electricity. Through his bloody eyes, he could just make out an oncoming expanse, a platform he could land on. He could also see smoke billowing up from smoldering fires.

Roxas was coming in much too fast as he neared the platform. Hurriedly, he turned upwards out of his nosedive and summoned both Oblivion and Oathkeeper to his hands. He turned around, facing the wall, and with what strength he could muster, thrust both blades into the flat surface of the metal wall to slow his descent. A powerful electric charge jolted through the blades and into Roxas' body, burning his body from the inside out. He screamed out louder than he had ever in his life. He tried to hold on as long he could, the surface of the platform still a few dozen yards away.

Ultimately, he could take no more and he lost his grip on his Keyblades. He fell the rest of the way, barely conscious. Moments from impact, he pulled up on his lower body, and when he crashed into the platform with the bottoms of his shoes, the force created a large crater-sized dent in the floor.

Roxas could feel the bones in his legs on the verge of snapping from the impact. He lost his balance and began to topple over. Oblivion shined into his hand and he thrust the blade downward as a makeshift cane.

"A...Axel, please..." He coughed, hacking up a volley of blood from his internal bleeding, "I'm...I'm still here...I'm still here..." Breathing was the most difficult, especially with half of his ribs broken. Each breath was another dagger in his chest. Dragging one painfully throbbing leg in front of the other, Roxas pulled himself up out of the crater and onto level ground. He wiped the blood from his eyes, twice in fact, as his head wound was slow to healing. His vision cleared, he could make out his surroundings. This area had no ceiling, but had corridor walls leading to other places. The entire platform was stylishly mechanized, and, Roxas guessed, was the heart of the Doctor's Lab. The floor was a much darker metal than the gargantuan wall behind him, in fact it was a completely different material. Gray, almost black in color with lines of blue LED lights acting like guidelines to follow.

The LED Lights would be useful in finding his way, but Roxas didn't need them. Leading off deeper into the lab was a fresh trail of spilled blood. Accompanying the trail of blood, Roxas could smell smoke and he knew that where there was smoke, there was Axel.

Roxas started following the blood down the nearest corridor. He found the more he walked, the better his legs were healing. The pain in his ribs subsided and his concussion was removed, but his legs were slower to catch up and he continued using Oblivion as a cane.

The blood trail turned a corner, then another, then down a new one that was lined with open doors leading to rooms filled with machines, computers, large grand-size chambers filled with creatures vaguely humanoid in appearance. This laboratory reminded Roxas of Vexen, the late Fourth member of the Organization. Roxas had only been inside Vexen's lab twice: Once, during his first few days in the Organization for a physical, and the second time was when he was with Xinck getting Axel's stomach pumped after the former dared him to eat 4 pounds of raw hamburger meat.

Roxas smiled, his friends in his memories. Xinck laughing at Axel, and Axel throwing lab equipment at Xinck. The more he thought about it, the more odd it felt not having both of them by his side. Even worse, the three weeks its been since Axel had been taken had left a pit-like sensation in his stomach. But seeing Axel, even if his mind was under Masq's influence, gave him hope and Roxas would do anything to keep that hope going.

All of his friends together.

Nothing else mattered.

Roxas dismissed Oblivion and powered through the limp in his leg. The pain was nothing anymore.

"Unauthorized Entry. Unauthorized Entry."

Roxas's eyes shot up from the blood on the floor to the upper wall. There, situated in the upper corner was surveillance camera on a complex system of servo motors with its blue lens zooming in and out to focus on Roxas' face.

"Unauthorized Entry." The Camera repeated in a female voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time." He replied, continuing on, "I'm not in the mood."

"Identify yourself."

"I.D. This." Roxas presented his middle finger to the camera and continued on. Just another trait he picked up from his friends. He had had enough of smart machines mouthing off to him for a day.

"Unknown Identity!" The camera sounded. Out of it's top, it produced a gun and prepared to fire, "Leave these premises immediately or be fired upon! Leave these-" With little more than a thought, Roxas willed a high intensity laser into existence and cleanly sliced the camera and its firearm in two.

As he walked by, the two pieces clattered to the ground before him. Roxas kicked them out of his way and walked on, "I told you I wasn't in the mood. Stupid camera."

The trail of blood began to grow into bigger pools, thick globs that lead Roxas to the end of the corridor, a closed off square room. The room appeared charred to a crisp with a small fire in the corner, smoke pillowing into the upper sky. The blood trail continued to the farthest wall, up a large set of lone stairs and onto an unseen landing. Roxas ascended the stairs, and as he did the image of a downed man in an expanding pool of blood came into view.

He was an old man, bald and bloody. Roxas thought he looked like Vexen if Vexen had no hair. And if he were a little younger. The old man wore goggles, but both lenses were busted, revealing glazed over, milky white eyes. His white lab coat was stained with blood, and his abdomen was smoking and singed with his own burnt stomach and intestines. One hand had been cleanly cut off, while the other was burned irreparably.

He was leaned up against a large, destroyed computer console, dying, still breathing and mumbling incoherently.

Roxas knew Axel had done this, but not of his own free will. The man's body was nothing more than a burned, shredded piece of meat. Axel had style, a code and a way about him that Roxas could easily identify as his handiwork, but this was nothing but a mess of blood and fire.

Roxas almost felt sorry for the man. Almost.

"You. You're the Doctor, aren't you?"

The old man's eyes twitched and blinked rapidly for a moment, then focused their attention on Roxas, "My, oh, my," The old man said through a raspy, hollow voice, "I imagined our meeting to be an unpleasant one, but now, in this state, I can't possibly see what you could do to me what already hasn't been done. As you can see, He did most of the dirty work. I was able to damage the devices controlling him, though. But they are still clinging to his mind."

Roxas called Oathkeeper to his hand and pointed it to the Doctor's face, "Listen. I've had a _very _unpleasant day, and I'm a bit off my level. Now, tell me: . ?"

The Doctor laughed a shaky laugh, and with his charred stub of a hand, gently pushed Oathkeeper away from his face, "That Heretic Witch Masq was right," He said, looking Roxas dead in the eye, "You can kill, _have _killed, but your eyes are not that of a killer. You are truly an Innocent."

"Don't think I won't-!"

"Your blade isn't needed, my boy," The Doctor interrupted, "Please...Please forgive me for what I did. Everything I did, I did for them, my family. I just wanted to see them again so badly, and Masq...she..she promised-"

"I don't care about that! Where is my friend!"

"Back in Veridis Quo, retaken by Masq. Why, I...I do not know..."For a moment, he lost consciousness. The Doctor had lost a large amount of blood and was succumbing to anemia. His eyes shot open suddenly and focused in on Roxas once again, "Masq took him back! Back to Veridis Quo! With me out of the way, nothing will stop her and her plan! You have to stop her! You have to kill her!"

"How? How can I kill her!"

"Her machine! Her Infernal Machine! You have to stop her, or she'll destroy it all!"

"What? Her cannon? You're not making any sense! WHY US! Why me? Why Xinck? Why Axel! Why did you take Axel!"

"HER MACHINE! The Cannon!" The Doctor wailed, his eyes darting all around to the sky above, "She needed an initial power source to power her Cannon! You see, for years, we went through hundreds, thousands of ideas and plans to power her damn weapon, but nothing could compare to biologically manufactured power! So, we began looking into beings who could create energy inside of themselves and after going through so many, the Nobody Xibre came to join us and He was the one who pointed us in Axel's direction."

"But...but why?"

"You Nobodies are inexhaustible resources when it comes to your individual elemental powers. Your friend, Axel, the pyrokinetic. His power is more than just creating and controlling fire, you see. Inside of his body, is a natural, biologically crafted thermonuclear reactor that is 100% efficient and perfect! NO BEING IN THE UNIVERSE HAS THAT! He is the most powerful pyrokinetic in EVERY sense of the word!"

"And that's why you-"

"Yes. Only he had the potential to power her Cannon."

"A battery?" Roxas muttered, at first, "**YOU TOOK MY FRIEND TO USE HIM AS A BATTERY!**"

The Doctor's eyes were glazing over again and his breathing was growing shallower, "It was not my idea and I am so sorry for wronging you in that sense, for using him at _her _orders. She must be stopped, she must be killed..."

"NO SHIT!" Roxas bellowed, he could no longer control his anger, "I don't need you to tell me she has to die! You don't have to tell me to save my friends! I will stop her before she can make him power it up! I'll-"

"It's already done."

"What? No!"

"It is fully charged. Hours, almost a full day before you and the Other One came to Veridis Quo." The Doctor finally stopped breathing, "Kill her..before she can fire..."

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Wake up!" He knelt down to the Doctor and grabbed his lab coat, wringing him, trying to wake him up, "We're not done yet! Where's the Cannon? Wake up!"

The Doctor lay silent and still, Roxas finally let him go.

Axel was just the power source for the Cannon and nothing more. That was his role in all of this. A battery. The battery would power a Cannon that Masq wants to use to take over the world, all worlds. This couldn't happen, Roxas could not let it. He knew Masq's sole plan revolved around her Cannon, so what Roxas needed to do was destroy it and all of her threats would become nothing.

Roxas reached into his coat and pulled out the Book of the In-Between. He opened it to see a flood of black letters on its pages, and after seven pages, there was a single sentence at the bottom.

"_You know, you could have just asked me to paraphrase everything."_

"Where is the Cannon? Tell me. Now."

"_What? You didn't read any of what I wrote, did you?"_

"Just tell me where it is _now_."

" _I already told you-"_

"Tell me NOW or I Burn you up!" A light popped into Roxas' hand that burned hot enough that it caused the air around him and the book to burn off into white smoke.

"_ALRIGHT! STOP!_" The Book wrote frantically, prompting Roxas to lower the light, _"I may have not been as clear as I could have been. You see, the Doctor's Lab and the Cannon are in the same place. We are inside the Cannon, which is the Doctor's Lab."_

"Wait, you mean-"

"_Yes, that 'Wall' that you jumped off of was not a wall, but just one, surprisingly small part of the Cannon."_

"That's impossible, something _that _big—-no one could build something like that in just twenty years!" Roxas craned his neck as high up as he could, but he still couldn't see the top, or wherever it might curve at the sides. Even where he stood now, it looked just like one, infinitely large _thing._

"_Roxas, Masq is a master of Techno-Sorcery. Magic and Technology created and power it. It started out small, but as her and The Doctor continued, it grew in size to the point where she had to relocate it to another dimension. The sheer magnitude of complex mathematics involved in its operations is more than enough to drive anyone to insanity. But, as Masq is already insane, the numbers all fit her like a glove."_

"Then, I'll just destroy it here. If it's destroyed, then Masq can't use it." Roxas recalled Oathkeeper to him, but the large frantic words on the white pages stopped him from doing anything else.

"_**NO! **__You can't destroy that thing! It's filled to the brim with unstable energy! If you blow it up _before _it releases all that energy it will obliterate the local reality!"_

"Then what am I supposed to do!"

"_...I imagine you had a Plan A when you first started this crusade?"_

"I have to kill her before she fires that thing, I know that." Roxas said, "But how do I get back to Veridis Quo?"

"_I already told you that, too. Use the Doctor. He has a device on his belt that will open a channel back into Veridis Quo." _Roxas gave the corpse of the Doctor a quick once over, then turned back to the book.

"I don't want to touch a dead body."

"_Just nudge his belt buckle with your foot."_

"Ugh..."Roxas groaned. He did as the book said, and gingerly touched his foot to the Doctor's belt buckle. A beam of golden light shot forth, hitting the space behind Roxas. The light unfolded into a golden, oval shaped portal with the dark coloring of Veridis Quo on the other side. Roxas jumped inside and the Portal closed behind him.

* * *

_Moments Later..._

It was cruel fate, the Doctor thought, that his life would continue to linger but his body was limp and motionless. Stuck there, on the floor, alone, with nothing but his thoughts and regrets.

He regretted working for Masq, of course, that goes without saying.

But above all else, his sin of neglecting his family would be his most damning factor, and it was allowing them to die that would send him to the deepest ring of Hell.

He hoped, at the very least, his 3 children could forgive him, though he could accept it if they didn't. Though, the one child whose forgiveness he could never attain was-

"This has all worked out splendidly." The Doctor couldn't move his head, but he knew that that voice from the shadows would soon show herself.

Masq drifted like a mist towards the Doctor, deeply enjoying every step closer she took, a wide smile on her mask. "Man, oh, MAN! Did it take forever to get you dead! You know with that little fail-safe of yours, you left me no choice but to get Axel to do the dirty deed!"

The Doctor wheezed heavily.

"For twenty years, I've heard you do nothing but BITCH and MOAN about how much you _miss _your family, how much you regret not cherishing them and blah, blah, blah-blippity, bloppity-boo." She came closer to the Doctor and knelt down to him, "They're not dead, you know."

The Doctor's eyes focused on Masq intensely.

"Oh, yeah, did I not mention that? Your children are still alive. Annabelle, the oldest of course. Donatello and Belladonna, the twins. They are just fine. Even the other one." Masq took her hand to her head and gingerly lifted her living mask from her face and she looked to the Doctor with her real, blue-colored eyes, "The One you disowned, cursed and mistreated because _she _wasn't YOURS!" She dropped her Masq mask to the floor and drew in closer to the only man she ever knew as father, "I am truly happy to see you like this, and if my brother and sisters were here, I'm sure they'd be happy, too, knowing you're dying as a broken, sad shell of a man."

Her words were all it took to finally end his life. With a quiet rattle of death, the Doctor gave his last breath.

"Can you believe it?" Masq exclaimed, unfazed by his death, "For twenty Years, I kept your stupid ass charmed, making you think what I wanted you to think!" Masq returned to her full height, but kept her mask in her hand. She howled with laughter, consumed by her own self perceived brilliance, "Oh My GOD! I'm so fucking Happy, I could come! I don't even care that you told my future Baby Daddy all about the Cannon!" Masq raised her foot and roughly brought it down onto the Doctor's legs. She joined in with her other foot and started a stomp dance, jamming her heels into his shins, thighs and kneecaps.

"Now you'll WATCH me STEPPIN' 'cross the MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI! Burn in Hell, You Son of a Bitch! Ah HA HAHAHAHA!" Masq turned sharply off her father's now broken legs. She opened a portal ahead of her and began walking towards it, a mad cackle in her throat as she returned her mask to her face. "This is it, Daddy! The little girl you tossed aside IS FINALLY BECOMING GOD!"

* * *

He soon found himself in an Atrium, destroyed and in utter ruin.

A large hunk of severely burned wood laid decaying on the far side.

A battle was fought here, the man could tell from the lingering auras of

5 powerful beings warring against each other.

He was about to continue on, when out of the corner of his eye, popping into life from the shadows, was a Heartless, a Neoshadow to be exact. It twitched its way across the floor, its extra long antennae seemed to be bending in two different directions, as if sensing two viable hearts in Veridis Quo.

It was the first Heartless he had seen in this place, which was uncommon. He had a hunch that more would be on their way. It would be foolish and a waste of time to engage it at this point in time, the man considered. Before the Heartless could take notice of him, He continued on through Veridis Quo.

* * *

Out of the bright, light-filled dimension of Masq's Cannon and back into the dark, cold realm of Veridis Quo. If he were in another place, at another time, the familiarity would have been welcomed, but considering that he hated this place, what it stood for and the one who owned it, all Roxas could think about was blowing it up. Then setting fire to the remains.

Then blowing up the remains.

"It would be so easy," Roxas muttered to himself.

"_Mmm? What was that?" _The Book wrote, _"Did you say something?"_

"Can you set ashes on fire?" Roxas asked.

"_Theoretically, no. But, I suppose if one REALLY wanted to see ashes aflame, I don't see why not."_

"Something to look forward to when all of this is over." Roxas smirked. The portal out of the Doctor's Laboratory shut tight behind him and vanished into nothing. Roxas came walking out of a narrow, stone corner and into a larger stone room. This room was made of dark stones and appeared to be a dead end, with a single, oval shaped window to Roxas' left side.

"There's no way out."

"_Not true." _The Book wrote, _"You could jump out of the window and come through the front door."_

Weighing this option, Roxas walked over to the sole window in the room and peered outside. Nothing but light, lavender clouds below and the pale purple sky of Veridis Quo above. "I can't even see the bottom! Last time I jumped from a height like this I broke my ribs and got electrocuted."

"_You fleshies and the concept of Pain. Its been my experience over the millennia that you humans learn best through pain."_

Roxas came away from the window, and went to the center of the room, scanning every wall for a way out, "I'm not human." A sudden shock wave shook underneath his feet, rocking him off balance. The quaking continued on, rumbling not only the floors and walls, but the entirety of Veridis Quo itself. "It's changing again!"

Roxas was flung across to the opposite wall as the room itself moved. He hit the wall on his stomach, but quickly turned around to see an entire stone wall pulled from its spot and into the inner, churning machines and hydraulic pumps of the Fortress's bowels. The floor broke out from underneath and the ceiling from above, vanishing into the fortress's infrastructure. The wall housing the one window flipped and was brought over to the opposite wall. The floor reappeared, now no longer stone but a black and golden surface.

The ceiling reemerged, now with a second level housing a square walkway around the perimeter. Underneath, a new wall came along with a short walk of stairs leading up to a landing and a doorway, then a pair of staircases on either side going upward to the second level.

The turbulent, rolling sounds of machinery died down as the Fortress completed its transformation. Roxas came down from the wall he was pinned to, hitting the new floor, he took notice of the different sound it made. It wasn't stone like before, but Hollow and Metallic like the floors in the Castle That Never Was.

"I don't get it." Roxas said, "All the transforming, what's the point? This place is big enough, right?"

"_I do not know the cause of Veridis Quo's changing." _The Book wrote.

"Let me guess, Masq ripped it out?"

"_Indeed."_

"Then it must be important." When it came to this Book, anything of value was stricken from the record. That could only mean that Veridis Quo, like everything else about Masq was important to her plan.

"I'll find out." Roxas started, "She can't keep hiding, avoiding me. I swear I'll stop her and-"

"Oh, blahdy-blah-blah-blah! Then, you'll slay the Kraken and save Narnia?. I swear, you're starting to repeat yourself." Roxas turned on his heels to the landing across the room. Emerging from the open doorway, Masq walked out of the shadows, the same deliriously mad smile on her face she had the last time Roxas saw her.

Roxas was mid-air when Oathkeeper and Oblivion shined into his grip, the Book of The In Between dropped to the floor. "Block Up A Way Of Thou In The Name Of God!" The golden plate of light shined between Roxas and Masq as soon as the former brought down his blades.

"You can bang away all you want, Roxas, but you can't break this." Masq said.

"Raaarrgh!" Roxas hollered, "You Took Axel Just To Use Him To Power Your Machine!"

"Well, Duh!" Masq replied, "Triple A Batteries weren't gonna cut it! I'm tryin' to power a giant Cannon, not get my DirecTV remote to work! Speaking of, I think that last transformation knocked off the satellite and if you know a guy, I'd super appreciate it."

"RAAARGHH!" He banged and slashed harder and harder at the shinning shield, but his attacks did nothing to scratch the surface.

Masq watched, for only a moment as she found it boring. She yawned, then held out her fingers for her side of the shield, "Ska-doosh." She said, and flicked the plate, shattering the its surface in an explosion of shining shrapnel. Roxas was blown back to the far side of the room. Though uninjured, shrapnel bits effectively pinned him to the wall.

"Oh, don't get up." She said, paying little mind to his grunts trying to free himself, "I just came to retrieve some of my property." Masq moved down from her landing, down the stairs and onto the floor. She came for the Book of The In Between and gingerly plucked it up from the floor, "Oh, well, heya there, Booky! How ya been?"

She opened the Book to a random page, and prominent in big, bold letters, read: **"I HATE YOU."**

"And yet tomorrow you will Love me! That's the beauty of this!" Masq callously ripped several pages from the Books bindings and stuffed it into the inside of her cloak.

"Why'd you do that?" Roxas shouted. Oddly, watching the Book have its inside ripped out was enough to anger him. It was just a book, but it tried to help him and it seemed to have a disdain for Masq as well.

"It's a book, Roxas. Just a book." Masq turned from him and began walking back up the stairs, "Its a book, and if you don't like something in a book, you tear it out. It's my property, I'll do what I want. Oh, and speaking of property..." A lazy wave of her hand and a pillar of red smoke plumed into the air next to her. Another wave and the smoke cleared, revealing Axel.

The Flurry of Dancing Flames was hutched over and ragged. His coat was torn, his hair a mess and dried blood stained his face. His eyes were still empty green plates in his head. The devices on either side of his temples buzzed and crackled with jolts of stray electricity shooting around them. They were smoking, as the Doctor had mentioned he had manged to damage them before Axel managed to wound him.

"As you can see my Manservant is a little worse for wear." Masq said, bringing her hand to his head and plucking out a hair. She turned to Roxas and her grin grew wider, "Good batteries-turned-manservants are SO hard to find these days...ah-AH-HA-AHAHAHAHAHA!."

"YOUBURNINHELL**NOW**!" Roxas broke away from the wall and fired away. The next moment, Oathkeeper dug into flesh so deep Roxas felt the splash of blood across his face. When he looked to see it was Axel, and not Masq with Oathkeeper in their arm, he shuddered grimly and let his Keyblade drop from his hand, clatter at his feet and vanish in a flurry of light. "Axel..Axel...no, no Please! I-"

"Uhhh..." Axel moaned, his body bled, but it did not move or twitch as his mind wasn't in his control.

"Ooooh!" Masq sounded, "Look what you did, Roxy! You see, my manservant-boytoy is so loyal to me, he'll even take a Keyblade in the shoulder for me! I don't really need him around anymore, but I guess if I get bored, I can, like, torture him or somethin'."

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to!" Roxas pleaded to Axel, but received nothing but the sound of his breathing and the crackling of the devices on his head.

"Hey, Axel baby." Masq started, her voice sounding sterner, "Hurt him."

Axel flung out both arms, cutting Roxas across his midsection and throwing him back. Before Roxas could recover, Axel was on him with both chakrams blazing fire and smoke. One chakram came down and spliced into Roxas' thigh, and another would have cut into his jugular if hadn't managed to roll out of the way in time.

"I can guarantee you that he means business! Kill or be killed, Roxas!" Masq shouted just as Axel charged again, "Isn't that what you told me? Mmm? Isn't that what you said when you killed Neri!"

The pain in his bleeding thigh was searing and painful, as he had to dodge, backstep and sidestep away from every strike Axel made, the pain intensified. "I won't fight you!" One misstep by Roxas, Axel cut him across his chest all the way to his shoulder. "Axel, please!"

"You keep tryin', but if you don't start fightin', you'll be dyin'!" Masq shouted out, "Ha! I should've been a rapper. Axel, make him fight you! Burn his buns!" A great plume of fire erupted around Axel, directing it with his hands, he launched it for Roxas, catching and consuming him in the fire. He went flying across the room and came colliding into the farthest corners.

For a moment, there was silence, save for the sound of the crackling fire and Axel's intermittent grunts of effort for seeing Roxas on fire.

"Aurghh-argh!" Burning and writhing from the flames, Roxas crawled out of the fire. His coat and and even his skin had been scorched, now covered in burn marks and his arm had been broken from the impact with the wall, "Axel..."He sobbed, "I don't know if you can hear me...but it's Okay. We're gonna stop her, You...Xinck...and me. I'm not gonna stop, I will bring you home, but I Won't Fight You!"

"THEN YOU'RE A FOOL!" Masq bellowed, dropping her playful demeanor, "Weak and disappointing! You've come this far and still you don't get it! I've planned for everything, Roxas! I've accounted for everything! You can't save him! And it looks like I'll just have to BURN THAT INTO YOUR FUCKING SKULL! AXEL!" The Flurry of Dancing Flames raised and lowered his hands at her orders. Starting at his feet and rising upward, great flames roared to life. A wall of dancing gold and yellow fires rushed forward and out like an explosion. They scorched and burned half the room to a crisp in an instant, and as far as they were from Roxas, they burned so hot he could already feel their heat.

Fiery Light, it burned orange, yellow and red. The Flaming wall that would surely kill him drew closer. But Roxas didn't move. The light was too familiar, too beautiful and peaceful. It was if he were frozen to the spot, watching the sunset in Twilight Town with Axel to his left, Xinck on his right. The fires drew in, but Roxas could just close his eyes, let the memory of something better play out and live in it forever.

If he would be killed, then he wouldn't want anyone else to do it than one of his friends who shared the same memory.

But then...

"_VELUT LUNA!"_

Cascading from above, greater, hotter Blue Flames in the form of an enormous crescent shined down and met the red flame wall at an angle, canceling out both in a furious display of purple energy. Roxas' eyes shot open just in time to hear Masq outburst in surprise and to see the outline of a man in black drop down in front of him.

The man turned to Roxas, reached and gripped tightly his hand, "Stand up." He said and he pulled Roxas gently up, and even supported him until he could stand on his own.

It was such an unfamiliar occurrence that it took some time before the man's appearance registered in Roxas' mind. It was not Xinck, Roxas figured out, and it was not Axel, who he thought might have freed himself from Masq's mind control at the last second. It was neither of his friends.

The blue hair, yellow eyes, pointed ears and X-shaped scar finally came into his mind as he brandished his Lunatic Claymore.

"Saix!" Roxas outburst, "I'm not coming back to the Organization! Not until I find Xinck, not until we save Axel and-"

The Diviner calmly held up a finger for silence. He turned away from Roxas just as the purple flames died down and the smoke cleared. He saw Axel, hunched over, breathing and otherwise still. Farther behind him, was Masq.

"Hey!" Masq shouted out, "Who the hell are you?"

"Tell me, Roxas," Saix said, ignoring the masked woman's questioning, "Is that _thing _the owner of this fortress?"

The Key of Destiny nodded grimly, "Yeah. That's her. She calls herself Masq."

"Hey!" Masq shouted again, "Don't you ignore me, you blue bastard!"

"Why haven't you killed it yet?" The Diviner asked,.

"I've tried!" Roxas said, "It's the first thing I tried to do when I got here, practically the _only _thing I've tried!"

"Hey Bitch!" Masq bellowed, " I am talking to you! I will Smack you with my dick!"

"See what I've been dealing with?" Roxas added.

"Indeed. One last question," Saix said, "Is she the reason why Axel was kidnapped?"

"Yeah. She is."

As soon as Roxas answered, a thick pressure began to erupt from Saix, "That's all I needed to know." An aura of fiery blue flames accompanied the pressure and seem to move from his body and onto Lunatic, which he brought up closer to himself and spoke softly the words, _"Absolve Me..."_

* * *

Wooga-Booga! Great Space God! Magic Lizard, Come Down From Jupiter!

There, I leave you to ponder that message. Now Review.


	58. VQ, Speaker For The Dead

"I Deserve This.

Don't I?

Yeah, I Do..."

In the scientific art of Alchemy there is one single goal: the creation of the Philosopher's Stone. This Blood Ruby-colored substance grants whoever holds it phenomenal alchemical power by seemingly bypassing the law of Equivalent Exchange. In truth, the stone does not bypass equivalent exchange, but uses an alternative form of energy to accomplish its tasks.

This form of energy is used in its creation, its most important ingredient: Life itself. Living human souls are used in the creation of a Philosopher's Stone and the more souls are used, the bigger the stone will be. The Philosopher's Stone's creation, to those who know it, consider it an aberration.

Unknown to many, the Philosopher's Stone has, what is best described as, a 'relative'. Its creation process is shrouded in mystery and lies, mostly because its conditions are very specific and beyond inhumane to obtain. This gem came to be known as the Necromancer's Stone and when created it took on a tantalizing azure glow. Its function was to increase pure magical power by at least 10,000 fold.

Souls were needed in its creation process as well. But not living souls like the Philosopher's Stone. The Necromancer's Stone required souls that have already passed on from this plane of life and gone through death.

Dead Souls.

Savagely ripped from their afterlives.

With nothing but the painful memories of their deaths and sufferings.

And the agonizing thoughts of what could have been.

* * *

Orphan the Desolate contained near 200,000 souls in the Necromancer's Stone around her neck. The souls of her people. Xinck the Deviant, the one who mass murdered her people in the first place, was dragged inside the stone. Orphan's final move to finish her enemy, a way to giver her people the chance for vengeance.

More and More souls of his victims came zooming around him, bashing into him, sharing their horror and grief. Orphan and Xinck were surrounded by an unyielding tempest of unknowable despair and loss. "The souls of my people rest with me." Orphan said, caressing the azure stone in her grip, "I am them and they are me. My name is Orphan, Xinck. For we are many. "

"AHHHHH!" The blue souls began to grab and wrap themselves around his arms and his one remaining leg, around his neck and torso. His cries and sobs, nothing when compared to the wailing of the spirits drowning out his voice. They began to pull him toward Orphan, closer and closer. Then they hauled him into the air, not just to Orphan, but to the azure gem itself. He screamed, tried to resist, but his body had nothing left. The blue light intensified, his body started being absorbed into it as he looked to Orphan.

"No...Stop...Stop this..."

She only smiled, saying softly, "They begged for mercy, too."

"Please! Stop!" His body began to vanish.

"Justice in its purest form. Our Justice."

"_**STOP IT PLEEEASE!**_"

A solitary burst of light and the Deviant was no more.

* * *

"_Rip him!"_

"_Tear him apart!"_

"_Burn out out his eyes!"_

"_Don't stop! DON'T LET GO!"_

His body was torn asunder, shredded to pieces, burned inside and out.

"_Break him! Kill Him!"_

"_Snap his neck!"_

"_Strangle him!"_

"_Rip out his bones!"_

Hands bore inside his body, eviscerated his organs and tore out his stomach and lungs. Those same hands clawed inside his skin, weaved in and out through his neck and face, gashing out the flesh. His spine had been pulled out through his lower back. The hands weaved inside, through his broken back and bore into his skull.

"_Make him hurt! Bleed him dry!"_

"_Rip it out!"_

Over and over again, thousands of anguished souls, blue in color and perfectly featureless, save for empty black eyes and vacuous black mouths, had their way with the Deviant's body. They would not kill him. They would heal and make him whole again just before his life was extinguished in order to continue their justified slaughter.

But to them it was not enough.

* * *

In an instant, the scene had changed and the Deviant was no longer in his body, but in the body of an old man. The ripping of his skin, clawing of his flesh and bones had ended, replaced by the aches and pains of an aged body and the fear of seeing a grinning, burning-eyed demon coming for him and his wife.

He was experiencing their memories, their pain.

He was experiencing himself, killing himself over and over.

In the body of the old man, the Deviant felt the memory of Xinck grab him by his throat, so tight that his gloved hands tore the tender, withered flesh. The Deviant saw Xinck open his maw, wider and wider, he then bit down and ripped through skull, brain, flesh and cartilage. The Deviant felt the old man's pain, every second of it and every excruciating signal.

Just before he died completely as the old man, The Deviant was released from him and returned to his body.

Another soul took hold of him, thrusting him into the body of a young girl. She couldn't have been older than 6 years old, but her age did not stop Xinck from grabbing her, swinging her by her arms so hard that the bones were snapped from their sockets. Xinck let go, sending the girl and the Deviant sailing through the air with a wailing cry, screaming for"Mommy! Mommy!". Their body collided with the sharp, unflinching branches of a withered tree. Impaled near the top, the girl lost her life and the Deviant was thrust back into his body.

How many times did he watch as he killed himself?

Too many to count.

Too much pain to keep up with.

Putting him through their pain and sorrow was not enough.

They could do more.

* * *

Another instant and the Deviant's vision changed once more.

To his amazement, to both his shock and horror, he was in his body.

His normal body.

His Human Body.

"Hey, bitch-boy!" A voice called out. The Deviant turned around to hear the voice. As he did, a rock sailed through the air and smashed across his face.

His nose and mouth bled and splattered to the ground with his lunch tray.

The outcast, ostracized young Deviant was so often the subject of cruelty from his school peers when they worked up the courage to confront him.

He couldn't fight back. Never.

What would happen if he did?

What would happen if he retaliated?

He was afraid. He was a coward. His own self-loathing was worse than anything the other children threw at him. He hated himself for feeling like that.

The young Deviant ignored the rock and tried for his fallen food, but another rock forced him to the ground. Before he could get up to run, they were on him, kicking, punching him wherever they saw flesh.

The cruelty of children begetting the sadism of a childish monster.

Another scene change and the Deviant shrank in stature, a tight hand around his wrist pulled him to and fro. His eyes looked up and an unseen figure, so familiar and yet so unknown, leered down at him with contempt in their eyes.

"Please! Please! Stop!" His voice was so young and full of fright and pain.

An open closet door hung open nearby. The Deviant was thrown inside, so hard and so fast, his head hit the back and began to bleed. He cried out, and when the closet door was shut tight, he screamed and thrashed about so violently against the metal door that his hands suffered bruising from the strain.

"NO! LET ME OUT! I'M SCARED OF THE DARK! PLEASE! HELP ME!"

The Deviant kicked out as hard as he could, he punched and shoved at the door, anything to get away from the darkness. His fear drove him to desperation. He would do anything to survive. "Let me out! Let Me Out! LET ME OUT! **LET ME OUT!**"

The Darkness ripped itself from the black space with his words and swarmed around his body like a viscous whirlwind. The Darkness returned the Deviant to his true body, as ripped and ruin as it had been, and the space that was once occupied by tormented souls was now empty whiteness.

* * *

"Let me out...let me out...let..me.."

He sobbed repeatedly, unwilling, or unable, to move as he lay there in the white space.

He was so tired, what was left of his body was so weak.

His wounds were severe, fatal even, but the souls would not let him die. His left leg was missing, as was much of his abdomen, half of his right eye and his arms were nothing more than rotting nubs. Pieces of his shattered skull stuck out randomly from his face.

"_What a waste, a __pathetic life." _A voice chided.

"_Wretched thing!" _A Woman cursed.

"_What is going on in your life to make you want to hurt other people?!" _A young man sobbed.

"Stop it!" He spat out, the real and screaming voices firing off at him were almost too much to bear, "Dammit, dammit! Let me out!"

"_No friends!"_

"_No family!"_

"_Not a single trace of love! An empty creature! Wretch! Abomination!"_

Adding to his horror, the blue souls invaded the white space. They closed in with a a fiery blue aura taking hold of his body. Instinctively, his screams took over as the thought of the burning fire overloaded his mind with pain.

But then, the blue fires did not scorch or harm his body at all.

He could feel it. The fiery blue aura caressed his body, even lifted it off the white floor. And with no pain, his full vision was restored with the healing of his eye. His abdomen re-grew the damaged skin and tissue and stitched itself back together. His shin bone grew back, followed by his ankle and foot. Muscles weaved around each other to envelope the new limb and skin covered that in turn, followed by his black pants and coat.

The blue aura continued to play around his body. Xinck was restored, fully and completely without a single hair out of place, but then the dread thought of his physical torture resuming jumped into his mind and he futilely tried to brace himself.

But when nothing happened, he assumed it was nothing more than a trick.

"_No family and no love wrought such a despairing beast." _One voice said.

"_How could it be that the opposite spawns the same result?" _Another voice responded.

The blue aura billowing on his body drifted away from him, growing larger and brighter as it went. When it finally settled, a few feet away from him, it began to take shape and darken from blue to jet black. The blackness became a coat dressing a slender body, and its head resembled the face of a female with blue eyes and short blonde hair with two prominent reverse hair spikes.

Xinck, at a loss for words, could barely gasp her name through hollow breaths, "La-"

"You're looking terrible, kid." Larxene said, her arms were crossed and her gaze was radiating that same blue aura.

"You...you're dead! Sora killed you, I watched! You're dead! DEAD!"

"You should be more careful about whom you consider dead." Larxene's words cut like a knife, "You thought The Orphan was dead and look where it got you."

"The last time you showed up to me was in the Underworld." Xinck short back. His eyes narrowed, his voice hallowed as he started into a frenzy, "You could be just another illusion like her to mess with me! Another trick, another deception! They've already got me trapped here! They already have my body and soul to rip and tear and burn all they want! There's NOTHING LEFT OF ME!" Larxene reached out, easily taking hold of Xinck's neck and gripped it tight enough to haul him into the air compressing his newly reformed esophagus. Xinck gasped and hacked and clawed at Larxene's wrist for all he was worth, but his former mentor would not budge.

The pair locked eyes, Larxene looking deeply into his. When Xinck observed that She did not smile, smirk or grin, he managed "You're...not..." Before he could finish, Larxene opened her mouth, wider than anyone could, and where there should have been a tongue and throat was nothing but an endless void of moaning, tortured blue souls.

"We Are Not Larxene, Devil._" _She finally released the Deviant, he fell to the floor, rubbing and trying to soothe his neck, "Relative To You We Appear As Larxene."

Xinck, coughing and recovering from the strangulation hoarsely replied with. He looked over his former mentor, the souls he stole That Day shimmering in and out of her visage in rifts. Phantoms. They were just Phantoms. "So...what? Tired of killing me the old fashion way and now you wanna talk me to death?"

For a moment, the mass of souls that took the form of Larxene released a presence upon Xinck, like gravity, it forced him down flat, squeezing his bones and organs as he screamed for them to stop. When she finally stopped, Larxene reached down for him, took him by his hair and hauled him up to eye level, "Tell Us," She said harshly, "How Can Maintain Your Individuality Among This Storm of Souls? It Is Something In You, We Can See It!"

"Ah!" Xinck beat at Larxene's hand, but she would not budge. Chocking, he managed, "Dead people talk too much!"

Larxene's grip tightened and he voice exploded into a symphony, "EVEN NOW AS YOU DRAW YOUR FINAL BREATHS, YOU KEEP UP WITH YOUR DEFIANCE!" With no effort, she grabbed his arm and tore it away, she grabbed the right and did the same. Though he hollered, it did not deter her from biting a bulk off a bulk of his skull and spitting it out while tossing him to the floor.

His cries echoed out and died into nothing, writhing and sobbing on the ground as two pools of blood expanded where his arms and forehead once were. Xinck's eyes darted around his skull, desperate to focus, and they settled on the Phantom Larxene. His screams turned to growls, he struggled and manged to roll over onto his stomach and onto his knees. The blue flames returned to his body and burned him new limbs and refashioned his skull as he struggled to his feet.

"Our Orphan Destroyed You Over And Over Again, And Yet You Still Stood Back Up." The Phantom Larxene said, "And We Tortured Your Very Soul Beyond Anything Anyone Could Withstand, And Yet You Still Stand. Why? Why Do You Go On?"

"Because I'm not a coward!" Xinck exclaimed, "She wanted a fight, so I gave it to her!"

"THAT'S A LIE! You Knew She Was Stronger Than You The Moment She Revealed Herself, But You Still Fought! Why!?" Larxene lunged for Xinck, her hand grew large and grotesque and she used it to slam Xinck into the ground. Her hand continued to grow, expanding slowly over his body and crushing him.

His struggling intensified, "Because...I thought I could win!"

"No, You Didn't! Your Hopes Diminished When She Killed Your Dog!" She bellowed and the torrent of drowning mass from her body exploded and threatened to consume him entirely.

"I Don't know why!" He sobbed back.

"Yes, You Do! Last Chance, Devil!" The black mass ignited with blue flames, engulfing Xinck in an unnatural Black and Blue. He writhed and screamed, but no sound was came as his mouth was being assailed by the same mass.

"Because...Beca-...!"

"Because Why, Xinck?!"

Tearing his hands away from the blackness and ripping the mess away from his mouth, he bellowed with everything he had, " BECAUSE I WANTED TO LIVE!"

His voice tore through the black mass and ripped it asunder. The Phantom Larxene flickered, the blue souls and the blue flames shifted and turned into a raging, violent purple at the sound of His voice. The purple flames burned everything as they raged through the white space, scorching everything black. Soon the violet energy spread outward in a full circle and settled in a ring around the Deviant, who looked on in bewilderment.

There was no more pain in his body, and from a quick glance no mark, bruise or scar could be seen or felt, save for the thin black tear line Orphan carved into his cheek to his chin.

"You Want To Live?" The Phantom of his mentor asked. Xinck looked, but saw no place of origin for the voice, but sadly, he nodded his head. "So Live." The Voice added.

The violet flames against the black backdrop. What it represented—his power—that power he succeeded in pushing away. "If It Weren't For This Power, Lost Underneath Your Insanity, We Would Have Ended You The Moment Orphan Had Us Drag You In Here."Xinck shot around to see the Phantom Larxene standing behind him, her body like an effigy of purple fires. "You Pushed It Away, Never Used It. Why?"

"Shut up!" Xinck shouted, his voice enraging the flames, "You would have done the same thing if you killed a massive amount of people. You wouldn't want them haunting you all the time, I have enough voices in my head!"

It was there, he always knew it was, but to protect himself from himself, he was able to lock the bulk of his Necromantic powers away. What was left, he seldom used, only when it was absolutely necessary. But he hardly found any situation so as to risk what little peace of mind he had. If the full force of that power was out, he would be vulnerable to the lingering soul of every man, woman and child he ever took to the grave.

"That Power, To Command The Dead, Is A Part Of You." The Phantoms that composed Larxene's body bubbled with instability.

"It's a curse." Xinck shot back.

"It Is A Part Of You, Just As Much As Your Darkness Is! You Are The One Who Gave Life To This State Of Affairs, So That Power And You Have A Responsibility To Put It To An End."

"I don't get it." Xinck snapped at the Phantoms, " You, going on about this whole thing, about me, about my power...You _want _me to kill Orphan! YOU—All of YOU—have been giving her power! She talks about how you all loved her and she loved you, and you're telling ME, the person who killed you all in the first place, to murder her? Why?!"

The Phantoms of Larxene's body had become more detailed, so as to show faces. Faces of men cradling their wives, of mother's mourning their children. And out of the mass of numerous souls and spirits, were two pairs of piercing emerald eyes, the eyes of Orphan's mother and father. "To Be..Murdered By A Stranger," The Phantoms said in unison, eclipsing Larxene's voice, "Is An Abhorrent Evil, But An Evil That Can Be Palpable. But..But..."

For once, the amalgamation of spirits exuded an aura of pain far greater than what Xinck had experienced thus far, "But To Be So Savagely Betrayed By One We Once Called Our Own Is An Impalpable Evil, An Unforgivable Evil. The Dead Cannot Truly Experience Time, So Our Period With The Orphan Has Been Nothing But Pain For An Eternity, An Eternity Of Her Siphoning Off Our Existence For Her Power.

"Can You..."The Phantom went on, "_Could _You Possibly Understand That? Understand How Betrayal Can Tear One Apart?"

Xinck replied with nothing but a glare to the Phantom, the slightest hint of his friends coming to the surface of his mind. "If you're trying to make me sympathetic, it's not going to work. Besides, even if all of you let me out of here to fight Orphan, again, why should I? What's the point?"

"We Will Help You To Defeat The Orphan. As Our Power Is Unwillingly Taken By Her, We Will Willingly Give It To You. It Is By Us That Your Body Was Healed Moments Ago, And It Is By Us That You Shall Have Power On Par With That Of The Orphan. Use Your Power To Free Us."

"You didn't answer my question." Xinck sneered, his voice turning gravelly and piercing as he enunciated coldly, "Why. Should. I?"

"Are You Feeling Anger? For What Possible Reason!? We Offer Salvation, And You Turn On Us!?"

"I don't like being used!" Xinck shouted, "Here's how I see it: If I get out of here, and by some far-off odds, I somehow beat Orphan and free you, what happens? All the power and energy she got from you leaves with you, and the power you used to heal me goes away, too! Leaving me a dying, bleeding husk. Agree to your terms, or don't agree, either way, I'm fucked!"

Like a collective hive mind, every face making up the phantom-like version of Larxene took on a smirk, "You Expect Something More? You MURDERED ALL OF US, And You Expect No Ill Will? We Hate And Despise You, But We Hate Her And Our Confinement Even More. This Is A Compromise."

"A Compromise for you." Xinck mused, "And a final 'Fuck Off' from the Universe to me."

"True." The Phantom said, "But, People Like You Should Not Be. You Know This To Be True. You Do What You Want And Ignore The Consequences. The Deviant And The Orphan Cannot Exist, This Must Be The End For You Both. If The Orphan Is Allowed To Roam, Only More Tragedy Will Befall The Worlds. Stop Her And You Will Have Our Forgiveness."

Was there truly any choice he had? Or was it just the illusion of choice? Either way, Xinck would die, be it by the hands of the souls he damned or the hands of the one soul that got away. He deserved it, that much he knew, but did he have to settle for it? Illusion or Not, facing a final, true death like this, Xinck remembered perhaps the only good advice Larxene—the real Larxene-had given him once:

"_Keep this in mind. No matter what anyone says, no matter what you might face, the choice is up to you, Xinck. You ALWAYS have a choice._"

"I always have a choice." Xinck explained firmly. He looked at the Phantom, and it no longer resembled anything like Larxene, just a mass of blue souls in the shape of a face writhing in purple flames. "I killed you all, and that was a bad choice. If I had a heart and could feel, when I say I'm sorry I would mean it."

"So You Accept Your Role To Play In This Endgame?"

"Let me finish." Xinck held up a finger to the large face, silencing it with ease as he used his Necromantic power, "I don't care about the worlds, their sufferings or their doom, and I don't care for your forgiveness. But I've made my choice about why I'll go with your plan."

"And That Choice Is...?"

A grimace appeared across the Deviant's face, Orphan's voice played in his head, _"__Maybe after I finish you, I should go after that Blonde one. One less abortion to worry about."_

Xinck pushed the voice away and hardened his resolve. He flexed his fists and they ignited into dark purple flames. His mouth opened to an insane grin, his eyes widened and he reached out his burning hand, beckoning the souls to him. Gleefully he said, "None of your fuckin' business! Now let's GO!"

* * *

Workin' on it...


	59. This Is Halloween, Everybody Scream!

So, this is the only Theme chapter I've made that I've posted anywhere near the time the actual holiday happened. I literally got the idea for this two days ago.

I wanted to post this as quick as possible. I'm still attempting to get things together. I am still writing the next chapter, I am just preoccupied with somethign else. Just know it is getting done.

Standard Disclaimer. Yadda yadda, blibbity bloo...

* * *

The Horrors of Hell have arrived on Earth.

Demons, Monsters, Ghosts and Goblins

Will Run Wild and Free

FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY  
THIS HELL-O-WEEN!

And YOU (Plus 1) are Invited.

Yea for you.

Who: Hosted by the ever infamous Organization XIII, brought to you in _SpOOOky Vision._

What: Halloween Party. Already Stated This, Try to Keep Up.

When: October 31st , Halloween Night, 8:00 PM-?

Where: Hall of Empty Melodies, The Castle That Never Was, The World That Never Was.

Why: Because We Can, Bitches.

P.S. Just FYI, when we say YOU PLUS 1, we mean YOU, PLUS 1 other person whose name is not on this list:

Anyone from the 100 Acre Wood

Merlin

Yen Sid

Wakka

Peter Pan

Zak

Santa Claus

Jack Skellington

Chernabog

Yuffie

Sephiroth

* * *

"I'm going as The Crow." Saix explained. He was fiddling away at his clipboard as Axel walked next to him down a long stretch of stark white corridor, "I figure it's simple enough for tonight's festivities."

"Man, don't go as The Crow." Axel replied.

"Why not? What's wrong with The Crow? I like The Crow."

Axel groaned, "Every Halloween Party, every year, there's, like, 20 guys there dressed as The Crow and it's _always _boring and lame. Try something else."

"Every year? No, that can't be right. Besides, I've already bought the costume. I didn't opt for the refund when I got it."

"You should've done a Grimmjow outfit."

"Who?" Saix asked.

"Grimmjow. That guy from BLEACH."

"Which guy from BLEACH? There's literally hundreds of 'guys' from BLEACH. Be specific."

Axel let out a sigh and lazily placed his hands behind his head as he walked, "Grimmjow. Tall guy, wears an open jacket, blue hair, blue eyes. Turns into a cat...guy..thingy."

"Yeah, I'm not doing anything that turns into a cat...guy...thing. The Crow will have to suffice." Saix reached out and flexed his palm, and opening before him was a Corridor of Darkness. "And what are you going as?"

"Tch!" Axel scoffed with a grin, "Gonna have to wait till tonight, yo!"

"Let me guess. Gangnam Style?"

Axel's face froze, his lower lip quivering. He turned on his heels and paced quickly in the opposite direction, "Goddammit, Saix!"

"If you want, "Saix called after him, "You could always go as Grimmjow if you dye your hair."

"BLEACH sucks now anyway!" Axel shouted back.

Saix smirked and turned to walk into the darkness. "Indeed." he said.

* * *

"I'm goin' as The Crow." Xigbar muttered obnoxiously so, "Gonna be awesome, wait and see."

"Oh, yes, The Crow." Xaldin sighed. He laid on the couch opposite of Xigbar with his head on the armrest in The Gray Area, "Pulling out that old one again, are we?"

"Wha-what do you mean?"

"You don't know? How could you not know?"

"Know what?"

"Well, come to think of it, of course you wouldn't know. During Christmas Luxord has his drunken stupors, and during Halloween, you have your marijuana-induced shenanigans. Followed by complete amnesia."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that for the past 12 years, every Halloween, You've gone as The bloody Crow!"

Xigbar eyed Xaldin for a few moments, his jaw slack. Then his trademark grin crept across his face and his eyes light up as they always did, "Dude, it must have been some really good pot if I can't remember a damn thing."

"My sentiments exactly." Xaldin replied gruffly.

"So, what are you going as?"

"Nothing. I'll not be participating in this asinine pagan festival. The Druids invented Halloween, you know."

"Naw, man, you're wrong. The Druish didn't invent Halloween. You're thinking of Yom Kippur."

Xaldin shivered with a sigh and massaged the bridge of his nose, "And it begins..."

* * *

"Not everything has a reason, Saix." Xemnas spoke casually, sitting at his desk only vaguely paying attention to the papers that were stacked neatly before him.

"True, but I know that you of all people never do anything without a reason." The Diviner continued filing papers on the nearest wall behind the Superior, "For what possible reason could Organization XIII have for hosting a party of this kind? Surely they will all think it's a trap. An easy way to destroy all of out enemies in one fell swoop."

Xemnas stood from his desk, an action which instantly took Saix's attention.

"We will kill our enemies with kindness, festivities so awesome in caliber that they will shudder and know our greatness. Our candies, treats and musical entertainment will surpass all their pitiful expectations and shatter their hopes and wishes, ushering in a tsunami of despair in them the likes of which will never be seen, felt, heard, smelled and tasted every again and for eternity. That, Saix, is the true spirit of Halloween: showing up the petulant fools that wish they were you."

"Thrilling." Saix spoke back dryly as his Superior retook his seat.

"Besides, I invited Sora and Maleficent. That should be interesting.

Even this drew out an emotional response from Saix, "You did what!? Why!?"

Xemnas shrugged nonchalantly, "Spur of the moment? Besides," He completely dropped the subject and started a new one, "Speaking of interesting, for my costume-"

"_You're _wearing a costume?"

"Yes, I believe I'll go as The Crow. I've heard a great deal about the character, from Xigbar mostly." Xemnas explained, "You see, he was the man who seeks revenge on those who murdered..."

Xemnas seemed to drone on and on in his usual monotone. Saix stopped listening after 'The Crow'. Saix could not let this happen. He had lied to Axel. He hadn't arbitrarily picked his costume at the last minute, but had spent the last month and a half putting every fine detail together. No one in the Organization will wear The Crow other than the Diviner. Saix swore it.

"Superior." Saix interrupted, "Perhaps you should reconsider your costume choice."

"Oh? Why? Is The Crow not popular? Is it not what the children are wearing in the streets?"

"Xemnas, it's just that The Crow is usually overdone at these types of events. There are easily 10 to 15 people dressed as The Crow."

"Huh." Xemnas muttered, "I hadn't realized how popular The Crow was."

"Someone such as yourself might want to stick out out more, only to instill in our guests the true might of your Superiority."

"I am No. I for a reason." Xemnas reasoned, "Very well. I shall change my costume. What do you suggest?"

"You can never go wrong with the classics: Mummies, Frankensteins, Vampires-"

"WereSaixs?"

Saix turned awkwardly to Xemnas, "Did you just make a joke?"

The Superior smirked, "The idea of being unpredictable appeals to me."

"Which is why you are throwing this party?"

"Correct." Xemnas answered, "And the most unpredictable costume idea that comes to mind is..."

* * *

In the Hall of Empty Melodies, Halloween-esque additions hung gruesomely from the highest parts of the ceiling, the walls and the balconies. The Deviant was in charge of decorating the Hall and, surprisingly enough, took great pride in this chance of interior design. Decaying corpses, so realistic in both bone structure and tattered clothes hung from the walls and the very top of the ceiling. Their organs even made horrid gushing noises as they slipped from the deceased bag of flesh. Blood was thrown carelessly across the walls and Satanic markings and symbols occasionally strewn about.

"Xinck!" Roxas called out in shock, "These are REAL!" The Deviant came floating down from the highest point of the Hall and landed before No. XIII.

"Of course they're real." Xinck said as casually as possible,"Since when have you ever known me to not go all out?"

"But REAL corpses! These are people!"

"Now they're dead people."

"What happened to the box of decorations I got from the store on Saturday?!"

"That's where I left them. In the box." Xinck's gaze turned upward to marvel at his handiwork, "Besides, I've had these lying around for months and I wanted to put them to use. I hung a bunch of air-fresheners on 'em to, you know, overpower the corpsey smell."

"So, let me get this right." Roxas started, "You killed a bunch of people..."

"Uh-huh." Xinck answered.

"_Months _ago..."

"Right, right."

"Kept their decaying bodies around and are now using them as Halloween decorations."

"You know me so well, Rox." Xinck grinned, "Don't get your panties in a bunch. They're just hobos. No one important. If I hadn't done anything, they would've just died on the street, shanked to death by other hobos, hit by a car, set on fire by teenagers, dying of AIDS, giving handjobs for smack or be strung out on aforementioned smack. But, in death, they can be strung up as Halloween decorations and actually contribute to society."

"Xinck, that logic is horrible."

"Infallible, Roxas. The word is Infallible. My logic is infallible. Now, help me string up these hobo brains."

"Ew! No! No!"

* * *

_**The Party**_

It seemed that the concept of being fashionably late was not very well known to the invited guests. Almost as soon as 8:00 rolled around, eager party goers began arriving at the Castle's front doors. Even though fun and frivolity were on the menu for tonight, the Organization always took precautions, mostly because their guests included, but was not limited to, all of their acquaintances, good and bad. Along the perimeter of the Castle That Never Was was the NO-LINE, a magical border commissioned by Xemnas that effectively and severely weakened the powers and abilities of everyone and everything within it. To be fair, this also included the Organization. The status of the line was on a timer that would not dissipate until 5 AM.

The party was already set into motion. In The Hall of Empty Melodies, music could be heard blaring in the background high above on the second floor as Demyx so expertly DJ'd. Below on the first floor, a long, heavily decorated table filled to the brink with grim and macabre-inspired foods laid off to the side ready to be engaged. It was pushed to the side at Roxas' request so that the very real organs above would not fall into the punchbowl and ruin the vibe.

"_This is going well_." Saix thought as he casually sauntered through the crowd. White and black makeup covered his face and he took a pair of scissors to his black coat to give it the authentic Crow look he desired. His hair was too blue to accept the black dye and no matter how much he tried he could only get it a darker shade of blue. Luckily the atmosphere of the party was dark enough to hide this. "_My costume is amazing, of course it is! I am The Crow. This was a good idea."_

"Saix! Saix! Over here, old sport!" Luxord called through the crowd and music. Saix stopped and turned to see No.X wearing blue boots, white gloves, a red X on his chest and forearms and a red face mask. "I must say, that is a brilliant Crow outfit, Saix."

"I know." Saix said haughtily, "What are you supposed to be?"

"Oh, yes," Luxord then took a heroic stance, complete with folded fists on his hips, "I Am Captain Britain, defender of the Britain of Earth-616!"

"Who?"

"I said, I Am Captain Bri-"

"Yes, yes, I heard you, but who is Captain Britain?"

"He's the English equivalent of Captain America!" Luxord replied.

"Why didn't you just go as Captain America then?"

"Because I'm English, obviously."

"But everyone knows Captain America, especially because of _The Avengers. _This Captain Britain's obviously some two-bit background character."

"He is a true Marvel hero! Look it up!" Luxord exclaimed.

"Does he have a movie out?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Did he make an appearance in any Saturday Morning cartoon?" Saix went on.

"No, but that doesn't mean-"

"Two-bit background character." Saix said dismissively.

"Saix!" Luxord shouted, "Just because a character isn't as famous as another, doesn't mean they can just be written off as unimportant or terrible. Goodness sakes' man, how many people knew about _The Punisher _before they made SEVERAL movies, huh?! Think about that!"

"_The Punisher? _That's your argument? He sucks, too. All his movies sunk at the box office. Think about that. Loser." Saix's turning motion smacked Luxord in the face with his hair, leaving Captain Britain in a fuming stupor. The only thing that managed to catch Luxord's eye was a large, waddling individual in a Barney costume, clumsily making its way through the crowd.

"Well, at least it's nice to know my costume isn't the worst."

* * *

"This is a bad idea. Why would except an invitation from _them_, of all people!?" Riku argued. He walked in the middle of both Sora and Kairi, all three of them in mildly amusing costumes. Riku wore a messy jet black wig, a dark cummerbund and a tuxedo with white gloves.

"Come on, we could use some fun. Besides, the invite said there wouldn't be any funny business." Sora reasoned. Sora clad himself in leather pants, a dark shirt and a long red shirt complete with a hood and white gloves. He even managed to tie some of his hair back into a braid.

"And you believe that!? Most of Organization XIII hates you, especially Roxas. "

"Oh, no he doesn't."

"Yeah, he does. He really does." Kairi said. Kairi's costume, at first glance was simple, but the concept behind it was much more confusing. She wore a straight black outfit that had several white vertical lines going down from the base of her neck to her feet. At the center of her stomach as a single white dot.

"What's with all the negativity? It's Halloween, think positive!" Sora exclaimed, "Hey look, they have food, I'll catch up to you guys later!"

"Hey, wait, don't leave!" Riku called after him, but Sora was already out of earshot, "Kairi, we really should stick together, we're in hostile terri-"

"Yeah, yeah, you do that, I'm going to try and see if someone can guess my costume."

"Kairi, no one's going to get that you're the Doppler Effect!"

"I'm not the Doppler Effect!" Kairi shouted back, "I'm Sheldon Cooper _as _The Doppler Effect! Honestly, Riku, are you going to be a downer all night?!"

"I'm not trying to be a downer, it's just I don't think we should stay too long."

"Why not?"

"We're in the house of a bunch of unpredictable weirdos. Just be careful."

* * *

"For the last time, I am Captain Britain! Why is that so hard for you lot to comprehend!?"

"Dude, I don't read comic books." Demyx replied. The Nocturne was only half paying attention. As the Disc Jockey, he was one of the only ones not in costume. He didn't mind it, though, as being in charge of the music was all he needed.

"I mean, this is all Marvel's fault!" Luxord said, "If they would be fair in their distribution of interest in foreign comic book characters, Captain Britain would be a household name, I just know it! I mean, name one comic book character who isn't by default American. Go ahead, I dare you. See? What did I tell you? You can't do-"

"Nightrunner." Demyx answered, adjusting his headphones, "The Batman of Paris. He's a Sunni Muslim who does Parkour. He's pretty cool."

Luxord scoffed harshly, "That's not Marvel! You have to name a Marvel character!"

"You didn't say I had to."

"Yes I did, yes I did! It was implied, you half-wit! And you said you don't even read comic books!"

"I don't, but I knew about Nightrunner because he knows Batman. And Batman rocks. Everyone knows that. You probably should have gone as Batman. Not this...Captain English."

"Captain Britain, you tosser!"

"Whatevs, man. Whatevs." Demyx shrugged and returned to his DJ'ing.

"Happy Halloween, ass-hats." Walking out from the passageway that led to Proof of Existence, Xinck made his way to Nos. 9 and 10. The Deviant wore a long, black coat that wafted behind him without the need of wind. It was tattered and torn on its edges. The sleeves were torn away, revealing his arms. His undershirt was a dark crimson tucked into black pants with black boots up to his knees. He vicious fangs in his mouth and his hair was pulled back, revealing a sharp widows peek and two locks vaguely styled into a V.

"Wow, Xinck, great costume. Demyx said, "Vampire 2012. Nice."

"I'm not just any vampire. I am the King of Vampires!" He said with a flourish of his jacket and a flash of his fangs, "I want to suck you!"

"Don't you mean 'your blood'? Demyx asked.

"That, too." Xinck added.

"Ah, yes, Xinck!" Luxord exclaimed, "Surely one as knowledgeable as yourself knows who I am!"

"Um..." Xinck mused, eying Luxord's costume, "Captain Britain?"

"Yes! Yes!" Luxord chanted, coming over to the Deviant and wrapping his arm around him, "See, Demyx? Xinck gets it! You know why? Because he's brilliant, of course! And, needless to say, Xinck, your Blacula outfit is beyond outstanding!"

"Wait, what!?" Xinck removed Luxord's arm.

"Now you did it..."Demyx muttered.

"Oh, so because I dress up as a Vampire, it automatically makes me Blacula!?"

"No, no, Xinck!" Luxord started, "I-I meant nothing by it-"

"Oh!" Xinck growled, walking back towards Proof of Existence, "Xercivio told me to pick something else, but I said 'Now, Xercivio we live in 2012, no way people are going to make that kind of jump in reference'! Dammit, Luxord!"

"No, Xinck, please, I'm sorry! Wai-"

"Go to Hell, you Captain America Wannabe!" Xinck was gone.

"Demyx, really, it was an honest mistake!"

"Save it for the Cross burning, Adolf." Demyx replied, "Hey, make yourself useful and bring me some food from the buffet, huh?"

* * *

"What do you MEAN I have to be in costume to get in!?" Maleficent barked.

"_I mean,_" Xercivio started, _"Unless you can pull a scary, ugly mask over that even uglier face, you ain't getting' in, girlfriend._" The servant of the Deviant held a clipboard and a pen as casually as possible, acting as Doorman to the Organization's party, a long line still forming in front of him. Xercivio wore an adorable Pikachu costume, complete with a moveable lightning bolt-shaped tail. He had tried to get Xinck to dress as Ash Ketchum, but he refused, arguing 'The bastard's about 30 years old and is way to old to be chasing mutated animals through the forest.'

"Scary?" Maleficent fumed, "Know this, you insignificant white husk! I _Am _in costume! For what is scarier, more frightening than ME!? Maleficent, The Mistress of All EVIL!?" She forewent with her normal effects of green flames encircling her body, and opted to simply force her way inside. She lowered her staff to Xercivio's level and the crystal ball on top blazed an effervescent green. "Now, white husk, obey my words, or suffer the fires of HELL!"

Xercivio blinked his empty eye sockets, _"Uh-huh, yeah, you see that white line you crossed when you came out from your portal? Yeah, you crossed that, and no matter what you do with your glowing stick thing there_, _you couldn't even give me a fever, let alone set me on fire with the flames of hell. Or whatever. Step out of line, please."_

"What? You insolen-"

"_Step out of line!" _Xercivio raised his voice. Brushing past Maleficent, effectively pushing her out of line, came a tall figure wrapped in dusty old bandages, but was distinguishable by his obnoxiously large hat and cane.

"I am Mummy Jafar, here to party down." The man said.

"_Jafar...Jafar..." _Xercivio traced his pen down his list, "_Yep, you're on the list. Go on in."_

"Excellent!" Jafar exclaimed.

"Jafar!" Maleficent called, "I beseech thee!Help me in getting into this party!"

The Mummy Jafar turned his head briefly, "I'm sorry. Do I know you?" he said harshly before continuing up into the Castle.

"You will rue this day, Jafar! Mark me, fool!" Maleficent said.

Cinderella was next in line before Xercivio, but Maleficent bashed into her savagely and knocked her to the ground out of the way. "White husk! Tell me, what must I do to get into this party!?"

"_You again?" _Xercivio groaned, rubbing his head annoyingly. He looked at Maleficent, then at her cane, _"That's a fancy-looking stick you got there. Give it up, Mistress of all evil." _He said, holding out his hand.

"My staff? Damn your head, I'll not give it up!"

"_Step out of line then, Wicked Witch." _Xercivio snapped.

Maleficent was noticeably irritated at the thought, but nonetheless found herself relinquishing her staff to the Nobody. "Now let me in!"

"_Oh, this is sweet!" _Xercivio awed, the staff easily twice his height. He then turned back to Maleficent, _"And 50 bucks."_

"Fifty!?" Maleficent growled. Growling, she reached into her elongated left sleeve and pulled out the bill, handing it to Xercivio's waiting hand.

"_Did I say Fifty? I meant 100."_

"Damn you to Deepest, darkest Hell!" Maleficent handed over another 50, then rushed passed Xercivio, up the pathway and into the Castle.

"_Fine! But you stay away from the Buffet!" _Xercivio called after her, "_And you stand in the corner all night!"_

* * *

"Look at him over there, eating our food like he owns the place." Roxas sneered, "Those are my popcorn shrimp! What was Xemnas thinking inviting him here!?" watched Sora at the Buffet table several yards away. Roxas wore a large, thick white fur coat with a stuffed collar, and underneath he wore a solid black suit with a shining white undershirt. His hair was slicked back cleanly against his head and he wore the darkest sunglasses. In his hand was a black cane with an obnoxiously large diamond for a handle.

"I should go over there and pimp slap him. Just one good time!" Roxas was about to take off in Sora's direction, but Axel stopped him with a hand to his shoulder.

"Calm it down, micro mini pimp." Axel said, "No funny business tonight, you know that." Axel's costume was the last minute result of desperation. He referred to it as Zombie/Hobo Gangnam Style! His back story was that he was a Gangname Style enthusiast who lost all of his money, round up homeless and was then bitten by marauding zombies. All the while, he never stopped dancing and he never removed his sunglasses.

Roxas replied with a growl, but then quickly turned his attention to Axel's hand on his shoulder, "Off the coat, fool. Never touch a pimp's coat!"

"You gotta tell me, what made you want to go as a pimp for Halloween?"

Roxas shrugged casually, "Just trying something unpredictable. Unpredictable like this." The Key of Destiny reached out to the table of food next to him and grabbed a decorated red and black sugar skull. Before Axel could stop him, the skull was already sailing through the air and bound for Sora's head. When the skull burst against the Keyblader's head in an explosion of sugar, Roxas was already taking off in the other direction.

Roxas dove into the crowd of dancing patrons, calling back to Axel, "I was never here."

"No, Roxas! Wait, just wait!" Axel's pleas went on deaf ears as Sora moved through the crowd towards Axel.

"Hey, Axel!" Sora said, he seemed to not mind the Sugar Skull to his head, "What're you supposed to be, that guy from the _Wedding Singer_?"

"What!? No, man, I'm Zombie/Hobo/Gangnam Style!"

Sora looked Axel over from head to toe, a confused look on his face, "Yeah, I'm not seeing it. All I see is Adam Sandler in that horrible, horrible movie."

Axel scoffed, "Yeah, well, what are you supposed to be anyway?"

"Guess." Sora said, gesturing to his costume, "I wear red, I have yellow eyes..."

The Flurry of Dancing Flames shrugged.

"My mother's dead, my dad's kinda immortal, last name starts with 'E'..."

"You should've just worn a name tag, I'm not gonna get it."

Sora was about to respond, but before he could, a large figure made its way towards them, "AXEL!" Xaldin shouted, his march coming to an abrupt stop before him. Axel and Sora immediately recoiled at the sight of the Lancer. Despite Xaldin expressing his distaste for Halloween, he was in the type of costume that suggested he was a deep believer in the holiday tradition.

Dressed as a slutty school girl, Xaldin's costume was complete with knee-high stockings, a skirt that revealed his hairy, muscular thighs and a short shirt that also showcased his sculpted, hairy abs.

"Oh, I didn't need to see all of that..." Sora grimaced.

"Wow, Xaldin thanks to you, I now have no desire for women whatsoever." Axel shuddered, "I thought you hated Halloween anyway."

"To Hell with all of that!" Xaldin shouted. Upon closer inspection, when both Sora and Axel were able to force their eyes away from Xaldin's near-naked body, they saw that the left side of his face was a bright pulsing red covered in what looked like baby powder. "Where is that BASTARD Roxas!?"

"I dunno. He kinda dove into the crowd not too long ago, why? And what happened to your face?"

"HE did this to me! He slapped me! He put baby powder in his hand and slapped me! He slapped me and said, 'Next time I come around, bitch better have my money'! Now, where is he!?"

"Ha ha ha HA! Roxas said that?!" Axel laughed unable to contain himself.

"No way! Sounds like he's really committed to the role." Sora chuckled.

"Why do you think I'm trying to avoid him!?" Xaldin shouted.

"Well, you dressed up like _that,_ what do you expect? You look like a prostitute!" Axel said. This only irritated Xaldin further who began marching off, "Where are you going?"

"I guess, I'm going to go get his money!" On his way out, Xaldin met a Barney costume. He couldn't tell who it was, but it was obvious that they were too over eager. The Lancer pushed the purple dinosaur, hard enough to knock it over and several people who stood behind it, "Move, bitch!"

* * *

"Yeah, so I guess I'm Blade now." Xinck said, "And just so you know, Blade is also from England, you rat bastard." He had changed his costume, albeit only slightly. He still kept the sleeveless, jagged black coat and boots, but now he wore a simple matching black vest for a shirt. He wore black sunglasses that hid the sides of his eyes and a guardless sword clung vertically from his back.

"Xinck, please, for the last time, it was a mistake!" Luxord argued, "Really, now, you're blowing this way out of-"

Xinck held up a finger, forcing Luxord to stop. In his deepest voice he said, "Some motherfucker's always trying to ice skate uphill."

"Yes, yes, your acting skills are commendable, but-"

"So are my modeling skills." Xinck said in his normal voice, "Now watch as my commendable butt models these pants as I walk away." The Deviant turned and, as if he wore on the Catwalk, modeled his way away from Luxord.

The music blared on as Xinck walked along the edge of the crowd. He looked up tot he highest level and saw Demyx really getting into his DJ'ing. He held his headphones between his head and shoulders, spun the discs with one hand and controlled the function of the lights on a laptop with the other hand. Xinck had to admit, Demyx was doing a good job.

The Deviant came to the Table where the seemingly endless supply of food laid out. Some people congregated there, but there was only one that stood out above the others. She had an impeccable figure clad in black, black fishnets, heels and black hair. From behind, Xinck could tell she was in the guise of a female Vampire. The fact that he was dressed as Blade bred hundred of possible angles for him to go on.

He approached her from behind and tapped her shoulder, "Hey, how about this?" He said, "You're a vampire. I'm Blade the vampire Hunter. How about I whip out my sword and we settle this now. And when I say sword, I mean my pen-OW! Oh, God! Ow!" He looked down to his hand on the table and saw a large fork wedged deep in his flesh.

The woman turned around and Xinck saw her Holy emerald eyes glaring viciously back at him, "You bring that sword of yours anywhere near me and I'll rip it off and throw it in the bushes."

"Orphan?!"

"Happy Halloween, Fucker."

"Arrgh!" Xinck ripped the bloody fork out from his hand, turned and ran deep into the crowd. He didn't bother looking back to see whether or not she was following him as he called out for the only person that could help him, "Roxas! Roxas, where the fuck are you!?"

On the Middle landing in the vast expanse of Twilight's View, Roxas, still in his pimp guise, had become accustom to his shakedowns.

"I got all the money I could, sir." Pinocchio said. The little wooden boy, cowering before Roxas against the stairwell, wore a black cat costume, in thought of his father's pet cat, Figaro.

"Yeah, yeah, I see the money with my eyes, that is in my hand, that you see with your eyes. BUT, what is the problem!?" Roxas presented one hand filled with rolled dollar bills, and another hand holding folded dollar bills, "You KNOW I like my money FOLDED, not ROLL-DED!"

The little wooden boy shrieked, "I'm sorry, sir! I-I-I'll do better next time! I swear!"

"Oh, I swear it, too! In fact, I'm gonna swear it all across your face!" Roxas raised a threatening hand and prepared to let it fly, when Xinck appeared and took hold of his wrist.

"What the hell, man? You're taking this role too far. I'm the bad one, you're the one that's supposed to be nice." The Deviant said. He turned to Pinocchio, "Get out of here. Or I'll use your limbs for kindling. Christmas is just around the corner and I like my fireplace HOT!"

"Arrghh!" The Boy screamed, and he took off down the stairs.

"You're cutting into my business, bitch!" Roxas exclaimed, picking up his cane, "What do you want!? Be warned, time is money and mine is precious."

"Why the hell did Axel let you watch those movies from the 70s late at night!?" Xinck started, but dropped the subject as more pressing matters were happening, "Look, I just saw Orphan at the party!"

"What?"

"Orphan! Party! Here!"

"Dude, don't even joke." Roxas said, dropping his guise. "Where's Masq? If Orphan's here than Masq has to be here, too!"

"I don't know." Xinck replied, "I only saw Orphan, she stabbed me in the hand and then I ran to find you."

"Oh, man, I can't believe this!" Roxas growled.

"I'm calling Xercivio." With a quick gesture, Xinck produced a cellphone and had already dialed the number for his Reaper.

"He has a cellphone?" Roxas asked.

"Yeah, he's got the new iPhone 5."

"What!? I still have the iPhone 3! Not fair!"

The Call connected and The Reaper's slightly muffled voice was heard on the other line, _"What do you want? I'm making money and you are interfering, of course I would have cut you in, but you didn't wanna dress up as Ash!"_

"Shut up for a second!" Xinck shouted, "Listen, did two women come by you? One wore a dark outfit and had green eyes and a blue necklace and the other one might have been wearing a mask and had dark purple-ish hair."

"_Yeah, I remember those two."_ Xercivio answered, _"They looked hot enough. I'd definitely hit that. You know, if I had genitals." _

"Why would you let them in!?" Roxas bellowed into the phone, "They want to kill us!"

"_They had costumes and masks, you dumbass! Plus, they had invites and they were on the list."_

"Invitations? Xemnas invited them?"

"Oh, he is the worst leader ever!" Xinck exclaimed. He hung up on Xercivio, then started to call Xemnas. A minute or so later, The Superior answered.

"Hello?"

"Xemnas!" The two shouted into the phone, "Why did you invite Masq and Orphan!?"

From the phone, blasting music could be heard. Obviously he was at the party, but neither of them could recall seeing The Superior in costume. Xemnas sighed, then answered their question, "I only invited those who were on The Facebook's belonging to our members. The question is, why were they on your Facebook, Xinck?"

Roxas slowly turned his head towards Xinck, who, oddly enough, attempted to look as innocent as possible. "Yeah, why WERE they on your Facebook, Xinck!?"

"Masq had pictures I wanted to see! She saw I looked at her profile and she sent me a request you know I can be tempted easily!"

"They're trying to kill us, you moron!"

"Wait, is that what they wanted to do?" Xinck asked.

"This isn't a time to joke, Xinck!"

"Still on the phone here." Xemnas said through the phone.

"Okay, okay, okay, let me think." Roxas traced a hand along his forehead, attempting to calm himself down as he tried to think of a plan, "Alright, so OK. This isn't cannon, at all right?"

"I heard you threw a Sugar Skull at your Other, so you tell me." Xinck snapped back.

Roxas snickered, "Yeah, that was pretty funny. And the NO-LINE means no one in the Castle can do anything, I mean no one has any powers."

"Can't do anything, my ass. Orphan stabbed me!"

"But she didn't kill you, right?" Roxas straightened up and carefully adjusted his fur coat, "Look, Xemnas might act like an incompetent, ignorant, even downright horrible abusive and stupid when it comes to his leadership abilities..."

"Still on the phone." Xemnas said through trough the phone, "Hanging up now." The line went dead.

"...But he's not a complete Idiot, I don't think so anyway. He also invited Maleficent, Hades, Oogie Boogie and a bunch of other guys. There's no way he'd invite all these enemies here to the Castle and not have a back-up on the chance they wanted to try something."

"This is a dangerous game you like to play." Xinck muttered, "Sometimes I wonder which one of us is sick in the head."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that." Roxas added, "You just keep an eye on Orphan, I'll keep an eye on Masq and we'll both watch each other's back. Where is Masq anyway?"

* * *

The Grey Area was not a closed off space, but the party goers had not migrated there. Only Xigbar, dressed in a Crow outfit that honestly put Saix's to shame, came to the Grey Area. Him, and, in his words, 'Some chick he found wearing a mask'.

Lazy gray smoke wafted through the Grey area. Xigbar laid out on the floor, a half-smoked roll of pot to his lips. His masked companion laid out on the couch directly above him.

"...And I heard," Xigbar spoke eerily, "That if you play it backwards, you can hear the horrid screams of a dead girl!"

Masq chuckled lightly, the eyes of her mask turning a light pink. She grabbed the joint Xigbar offered her, "Oh, man, that's killer. Wait, wait...how do you play Scrabble backwards?"

"Internet, of course."

"Oh, yeah. Duh."

Masq handed back the joint to Xigbar, who watched as the mask's cheeks expanded with smoke before exhaling, "So, uh, that mask...is that, like, your real face?"

"Yeah, kinda." She replied lazily.

"But, you do have a normal face and all that underneath, right?"

"Uh-huh." She answered back.

"Can I see?" Xigbar asked, handing her the joint once more.

Masq took a long hit, then puffed out the smoke as lazily as possible, "Nah..."

Xigbar scoffed, "Lame."

"Lumping right." Masq snickered, handing back the joint, "_These Lumps!_" She sang, "_I know you wanna slump up on THESE LUMPS! But you can't 'cause you're a Chump!_"

"Can I see your face now?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Masq leaned over the side of the couch, worked her hand underneath her mask and lifted it up, revealing the face underneath.

"Huh." Xigbar said, "Well, ain't that somethin'."

* * *

"Come on, this isn't hard! You know this, it's so simple!" Kairi argued.

"Kairi, I don't know!" Axel said back, "Uh...a bunch of shoelaces!?"

"I'm the Doppler Effect! I'm Sheldon Cooper from _The Big Bang Theory_ dressed as The Doppler Effect!"

"How the hell was I supposed to get that?!"

"You're just bad at costumes because your costume is bad, too. Besides, on my way here I saw 15 other guys dressed as Gangnam Style."

"For the last time, I'm Zombie/Hobo Gangnam Style."

"Saw about 6 of those." Kairi added snidely.

There was a sudden stop in the music. The lights stopped flashing and returned to the pale illumination that was normal for The Hall of Empty Melodies. Everyone stopped dancing, and their eyes turned up to the second level. The people murmured in confusion, but Luxord's voice over the microphone attempted to assuage them.

"Attention, attention everyone." The Gambler said, "Yes, yes, I'm sure you all are enjoying the festivities, but I just wanted to clear the air about two things. One, I am NOT a racist in anyway shape or form. I find everyone is just neat..."

"Oh, what is this?!" Someone from the crowd shouted.

"Booo! Turn the music back on!"

"Get that jackass off the mic!" Riku yelled.

"No, no, listen to me everyone, listen!" Luxord said, "When I see people, I don't see color or race, ethnicity, not even species. I once knew and idolized a talking turtle, everyone! Yes, yes, a talking turtle. His name was Donatello and I do believe he was Asian. I watched him every Saturday morning religiously."

"TUNES!" Another man screamed, "Where's the TUUUNES!?"

"And second," Luxord continued, "I want you all to pullout your smartphones right now and Google Captain Britain. I believe you will all be pleasantly surprised by what you find. He is an unsung hero, and-"

"Luxord!" Demyx shouted. The Nocturne returned to his station, a piece of cake on a plate in one hand and a cup of drink in the other, "Get away, you hack!"

"No, no, wait, Demyx, just 10 more second, mate. 10 more seconds!" Demyx bashed into Luxord with his hip, knocking the Gambler away. Demyx immediately re-took his position, and turned uo th elights, "Alright, alright, alright! People! Did you miss me!?" A bounty of cheers sounded, Demyx's only want for approval, "Alright, let's keep this party MOVIN'! How about a little _Oppan Gangnam Style!"_

And as soon as the music started, surely enough the whole of the dance floor broke into the popular dance associated with the surely enough, there were about 3 Psy costumed dancers for everyone single person dancing, minus Axel, of course.

"Told ya." Kairi said smugly to Axel, who shot her an irate look.

* * *

This was going splendid. The party was a success, the music was blaring, the food was endless and the guests were entertained. And above all else, everyone was in awe of Saix's Crow costume.

At least that's how Saix saw it anyhow.

"Oh, my god!" Saix immediately recognized the voice behind the exclamation. Just ahead of him, making his way through the crowd was Xigbar, just as toasted as he wanted to be. And as he neared, Saix's eyes grew wide in shock and horror.

"Whoa." Xigbar sawed, eying Saix through his red eyes, "Great mirror costume, Scar Face! You almost look just like me!"

How could this be? Saix thought. He could have sworn he had taken every precaution to avoid others from wearing his costume, even bribing The Reaper at the front door to turn away anyone who dared to dress as the Crow. And now, Xigbar, blazed out of his mind, and who is more than likely unaware of what he is wearing, was flaunting a costume that was strikingly better than Saix's.

The Diviner's eyes twitched, his fists clenched he struck the Freeshooter across the face and sent him tumbling to the floor.

"Argh!" Xigbar screamed, "Did I just get hit in the face?!"

"Goddammit!" Saix cursed, turning on a dime and storming out.

Coming from behind Xigbar, clumsily walking into people, but somehow maintaining her balance, Masq began yelling, "BOOZE! Where's the BOOOZE in this Place!?" She nearly tumbled onto Xigbar as he sat on the floor, cradling his good eye.

"I think I just got punched! I think in the eye! Does it look bad?"

"Which eye?" Masq asked. She looked at Xigbar's face for a moment, but then saw a large purple Dinosaur sauntering past them. "The fuck? What is this the 90s? Who invited Barney? Lame..."

* * *

Kairi could be quite the innovator when she wanted to be. Besides music, dancing, talking and eating, she decided to create her own form of entertainment: 'Can Axel guess your Costume?'

If it were an actual question and not the name of the game, the answer would be a resounding No.

"Okay, next, next! Whose next!?" Kairi shouted over the crowd. She beckoned to a random person and bade them to come forward. "Alright, Axel, this guy should be easy. He's a red vest, a straw hat and blue jeans rolled up to his knees and sandals. Who is he?"

"He's not gonna get it." Riku said, standing beside Axel.

"Yeah, he will-" Sora started, his words being muffled by the food stuffed into his mouth.

"I'm not playing this stupid game, anymore!" Axel shouted, "What's the point?"

"Axel!" Another voice came up from behind. Axel tuned his head and saw Roxas and Xinck running towards them, "It's bad! It's really bad!"

"What's going on?"

"It's Masq! Orphan! They're here!"

"No way! You're lying!" Axel replied.

"No!" Xinck said, "Orphan stabbed me in the hand! It hurt a lot, but I didn't cry. Much."

"Why are they here? How'd they get in?"

"Xemnas invited them!" Said Roxas, "They have invitations!" It was with that that Roxas saw Kairi and Riku standing behind Axel, "Hey, Riku. Hey, Kairi."

"Hey, Roxas!" Kairi replied. Riku waved at him casually.

Sora looked, swallowed his food and spoke, "Hey, Roxas, how come you've been avoiding me all night?"

"You shut your mouth!" Roxas snapped, sticking out his tongue.

"Hey!" Sora protested "You don't have to be rude! You said Hey to Riku and Kairi, and all I get is your tongue!?"

"If you have a problem with his tongue, I'll go ahead and gladly take it off your hands." Coming up from behind Sora, came Masq, walking noticeably unhinged and shakey with Xigbar on her right side and Orphan on her left side.

"Get behind me!" Axel jumped in front of Roxas and Xinck, extending his hands in an attempt to protect them.

"Xinck!" Orphan exclaimed, "We have unfinished business."

"Business with these nuts, you teasing Harpy Whore!" The Deviant replied.

"Hey!" Xigbar interjected, "You can't talk to this masked chick's friend like that, especially if I'm trying for a threesome!"

"A threesome?" Masq raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that cool?"

"Eh." Masq shrugged, "Maybe. Orphan?"

"No!" The Orphan answered angrily.

"Roxas!" Another voice sounded, walking up to the already growing instability. Xaldin came trudging up to the Thirteenth, still clad in his sexy/slutty school girl costume, "Listen hear, I am not some hooker you can use, abuse, and shakedown when ever you please! I am a grown man and YOU are a child! I relented and thought I would try to enjoy the Holiday, but you have ruined it-"

"I warned you didn't I!?" Roxas exclaimed, retaking his guise, "You got my money or not?"

Xaldin saw the look in Roxas' eye and for a moment was hesitant, "N-no, I don't have anything for you, you know why? Its becau-"

"Oh, you've already messed up. Come on with it!" Before Xaldin could react, Roxas reached into his fur coat, produced a small bottle of baby powder and poured a small of it into the palm of his hand. He raised that same hand and struck it across Xaldin's face, blanketing his cheek in the fine white powder/

"Arrghh! He did it again! He did it again!" Xaldin bellowed, gingerly touching his tender face.

Axel, Xinck, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Masq and Xigbar burst into a ruckus cacophony of laughter, all at Xaldin's expense and bringing growls of fury to his surface.

"Xinck, I must have words with you immediately!" Came another voice yet again. Luxord came over and grabbed at Xinck's shoulder, "I will not leave here until you accept my apologies!"

"_Out of the way!" _Seemingly out of nowhere, came the Reaper Xercivio, still dressed in his Pikachu outfit. He jumped onto Xinck's face and began pulling at his hair, _"Why didn't you go with my idea to dress up as Ash!? Pikachu by himself can only do so much! I only made $1000 tonight, and I could have easily made $1500 if I had my damn Trainer with me!"_

"Enough of this!" Xaldin fumed, "Come here!" The Lancer lunged after Roxas, grabbing at his hair and tugging him away.

"Get off my baby daddy!" Masq shouted. She dove across several people and grabbed at Roxas' arm, tugging him in the opposite direction. Axel pushed back against Masq, and in response, Xigbar pushed against Axel. Orphan dove in and grabbed at both Xinck and Xercivio, barreling into Luxord and sending all three of them to the floor.

"Come on with it! Come on with it!" Roxas shouted, desperately trying to pour more baby powder into his hand.

Somehow, through the pile of violence and fighting, a fist wound up in Riku's face. "Arrgh!" He shouted, "Oh, that is it!" He dove in and began fighting among the rest, with Sora and Kairi right behind him.

"Happy Halloween, bitches!" Xinck shouted, using Xercivio as a weapon and effectively bashing him into both Orphan and Luxord.

"For Narnia!" Masq declared, punching and kicking at whatever flesh she could find.

"Argh! Argh!" Xigbar anguished, "Who the fuck is kicking!?"

"Oh, look at this!' Demyx shouted through the microphone, "People, this is what I deal with on a regular bases! This is why we can't have more parties and people over! Crap like this happens WAY too much!" Demyx looked over to Saix, who was standing on the edge of the floor, peering down at the fighting with his arms crossed, "Aren't you gonna do anything?"

Saix scoffed and shook his head. He then produced a small, plastic knife from his pocket, which he had acquired from the buffet table, "Do you think if I threw this knife hard enough, it'll split Xigbar's skull?"

Axel was trapped in the dead-center of the chaos, being pushed and pulled this way and that way. He was punched and kicked more than anyone else. He tried pushing back, he tried calming everyone down, but to no avail. Finally, he could take no more.

"_**EEENNOOUUGGHHHHHH!**_" His voice forced them to stop in an instant. Xaldin was passed out on the floor, with Masq and Roxas on top of him, with the former holding onto Roxas' throat. Riku was at the very bottom of the pile. Orphan held onto Xinck's collar as she prepared to punch him once more. Xercivio hung onto the back of his head for dear life. Luxord was underneath Xigbar, who was wrestling with Kairi's foot in his mouth, who in turn was stuck underneath Sora.

"That is it!" Axel screamed at the top of his lungs, "No More Party! No More Costumes! No more Halloween! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get the fuck out! NOW! Everyone! I'm sick of This!" He turned towards the people on the floor, "You're all just stupid!I'm sick of all the slapping, the stalking, the horrible innuendo! The dumbasses high out of their minds!"

What could have made matters worse was the large purple dinosaur that crept a bit too closely to Axel. "And I'm especially sick of this fucking Barney Costume!" Axel quickly wrapped his arms around the large furry dinosaur, picked it up and raised it over his head. With everything he had, he arched his back, and threw the Dinosaur up into the air. It sailed for a moment, then crashed through the glass ceiling above and out of The Castle.

Axel turned back to the silent party goers, "Didn't I say get the fuck out?!"

* * *

One by one, the party guests filed out of The Castle That Never Was and down the artificial bridge that lead to the edge of The Dark City, The Brink of Despair.

"I have to admit." Jafar said as he and Hades came close to the NO-LINE, "Even with that rude ending, the party was quite entertaining."

"You got that right." said the Lord of The Dead, "For a bunch of things that don't even exist, they can throw an alright party. But us Greeks, hey, don't even get me started on how we throwdown. It ain't a party until everyone is broke, drunk and has at least two venereal diseases!"

Jafar's eyes wandered back towards the Castle. In the large green ditch just underneath the Stark white stronghold, he could easily make out the body of the large purple dinosaur. "Almost a shame about Barney over there."

"Eh, who cares?" said Hades, "I hear the Leader of The Organization ain't the one to care about a dead body here or there." The Two passed the NO-LINE and thus were eligible to use their abilities to make their way home.

Elsewhere, underneath the Castle, having fallen from such a large height, Barney removed his head and rested it next to him. Taking a long breath of relief, Xemnas worked his hand out from his costume and scratched his head.

"My party was a success." The Superior said to himself, "Excellent. This was easily much better than Christmas."

* * *

No, I have not played 3D yet. I'm working on it. And The Next chapter is still coming along.


	60. Veridis Quo, Zetsubou No Carnival

Well, yeah, there's always some down time for me during the last few months of the year. Plus, I FINALLY got to play Dream Drop Distance, so I took time off for that. 3D was...Wow.

-You're telling me Wow. Julius scared the crap outta me.

Oh, yeah, I just let him kill me. No way I was fighting that thing.

-Funniest part of the game is when Judge Claude Frollo called Sora a Gypsy Witch.

"Judgement Is Mine!" He said. And then he died in a fiery explosion, a smile on his face. Yeah, he was weird. Oh! But, get this! Why did we go to France Twice?! Can't believe no one said anything. But still, the whole game was great. It's given me lots of material to work with. You know, when I get to it.

-You still haven't done Birth By Sleep.

Yeah, I know. Unfortunately, all I have to work with on Birth By Sleep is that we finally got to beat the crap out of Peter Pan. Did anyone else just love that part? Anyway, here's the next chapter. It was one of the Chapters that was in my way a bit for obvious reasons...that you will read in a moment.

Standard Disclaimer and yadda yadda...

* * *

Orphan the Desolate contained near 200,000 souls in the Necromancer's Stone around her neck. The souls of her people. Xinck the Deviant, the one who mass murdered her people in the first place, was dragged inside the stone. Orphan's final move to finish her enemy, a way to giver her people the chance for vengeance.

More and More souls of his victims came zooming around him, bashing into him, sharing their horror and grief. Orphan and Xinck were surrounded by an unyielding tempest of unknowable despair and loss. "The souls of my people rest with me." Orphan said, caressing the azure stone in her grip, "I am them and they are me. My name is Orphan, Xinck. For we are many. "

"AHHHHH!" The blue souls began to grab and wrap themselves around his arms and his one remaining leg, around his neck and torso. His cries and sobs, nothing when compared to the wailing of the spirits drowning out his voice. They began to pull him toward Orphan, closer and closer. Then they hauled him into the air, not just to Orphan, but to the azure gem itself. He screamed, tried to resist, but his body had nothing left. The blue light intensified, his body began fading into it as he looked to Orphan.

"No...Stop...Stop this..."

She only smiled, saying softly, "They begged for mercy, too."

"Please! Stop!" His body began to vanish.

"Justice in its purest form. Our Justice."

"_**STOP IT PLEEEASE!**_"

A solitary burst of light and the Deviant was no more. The Souls had vanished. Orphan was alone in the darkness of the White Hall. She cradled the blue Necromancer's Stone close to her heart. "I love you, Xinck." She said to the stone, "I love you to death."

That was unexpected.

A disruptive pulse echoed from Orphan's Necromancer's Stone, knocking her away and onto her back. "What is this?" Her voice quivered, a shaky hand reaching for her stone. She could feel them, the remains of her people, reacting to the Deviant's presence. It wasn't a totally unexpected occurrence for her. Deep down, Orphan knew her people, her friends and family were dead and gone, and all that was in this stone was their essence. That essence was forever locked on whatever emotion was felt at the moment of death, and of course the largest emotions felt were rage and hatred.

And the object of that enmity was knee-deep in that essence, soon to be extinguished.

Orphan picked herself up, Sunyata, her black blade, firm in her grip. The pulsing did not stop, rather its forcefulness increased becoming dense and thick with every burst. Like a heartbeat increasing in thumping rapidity.

Orphan's gaze turned skyward to the enormous white hole in the ceiling. The Deviant, in his last desperate plea, fired off his strongest spell. It would have otherwise killed Orphan had she not managed to redirect it upward at the last moments. The hole, easily 120 meters in diameter, lead to the outside of Veridis Quo and pale light poured down into the darkened, ruined room. A faint hum of wind sounded throughout.

There was something wrong.

In her triumph, Orphan had imagined a thousand times how she would feel the moment her vengeance was complete. Happiness. Joy. Excitement, or even sadness. She might feel so many emotions, she even thought she would exploded from elation. But now, she had won and her retribution had been settled.

And she felt nothing. Just the heartbeat of the Necromancer's Stone. She couldn't stand it. She watched him bleed and she was happy. She broke his bones and she had to do all she could to keep herself from bursting out with laughter. Now that he was gone, her victory in her lap, she felt nothing.

Her breathing became shallow, slowing down with every breath.

"What else is there..." She mused. Sunyata became heavy in her grip. She occasionally entertained the idea of her next move, but nothing ever seemed to matter as much as His end. Nothing in her life would ever equate to these past events. Nothing would ever mean this much to her, either negatively or positively. On involuntary impulse, her index finger twitched around Sunyata's handle. She turned it upright and the blade floated inches from her breast.

Xinck was her everything. Her reason for training relentlessly, her reason for ensnaring the remnants of her people. He was why she walked, why she could grip her sword or chant a spell. It was seeking his Death that allowed her to continue living, allowed her to walk and let the blood flow through her body.

Now that he was gone, she could hardly even breath.

Sunyata gingerly tapped the very edge of Orphan's neck, drawing blood.

Just as she pulled back to force the blade in, another disruptive pulse rocked her very being to its core. She was thrown to the floor with Sunyata clattering several feet away from here. The Necromancer's Stone jumped and bounded across her bosom wildly and its Azure glow intensified immensely.

Like an echo being born deep within a cave, His voice sounded from the living stone, "..._ORPHAN! ORPHAN...!"_

The Azure glow changed in a flash, from iridescent blue to a fiery dark purple. Its pulses turned into earth shattering rumbles and Orphan let out a horrific scream as she arched her back in pain. From the stone's surface were blue souls emerging sporadically from the purple flames. Finally, out of the fire came a flaming, black gloved hand and arm. "Orphan!" Xinck bellowed as his head and upper torso emerged, "I'm Not Finished...!" A final, hideous outcry of utter pain and release from them both, and the Deviant was free from the Orphan, jumping from her in a ball of diminishing purple flames and rolling to a halt.

Orphan laid sprawled out on the floor, drenched in a cold sweat and struggling for her breath. Her eyes darted around in her skull, zipping back and forth between a recovering Xinck and a multitude of freed blue souls flying aimlessly around the large hole in the ceiling.

Ragged breaths forced their way from Xinck as he spoke,"The Necromancer's Stone." He sighed, standing to his feet, "The Black Sheep Cousin of the Philosopher's Stone. Orphan..._you sick fuck!_"

"The pot calling the kettle black is an old expression, but a fitting one nonetheless!" Orphan spat.

"Oh, yes, Orphan! I get it, I'm weird, I'm off, I'm mad, I'm psychotic, but at least I'm upfront about it. I don't parade my faults and evils behind a veil of righteousness. I killed your people without hesitation, I burned them, ate them and killed them, but you survived! So, I thought you deserved revenge for the stupid thing I did, and I was prepared to let you have it!"

"A 'stupid thing you did'!? You EXTINGUISHED my people from this Earth, utterly obliterated them! And you just call it a Stupid Thing You Did!?" She barked ferociously, gritting her teeth so hard as to almost make her gums bleed, "Fine! Call it what you will, but I'll still get my revenge!"

"NO!" Xinck bellowed, "You won't get a damn thing! You think your revenge is justice, but it isn't. You want to kill me for _yourself, _not for your people! Your obsession, your _love _drove you to use evil, taboo spells to harvest their souls and just use them for power, as if they were never people to begin with! You're just...evil, Orphan the Desolate One!"

"_I'm _Evil?! I am the righteous one in this scenario! You want to speak of evil, it was your evil that started all of this! Murdering innocent woman and children, eating young men and the elderly! _That _was the first evil! I use what they have left, all their sorrow, all their hate and despair and convert that into power, and it will only be judged as evil if I fail in my mission of ENDING your miserable existence!"

"Two wrongs won't make anything right, you fuck brain! I've apologized for my wrong, and every soul in that stone is aware of it!"

"Oh, you go on about souls! There's no such thing as souls! That's the only explanation for a soulless, mass murderer like you! My people are dead. All that's left is their power that they wanted me to have to avenge them!"

For a moment a look of sad bewilderment came unto his face. He straightened up and his gaze turned upward to the souls that drifted just below the ceiling, "Because you put me in that stone, I opened myself up to the Dead and they told me things. The most interesting of which was your real name." He turned his sight to her shimmering emerald eyes, "You know, I always thought Noah was a beautiful name for a girl."

Just for a Moment, The Desolate One lost her breath and her knees buckled beneath her. Her eyes gave way to a moment of clarity.

"But when I see you,"Xinck continued, his voice growing more frigid with every word, "All I see is vileness." A rare, certain look descended on Xinck's face. A look that signaled something that offended all five senses. Coldly, he said, "You Disgust Me. You're the Ugliest Thing That Ever Lived, Noah."

Madness returned to Orphan's gaze, followed by rage, "She's DEAD!** MY NAME IS ORPHAN!"**

"You are an orphan." Xinck said coolly, "Your mother and father told me that personally."

"Enclose, Sunyata!" A blaze of green fire enveloped her black blade, bringing a pale light to her twisted face, "Forcing you inside the Necromancer's Stone was the wrong move! To think mindless smoke would do what needs to be done. I'll Carve You Up And Enjoy Every Second Of It!" She raised Sunyata and charged, dashing at a mind-boggling pace.

Xinck stood his ground as Orphan closed in, her blade poised for his neck. He reached out just as Orphan brought down her sword and grabbed it. His hand blazed violet and her sword blazed green. Orphan tugged at her sword, but Xinck would not let go. "Sunyata cancels out my darkness and my power to heal, but this is something new, something you didn't think to compensate for! And its because of this power that those souls can heal me! I grabbed about 20,000 on my way out, and if my memory is worth anything, about 200,000 died on that day. That leaves you One Hundred Eighty Thousand Souls!"

For a moment, Orphan looked inside herself and into the Necromancer's Stone. She could sense the massiveness of energy inside and she felt that it had decreased, slightly so, but still noticeable. "How?! That's not possible!"

"Not probable." Xinck stated, "And It'll only get worse because I've got 180,000 more to go!" He pulled on Sunyata, tugging Orphan around in a circle. He released her, sending her flying off in the opposite direction. To the souls that sailed under the ceiling, he threw up his hand and at the top of his breath proclaimed, "With my dark hand, I welcome you into my Soul!"

Pulled by Xinck's invisible invocation, each and every soul came cascading down like a large blue wave. As the souls drew in closer, their wisps of bodies collided and vanished with an incredible Arch of purple flames around Xinck's body. As the last few souls vanished into the purple fire, the Arch imploded into Xinck's body, black, white and purple mist wafting off his body.

"How can you betray me?!" Orphan screamed frantically to the spirits inside him. She received no answer. "Traitors! Traitors to one of your own!"

"You're a hypocrite, Orphan!" Xinck shouted at her as he let a shadow leap from the ground to his hand to construct his Thanatos pair, "You betrayed them, you're the traitor!" With these souls willingly under his sovereignty, they healed his previous wounds and lent him power to rival Orphan as long as they were present.

Orphan's mad gaze turned from the torrent of souls back to Xinck, whose face was widened with a smile. Orphan's fine, composed exterior was becoming her strained. Her mind began to shatter and her tear ducts began to fill with black tears. Her eyes overflowed and the black tear lines that were apart of her face became wider, crooked and numerous like a map of a tree's roots. "You. Have. Stolen. Everything. From. Me!" She cried shakily, "GODDAMMIT, I HATE YOU!"

"Oh, you hate me?" Xinck asked gleefully, "Just a few minutes ago, you said you _loved _me? Don't you _love _me anymore?" This could very well be his grand finale, he briefly pondered, he figured he might as well have as much fun as he could squeeze from the situation. He turned abruptly, bent over and casually brandished his right Thanatos sword against his back side. He came back with a sing-song voice, saying, "Tonight is right for love-you know I wanna touch you where the lights don't go, Tonight is right for love, _love gravy_..."

"Don't you mock me! Don't You Fucking Mock Me!" Orphan vanished in an instant, and in the next she was directly above Xinck with her sword aimed at his crown. Xinck completely inverted his body, hooking his foot around Orphan's neck and slamming her head and body into the ground. He reared right-side up, extended his legs downward and planted his feet brutally into the base of her spine.

Her bones cracked and Orphan shrieked in pain, blood curdling from her mouth.

"Awww," Xinck mused, jumping off from Her, "Did I bweak da wittle Orphan's spiney-whiney?"

"Arrgghh!" Orphan spat out a burst of fresh blood and rolled over, cradling her midsection. Her Necromancer's Stone shimmered, her body cracked and troubled as it repaired itself and its bones regrew and reattached to their appropriate places.

Orphan stood, perfectly healed, "So, you finally managed to kill me. My 1 to your 76. We'll be at this all day at this rate."

"No we won't, Noah" Taking his battle stance, Xinck spoke with a hollow, airy voice "Come now. Let us kill each other over and over until there's nothing left but our wretched hell-bound Souls. Then by the grace of Death can we be freed from the torment of our lives."

"Oh?" Orphan mused through gritted teeth, raising her sword as well, "Why so poetic? Usually when you open your mouth the only thing that leaves, besides vomit and drool, is a loose assemblage of dull sounds that you try to pass off as intelligent spe-" Before Orphan's thought could fully leave her, Xinck was on her once more. He prepared his flattened palm, which burned with its Necromantic glow, and thrust it into Orphan's chest like a quick jab. The immediate result, a flash, followed by the release of a cluster of trapped souls.

Xinck scoffed, ignoring her words,"I don't always punch mouthy bitches, but when I do, I prefer punching them in their titties. Dos Titties. Stay horny, my friends."

"Fuck you!" Orphan gasped with a shrieking breath and backed away cautiously, grasping at her Stone necklace. Once again, she looked inside herself and could feel her power diminishing further with every soul that escaped. Her eyes looked to Xinck, then moved to the freed souls that vanished in a burst of purple fire as they neared Xinck.

"No...no!" She sobbed tearlessly.

"Orphan! They don't CARE!" Xinck charged straight ahead, but Orphan side-stepped his initial sword strike and parried his second attempt with Sunyata. In a deadlock, Orphan was immediately wary of his free sword which she had previously side-stepped. Before she could react, though, Xinck dropped his sword, opened his palm and quickly jabbed Orphan's stone several times, releasing more and more souls.

"Stop it!" Orphan spat, ending the deadlock and kicking Xinck away. As he struggled to restore balance, She dove forward for a counterattack, and mercilessly impaled Xinck just above his abdomen. The power of the souls took over and began to slowly heal the wound that bled profusely. Orphan drew back and broke into a flurry of stabbings, with Xinck now easily avoiding them.

"I'm stronger and faster, Orphan, I can keep up with you now!"

"Keep up with this!" Orphan drew back from Xinck, widening the distance between them for a moment. She moved a hand a long Sunyata's blade, killing the green fire and replacing it with crackling, unstable pale energy, "_Latigo del Relampago!" _She swung the electrified blade, giving way to an elongated bolt of lightning that become like a live wire.

"Oooh, Orphan, baby, your Spanish Spanish is so Sexy Sexy!" Xinck chided, making a crude gesture with his pelvis. Orphan swung her _Latigo _spell, with Xinck narrowly dodging the first strike, which hit the floor and released a crack of thunder and a bolt of lightning from the sky. He cursed quietly, having to worry about the electricity from the whip and the lightning from above. She pulled _Latigo _back for another swing, this time she scraped Xinck across the chest, blasting him with a bolt of lightning and sending him to the floor in a smoking heap.

"Lightning!?" Xinck groaned painfully as his convulsions subsided, "Lightning is _So _2000-And-Late." He burst into a mad, painful cackle just as Orphan unfurled _Latigo _again. Xinck broke into a series of dodge rolls to avoid more lashes.

"Stay still, damn you! Obnoxious, fat piece of shit!"

Xinck gasped, "Such language from a woman! And now, just because you said that, I'm gonna do the exact opposite!" Another howl of laughter and Xinck's hand burned the same dark purple it had before. Underneath his body, shooting up from the floor, came a storming flurry of souls that Xinck grabbed onto and took off into the air with. The storm flew randomly, half controlled by Xinck's will and the other half of the souls' own volition. Like a snake made out of smokey mist, they stayed unpredictable in their movements.

Orphan drew back and ended her _Latigo_, the lightning shrinking back along Sunyata's blade, coalescing into her hand and changing from a yellow spark to a pulsing red flame. "Burn, Bitch!" A great plume of fire flared up from Orphan and easily closed the gap between her and Xinck. The Deviant continued onward, just narrowly escaping the massiveness of the blaze by the soles of his feet. Orphan discarded Sunyata, freeing her other hand and had it join in with her Fire Spell, expanding the massive plume to gargantuan proportions.

The Fire grew wilder and began to sear his legs. With a free hand, Xinck opened his palm to Orphan and took aim, concentrating his energies "_Revertere quod nocet Me(Return That Which Harms Me_)!" Almost instantly, much too fast for Orphan to counter, A pale mist weaved its way in between Xinck and the Inferno, bending the flames away from his person. The fire curved in on itself, and just before it fully bent, it turned into a cascading wave of heat and destruction bound for Orphan.

Xinck released himself from the flying souls, which instantly vanished as he did, and in his free fall had filled his right hand with a pulsing force that froze and solidified the air around him, "_Arcticunae-Raez!_" Exploding outward at a great speed came a frozen avalanche that quickly matched the magnitude of the Inferno.

Finally, before the raging fire and blistering cold could reach Orphan, Xinck added the final touch, "_Hac Sphaera, Artis Iustitiae! (_This Sphere, Craft of Justice_)_!" In invisible force expanded and quickly consumed Orphan, the Inferno and the Blizzard spells in a large sphere. A massive display of troubling chaotic energy raged inside the sphere, first a magnificent yellow, then a brilliantly unyielding blue.

Xinck finally landed back onto the floor, casually watching with ease as Orphan was set ablaze then frozen repeatedly. He hummed to himself, "_Orphan's roasting on an open fire, and Jack Frost's nipping at her tits..._" The opposing forces in the sphere at last reached their end, producing a fantastic discharge which obliterated the translucent sphere. Amid the coming obscuring smoke, a loud thump was heard as Orphan's body fell to the ground. The smoke grew in size and Xinck dove in, hidden away.

"Daaah!" With burnt, torn and blistered flesh desperately trying to cling to badly broken bones, Orphan dragged her singed body out from the thick, overwhelming smoke. Her clothes were horribly burned, practically ash over intimate places. Large patches of her hair were missing and the left side of her face was tender muscle with the whole of her eyeball revealed.

The Necromancer's Stone was the only item that remained perfectly unaffected. It shimmered and began using its souls as energy to heal Orphan's body.

"Like, Oh My Glob, Orphan!" Xinck shouted. He was unseen, hidden by the smoke, but his voice seem to be coming from every direction, "You were, like, so hot just a second ago! Then, like totally cool! You go girl!"

"RAAAGHGHHGHH!" Orphan could not concentrate. He mind was finally beginning to leave her and the pain of her body was almost too much to bare.

"With that, "Xinck continued, "I'd have to say you died, like what? A lumping 10 or 12 times? Yeah, I'd say about 10 Lumping times!" He laughed heartily then sighed heavily, "I can hear your quick and shallow breathing...the perfect, almost musical beat of your heart...thump-thump...thump-thump...thump-thump." Then He gasped and chuckled at a thought, "Oh my God! You're afraid of me, aren't you? Aren't You, Noah!?"

"ARRGHH! I COULD NEVER BE AFRAID OF YOU, YOU FAT PISSANT LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT! ARRGGHH!"

"What happened to you loving me? Huh? What happened to all that?" Orphan's roars did not subside as her body and clothes finished healing themselves. She began standing but was shaking. "You're being inconsistent, much more violent than before and you have long since lost your cool. I can smell it on you, Orphan. _You. Are. Losin'. Your Mind, BABY!"_

Abruptly, an arm made its way around Orphan's neck. He was behind her. She tried to defend, but Xinck carefully and quickly maneuvered her hands behind her back, pressed firmly against his stomach and trapping them.

"LET ME GO!"

"Oh, don't despair, Orphan, baby, honey, child!" Xinck whispered in her ear salaciously, "Either you're losing your mind, _OR_, you lost your mind a long time ago and seeing me only...released the floodgates?" Orphan screamed out madly and writhed about as hard as she could, but Xinck would not budge. She tried kicking, but no matter where she hit, he ignored the pain. "It's okay, Orphan!" He said, as he began grinding his front hips into her, " I'm insane, too! Crazy for You! We can just both be insane TOGETHER!"

With his free hand, Xinck reached around Orphan's neck and gripped the Necromancer's Stone tightly. His hand blazed purple and the Stone burned azure just as wave after wave of souls exploded outward. Orphan screamed out and thrashed, but Xinck only tightened his grip around her. More and more souls were exorcised out from the stone and Orphan's power dwindled even further, so much so that the on-going healing process on her body slowed and her wounds began to open and bleed.

Orphan's screams reached the top of her lungs, as she could take no more. She jerked her right arm out at an angle, breaking it out of its socket. Sunyata appeared in her grip and she flailed it madly around her, striking Xinck across his chest and knocking his grip off the Stone.

Xinck staggered back a ways. He looked up just as Orphan tossed Sunyata aside and charged. She was on him in an instant and pounced, wrapped her legs around Xinck's waist and bashing at him madly with her bare hands. They fell to the floor, but Orphan continued her beatings without breaking her rhythm.

"Yes, yes! Let me hear you scream!" Orphan raised her fists again and went in to dent his skull even further. His blood stained Her face, then her teeth as her smile grew wider, "I love your bloody flesh on my bear hands, Xinck! NOTHING COMPARES!" In her grip, she recalled Sunyata, ignited its green flame and held it above Xinck's chest, "But impalement is A CLOSE FUCKING SECOND!"

She came down with Sunyata, right into his stomach then twisted the blade a full 180 degrees. She pulled it out, then stuck it back in repeatedly, delighting as she plunged the blade further in with every strike. Through the pain, Xinck reached and grabbed her stone again, releasing more and more souls. Orphan screamed out, but refused to stop, instead she reared her head down toward Xinck, opened her mouth and mercilessly bit down on his nose.

"G-a-a-a-ahh!" Xinck thrashed about madly, careful not to move his head for fear of further pain. He wrestled with her, managing to get to his feet, but Orphan stayed locked onto his body. She tightened her teeth, bit down harder, jerked her head back and forth and finally tore off the hunk of flesh.

"ARRRGHHH!" He finally manged to get away, and staggered to his feet and his face housed a bloody mess, "Oh, you crazy bitch! God, Arrgrgrh!" He cradled the hole in his face gingerly. He shot a glare at Orphan and was taken aback by the look on her face.

His fresh blood marked her face. Her eyes were wide, the left one was twitching, while the right switched between focus and delirium. Her teeth were seen, disgusting to look at with Xinck's blood staining them and his freshly torn nose and flesh held between the upper and lower sets. She chuckled, laughed and even snorted once or twice. With a quick jerk of her neck, she turned her head and spat out the torn flesh, disintegrating into nothingness after it hit the floor.

A deep, depraved sigh escaped from her mouth, "Look what you've done to me." She grinned, her eyes staying on Xinck, forever fixed. She ran a hand along her body, letting the blood from her wounds and Xinck's gather on her flesh. She raised that same hand to her tongue and lapped it up like a thirsty dog, "I barely have enough souls to heal myself anymore and my magic's all but dried up."

Xinck grimaced at her pale, bloody form that shook from both twitching and bleeding wounds. He began a reply, but stopped as the flesh on his face began to reform.

"By my count." Xinck struggled, though the pain in his severely wounded abdomen was growing more intense, "You should have less than 100, I'd even go so far as to say 80 souls left." Xinck felt dizzy and his legs were growing numb, the cost of his wounds from Orphan were almost too much._"What is this? You're supposed to keep me healed. We had a deal!"_

"_We are keeping you healed." _Thousands of voicing souls replied to him in his head,_ "But the power of Sunyata is strong. You're dying faster than we can repair you. At this rate you will bleed out before your end of the deal is complete. We can stop the bleeding of your Sunyata wounds, but the damage __will still be done."_

"_Dammit, I have to keep going! I won't stop!" _Xinck shot back.

"_Take caution. If the Orphan strikes another vital area, you'll-"_

"Shut Up!" He shouted aloud, instantly snuffing out the voices. "It'll Soon Be Over!"

"Oh, really!?" Orphan proclaimed. She came sailing through the air, her wounds doing almost nothing to slow her movements. She spun around with a kick, connecting with Xinck's head and sending him crashing to the floor. "So, what? You're just going to release some souls, do away with me and be on your merry way!? That sounds all well and good on paper, but in practice, it's Bullshit!"

"Just like Communism!" Xinck spat.

Orphan, as maimed as she was, advanced on Xinck as he lay squirming on the floor, his back to her. She raised her foot and stomped it into his side, pumping a burst of red from his mouth. "All I wanted to do was kill you. Now look what you've done to me." She raised her foot again, this time stomping even harder. "Revenge. Justice. Just words, just worthless, fucking words. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters. Look what you've done to me!"

"Gah!" Xinck howled his reply.

"People like you—beasts like you—shouldn't be alive. You don't belong in this world. ANY world!"

"Beasts like you don't belong in the world either!" The Deviant pulled himself around, one Thanatos blade in hand. He lunged at Orphan and impaled her inches from her womb, pushing the blade all the way up to its handle. With what strength he could muster, he pulled the blade horizontally out of her torso, slicing out through the side of her body.

Orphan cried out with a horrible wail. She backed away, only slightly, and with one hand on her fatally bleeding wound, Sunyata materialized in her other hand. She staggered and her knees buckled, but she refused to fall.

Xinck rolled over onto his stomach, his wound holes, while no longer bleeding, were barely noticeable through the tattered remnants of his black coat. Using Thanatos, he pushed himself up onto his knee then into a hunched over position.

"_You're running out of time." _The voices echoed in his mind, _"You'll die from massive organ failure-"_

"_I Don't Care!" _Xinck shot back, _"I said Shut Up!"_

"Yes, Shut Up! Shut them Up!" Orphan gasped, squirming from the fresh wound.

"What!?"

"I can hear them! As clear as day, I can hear them just like you!" Orphan exclaimed. She bared her teeth once more in a grin, " 'You're running out of time', isn't that what they said? They'll keep you healed long enough to kill me, right? But as long as Sunyata is here, your wounds won't close and your body will die long before I will!"

Xinck grimaced as he forced his body straight up, "Yeah, I'm almost spent, but so are you, Noah."

"Traitors!" Orphan spat hoarsely, "Fucking traitors, all of you. Everything I did, I did for you! Each and everyone of you!"

"You're all over the place, you stupid girl. You treated them like they weren't even people anymore, then you call them traitors for-"

"Shut up! SHUT UP! I'll fix this! I'll fix all of you!" Orphan shot up to her full height, doing so ruptured her insides and she began to bleed profusely from her mouth and onto her front. "Here's the new plan, but please, tell me if you've heard if before..."

"_Look at her." _Xinck thought, _"She doesn't care about her body anymore. She's completely ignoring it."_

"I'm _not _just gonna kill you, like I had originally wanted. Instead, I'll just kill us all. You, Me, And Those Traitorous Fucks, eh!? How 'bout that?! You like that, pig fucker?"

The Deviant smirked, then calmly replied, "It's pronounced _Pig Phucher_, you twat. It's French."

Orphan spat blood from her mouth. She sneered and stood to her full height, eying the Deviant intently. "Even at the end of your life you keep making jokes."

"Life is the joke, Noah." Xinck replied, "Death is the punchline."

"No, your life is the Joke!" Orphan spat again, this time gripping and pointing Sunyata at her enemy, "A joke that stopped being funny the minute it was written down!" Suddenly, Orphan's tone shifted quickly and her intense glare shifted to the madness Xinck found so unappealing."Lucky for you, I know an even worse Joke." Quickly with a flick of her hand, Sunyata turned around, the blade facing her neck.

"What the hell are you doing!?" Xinck exclaimed.

"_Tear Out From The Womb...!"_

"Orphan!"

"_Sunyata Nandana! _**(**_Child of Emptiness_**)**"

For a brief moment, Sunyata's blade tinted its darkness-shredding purple tint, then it was consumed in its green flames. Orphan stabbed Sunyata against the azure surface of the Necromancer's Stone around her neck. Orphan shouted out in pain, the light of the stone growing brighter for a moment, then dimmer. The blue light from the stone began to divide and separate. Wails of pain, rage and sorrow screamed out and made insignificant Orphan's own screams. Her knees buckled and her skin grew paler as her blood left her body from her wounds even quicker.

Finally, Sunyata's aura changed from its fiery green to an electric, plasma blue. Empty eyes and mouths flashed momentarily in the surface of the blade then vanished into its blackness. Echoes of screams accompanied every face.

A soft gasp of both shock and pleasure escaped her lips. Orphan removed Sunyata from herself and presented it to Xinck, who remained unmoving. "What was left of the souls within my stone is now inside Sunyata, corrupted, unstable and spreadable like a virus. One more attack—just one is all it takes, Xinck—and all of the souls that are inside of you will be corrupted and destroyed. And you'll die with them!"

"_You're Out of Time!" _The Voices screamed, _"Make your move now! Strike!"_

"Look at you!" Xinck proclaimed, he struggled to present a single Thanatos sword, his body so weak every move he made sent a surge of pain coursing throughout, "You can barely stand! One attack and YOU'RE JUST AS DEAD AS I AM!"

A rumbling roar ripped from The Orphan with her screaming, "THEN LET'S DIE ALREADY!"

The Deviant's blade shone with a black and purple flame, and as best he could he ran to The Orphan, whose own sword sparked with an enraged blue. They drew closer with every step, their eyes intent and focus on the other. All their power and strength laid focused in their blades, their bodies were so weak their hands shook and struggled to grip their handles. They could not hear their own breathing, their breath so shallow as to be almost silent...

* * *

"Such chaos. Such carnage. Such a mess." A slightly younger Professor mused, adjusting the goggles around his eyes that functioned as glasses.

"Eh,"A younger Masq replied, "I've seen worse. Ever heard of _God of War_?"

"That isn't real life!" The Professor replied coarsely, "That is fiction, adolescent fiction."

Masq chuckled and shook her head, "Doctor, Doctor, for one as smart as yourself, you should know that there is some fact within fiction, some truth to the lies, a hint of reality in our fantasies."

The Professor scoffed, " I don't deal in fantasies, I deal in facts. And the fact of the matter is that no teenager should be capable of such feats of destruction."

"He wasn't a teenager." Masq replied, "He was a Nobody."

"Ah, yes. One of your 'Nonexistent One'. Beings who possess powers and skills on a near God-like level, but lack that one essential piece inside that would make them human: A Heart." The Professor shifted nervously in place, "As a scientist, I fail to see how anything like that could exist."

"They don't exist." Masq said, "At least they're not supposed to. As powerful as the Heart is, they are even stronger without it. Its almost as if the universe bent its own rules just for them, just because they are lacking."

"Then, pray tell, why aren't we concentrating our efforts to unlocking the mysteries of the Heart, especially if there is any scientific bases for something that I can physically see with my eyes? I am a man of science, not metaphysics, I'd much rather be finding out about the depths of the heart than out here trying to catch ghosts."

Masq scoffed and threw up her hands, "Oh, God, how can someone with glasses so damn thick be so damn blind!? They aren't ghosts. They are souls. As far gone as they are, _She _can bring them back."

Masq and the Professor stood on the outskirts of a large town. Once, it was a bustling area, home to thousands, but now it was an empty, burnt husk with hundreds upon thousands of corpses littering its streets. Slowly, but surely, a lone figure, that of a small girl, was finishing the white, chalk-line array on the outer edge of the city, forming a perfect circle.

"Why do you do this?" The Professor inquired, "Assist a child in ripping the dead from death? I am not judging you, as I have done things in my time less than morally straight, but this? For what purpose?"

Masq lowered her head a bit, a tight lipped smile forming across the surface of her mask, "I, too, was dealt the swift hand of judgment by Nobodies. It nearly ruined me and I had no one to help me. But this girl, much younger than I was when it happened, suffered an even greater loss than I. I would be remissed if I didn't help her achieve some type of closure.

"Like you said," Masq continued, "If the heart is so immeasurably powerful, then why don't we devote our time to finding out its secrets? Its simple. The Heart is strong. It is durable. What more does one need to know? Look at this girl, this orphan child. Everyone she ever knew and loved, savagely ripped away from her, she almost dies from losing her mind and starvation, but still, her strength of heart kept her alive and her strength of will pointed her in this direction. Her people, their souls, her power. She will have her vengeance or die trying. All I did was hand her the tools, the rest is her doing."

"Mmm. Fascinating." The Professor replied, "As knowledgeable as you are, knowledgeable about the heart as well, I see, what about Kingdom Hearts? The heart of All? Does it hold no sway over your interest?"

"Admittedly, at first it did." Masq said, "But the risks of pursuing it in accordance with our goals was too great. To seek Kingdom Hearts would alert Unwanted Attention. So, that's where our Techno-Sorcery comes into play."

As the Professor listened to Masq's words, the little girl, with a shock of white in her black hair, had finished her array. She now walked back towards the two adults, her arms bloody with a book in one hand and a knife in the other. She was bloody, as the ritual required a drop of her blood upon the heads of every last body.

"Is everything prepared?" Masq inquired of the little girl.

The Little girl nodded.

"And the Book of The In-Between, you followed its instructions to the letter?"

The Little girl nodded again.

"Excellent." Masq smiled. She took the book back from the girl, "Now, let's go make that rock! And I don't mean Cocaine...at the moment." She placed a hand along the little girl's back and began leading her into the center of the City.

The Professor watched them walk away, leaving him alone with his thoughts. _"I am a man of science. In the past, I have had little morality where I should have had more. And from experience, I know that the Dead are better left Dead. But, I know what it's like to lose loved one. One can only think of having them back, seeing them again, holding them. I cannot judge this Child for what she wants, even so this will only end badly. For everyone..._

* * *

Sunyata sliced through Xinck's chest, skewered his lung and exited through his back. Orphan held onto her blade for dear life, even as Thanatos broke into her body, severed her vitals and struck her spine.

Orphan and Xinck stood their ground, locked in each others' bloodied embrace, their bodies shaking from being pushed to their limits. Even through the pain and the nearing death, Xinck remained silent and Orphan's grin grew wider.

"Save the souls for a shot at redemption. Did you think you could do it? Actually succeed? Be forgiven for what you've done?" Orphan mused, "You and those traitors deserve to die together!" The tip of Sunyata, protruding from Xinck's back then pulsed violently with a thundering crackle, producing a quick blast of energy that tore a clean hole through the back of his flesh.

Xinck remained fixed to the spot, not a single reaction was given even as the blast began to fade. His gaze stayed fixed on Orphan, who stared with uncertainty growing in her face.

"Wha...? Why...are you-?" Something in Orphan at last recognized her severe state of injuries, and her legs came out from under her. She began to sink to the floor, her look of panic and confusion increasing. She refused to lose her grip on Sunyata, and Xinck, still unfazed, moved down with her and kept the distance between their two faces equal.

"You lose, Orphan." Xinck murmured.

A weak smile spread on her face, "I lose? You think just because you're still standing for a moment, you've won? You haven't won anything! I might die, but you'll die too. Its a Pyrrhic Victory- "

"But a victory, nonetheless?" Xinck shook his head weakly, "No, no, Orphan. You see, when we first started fighting, I thought that I was prepared to die. I didn't take it seriously, though, as I have died before and it never took. But you actually managed to make me fear for my own life when you forced me into that rock to have all those souls rip me apart. It was then that I realized that I wanted to live. Despite everything I've ever said, and all that I've ever done, I wanted to live. I _still _want to live."

Through gritted teeth, Orphan grunted, "I won't let you!"

"You tried." Xinck said, "Orphan, you tried your hardest to destroy me, but...in pursuing that, you've destroyed yourself. You lost the moment you decided to use your people as cannon fodder, but you guaranteed your end when you tried to destroy me through them. " Wearily, the Deviant raised his free hand, the fingers on the end posed and ready.

Orphan's eyes widened to take in the full visage of Xinck, not only his upper body but the large veil of impenetrable darkness that had been surrounding them the entire time. This darkness was perfectly blending in with the once white floors and walls that had been blackened and burned by their magic. "What the..WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?" Orphan exclaimed.

"I Never Absorbed Any Souls Into My Body!" Xinck exclaimed, "You expelled whatever was left inside you in order to corrupt and destroy the souls you thought were in me!"

He snapped his fingers, the veil of darkness obeyed and fell into nothing. Appearing almost out of nowhere was the misty, blue storm of thousands of souls, like violent and enraged mist that churned up even angrier winds. Blue with a hint of a purple fire guiding them, indicating that they were under Xinck's influence and control. They formed around them both, encircling them in a cylinder that stretched as high as Orphan could see. They damned her with their disembodied voices, screaming, cursing and moaning at Orphan from all directions.

"The moment I got out from the Stone, I put up the Black Curtain." Xinck said, "Every and any soul I released immediately fled behind it. Sunyata might be able to cut and cancel my darkness, but you are still susceptible to it. All it took was a bluff, some fancy lighting tricks and slight of hand." He then looked at Orphan, truly looked at her, "It's over." The Deviant murmured.

The Orphan's eyes swelled. Blackened tears began to roll down her palled cheeks. She looked to Xinck, and for all her worth, she grinned halfheartedly, "It's not over." She said. She moved a hand to his face and gingerly touched the black tear line mark she had given him under his eye, "It will never be over. You can be sure of that."

Her grip on Sunyata in Xinck's body finally waned. Her body went limp and fell backwards. Xinck knelt down further onto his knee, reached out his hand and caught her by the torn cloth on her shoulder just before she hit the floor.

"I don't understand." Orphan said through shaky breath, "Why are you still able to stand? Your body is far more injured than mine."

"It's because, right now, I am balanced."

"Balanced?" Orphan asked.

"Mmm-mm." Xinck replied with a nod, "Everything I just did, I did for others."

"The souls?"

"No, not them. I couldn't do this for them. I didn't want to." Xinck said, "I did this for two people, who, despite the things I say, are actually very close to me. I did it for them and for me, so I am balanced with Three. You, on the other hand, only did for yourself. One is much easier to topple than three."

"Poetic nonsense." Orphan spat roughly,"You didn't win at all, especially because of balance. Your body is beyond repair. You'll die. That's not victory. It's the ultimate defeat. You'll be joining me in Hell so very, very soon."

His demeanor quickly changed, from mellow in victory to irritated that she continued to breath.

"And do you know why?" She asked.

Hidden behind her body, the open sleeve of her arm housed the black glass dagger Xinck carried. She had usurped it prior to forcing him inside the Necromancer's Stone. She quickly pulled it into view, raised it above her head and sheathed it into his flesh. Her body was failing, and despite her best efforts, her aim was severely off. What was meant to be a puncturing of his jugular turned out to be a stabbing of his shoulder.

Xinck's body had gone numb some time ago. He didn't flinch. He felt nothing.

Orphan's grin did not leave her face even as the last drop of life drained from her. She looked at the Deviant, and in a melodious voice, finished her words, "It's because I love you. You know that, right?" Lifeless, her head lopped to the side, her mouth open slightly as if in eternal shock, and her eyes, as large as they once were as a child, were hidden underneath her black and white hair.

"Stupid girl." Xinck breathed hollowly, "People like you and me—the beasts—can't feel love." With little restraint, Xinck tore the black glass dagger out from his shoulder and placed it in its proper place in his sleeve. Still numb, he stood, wobbly and unbalanced as his body was still injured, but healing slowly just as he looked to see Sunyata breaking and shattering like a dropped mirror.

He closed his eyes as feeling began to return. He felt the familiar squirm of his flesh and sinew as his body began to heal. He took in a breath and looked to the open sky above. Then to the souls that began to file out and away, now free from the lifeless Necromancer's Stone. "I'm sorry." He said. He then looked to Orphan's corpse, "I'm sorry." He repeated, unsure if it truly meant anything either time.

Xinck then took a look around, and not too far off in the direction he decided he would go, was a single one of his Thanatos swords. He began to move toward it, knowing he would need it for what would come next. "Roxas. Axel. Just wait, I'm on my way."

The Deviant took a step forward. His foot touched down and immediately, the pain of being cut down the middle shot throughout his body. His legs began to wobble. He collapsed on all fours. His breathing became horribly labored and his vision clouded. "No..no, don't!" He pleaded.

"_It is done."_ The multitude of voices proclaimed.

"Gaggh!" Xinck cringed horrifically, as his organs ruptured, prompting thick torrents of blood to flow freely from his mouth. As if taken by an unseen force or wind, his black coat tore itself from his body, leaving it shredded and ruined along his bare body. Xinck looked to his torso, deep wounds and lacerations began to appear, like his body was declaring war on itself.

It was the end result, he knew. He had fulfilled his end of the bargain, to kill Orphan, as the souls held up their end by keeping him healed in order to do so. And when all was said and done, they would take their power with them when they left, rendering Xinck's body in the irreparable state it had been before Orphan trapped him inside the Necromancer's Stone.

"Wait! Stop!" Xinck agonized, "I need this power! I need it to help my friends!" Another deep wound found itself in Xinck's thigh, weakening it and sending him closer to the floor. The pool of his own blood around him expanded even further.

"_Our arrangement is concluded. We are free now. We are free to leave."_

"YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!"

"_This is your own doing. What you did. To us, to all of us, to Noah. While you have our forgiveness, No one, not a single being in all the worlds could ever forget what you've done."_

"But I am NOT DONE!" His body was exasperated. He moved only on will now. He raised a hand up to the souls as they filed out through the ceiling. It burned the same necromantic purple as it had before, "This power is mine! Don't forget it was because I have this power that we were able to kill Her! I command you to COME BACK TO ME!"

His invocation provoked a brief spark amid the mass of souls, but then his arm vaporized in a puff of blackness, fading into the darkness, leaving him a smoky numb at his shoulder. He didn't have enough energy left for anything. The souls continued on, unabated.

"Ah...f-f-fine..." Xinck's voice quivered anxiously, "I'll...I'll do it without you..." With his left arm and both legs still intact, He began to crawl towards his Thanatos sword as best he could.

"_Have faith." _There was a different pitch in tone to these souls, it was softer, more feminine.

"Huh?"

Many souls were still leaving, but many still remained, slow to leave. _"If you want to help your friends. The best thing one could ever do, is to have faith in them. Believe in them._

"Meaningless." Xinck spat back weakly, continuing his agonizing crawl, "Believing, having faith. That's for standing on the sidelines, just watching. I cannot...I won't just standby and let them fight when I know I can help. Having Faith equates to Nothing. All I have is the hope to try..."

"_Hope? That is impossible for you. A being such as yourself, a being who revels in Death, claims Lordship over Darkness and who radiates sadness and Despair, can never hope...to hope." _Another shift in tone, this time more gruff, but not intense. _"Look at you now, begging for help from your victims. You're pathetic."_

"I know." He sobbed quietly, yet he still continued to move, "I know who I am, what I am. I know I'm pathetic, I'm sad and worthless. And since...since becoming a Nobody, I'm even worse. I've known. I've always known, deep down I'm a freak. Why did I try to fool myself into thinking that I wasn't!? I shouldn't be alive, as a human or Nobody. It's unbearable, and I hate it...I HATE IT! I even tried killing myself, but I'm such a loser, I CAN'T EVEN DO THAT!

"I know this, "He continued, "But, I...I actually managed to make, not one, but two friends. Me, the mistake, made two friends, who are almost just as damaged as I am. They saw past my faults, the things I did, and they still call me their friend. I can't let them down...especially...especially when I can help it!"

"_You're a fool." _The voices replied.

"Blow..it..out..your ass..." He struggled with his reply. Finally, he came close to his Thanatos. He stretched out his arm, doing so caused him to fall harshly on his wounded stomach, prompting more blood from his mouth. His fingers twitched closer to the leather grip of his blade, inches away. Then, like fickle smoke, his fingers vanished, then his hand and the rest of his arm.

"No...NoNoNo! NO! ARRGHH!" He cried out, kicking his legs furiously. He screamed and cursed and wailed with a sobbing cry. He stomped his left foot, and the shin vanished in a puff of smoke as well.

Xinck looked, wide-eyed and pain stricken at his fading body. A black cloud began to grow along his body, obscuring most of his back and parts of his head. _"What could I do like this?"_ He thought, _"I can't grip a sword, I can't even stand up..."_

"_You'd be nothing but a hindrance._" The Voices said, the few that still remained at least.

"I'm fooling myself again. This time...it would be better if I stayed dead, wouldn't it?"

"_Agreed. Delusions made you so determined a moment ago, but now, truth settles in. Perhaps, in death, you'll be of better help to your friends..."_

At last, their voices began to fade away. With some effort, Xinck turned over onto his fading back to see that his front was fading just as much. His eyes, skyward now, looked to see the last few souls trailing outside and weakening from view. He was alone again. "Naturally." He sighed.

As many times as he had died before, Xinck knew that this was truly different. Something wasn't right. This was it. He was really dying. Was there too much damage to his soul and mind? He didn't know. He couldn't even guess. He couldn't come back even if he wanted to. Even so, what next, he wondered. Would he really go to Hell? Can Nobodies even go to Hell? Or perhaps, he would just fade out completely, no consciousness, no sense of self. To truly not exist was a concept no one, not even a Nobody, could imagine.

He was sad to depart this life. He wasn't sad about what was to come, but the thought of never seeing his friends again ate at him.

Then a thought occurred. The memories and experiences he had had with Roxas and Axel for all his new life. Comforting thoughts. Roxas took Xinck on his very first, official mission. Xinck would always remember the snow. Axel had asked Xinck to partner up with him during Castle Oblivion. Xinck still valued that time they spent together.

The Clock Tower. Xinck had had his fill of Ice cream, as Roxas had completely burnt him out on it, but just them being near was enough.

"Yeah, it's more than enough." It didn't matter where he would go next. He could never forget them even if he tried. A sad grin made its way onto his face as he closed his eyes for the last time. As sad as it was, the voice that came after it sounded just a bit happier, "Oh, man! It was amazing hanging out with you guys! We'll have to do it again...someday."

At last, The Deviant's body succumbed, fading with little resistance...

* * *

-Oh, man, I thought he'd never die!

I'm sad now.

-Get over it, pansy. Next Chapter comin' at you soon!

What am I gonna do with my life now?

-Get your ass in gear and write, bitch! I didn't tell you to stop!


	61. Little Boy Blues and the Man In The Moon

This was originally going to be longer, but since I no longer have a word processor that tells me how many pages I have, I can't do my 20 page minimum. So, I split this in two and am working on the next one already.

Standard disclaimer, legal stuff, yadda yadda, bibbity, bobbity boo...

* * *

It was such an unfamiliar occurrence that it took some time before the man's appearance registered in Roxas' mind. It was not Xinck, Roxas figured out, and it was not Axel, who he thought might have freed himself from Masq's mind control at the last second. It was neither of his friends.

The blue hair, yellow eyes, pointed ears and X-shaped scar finally came into his mind as he brandished his Lunatic Claymore.

"Saix!" Roxas outburst, "I'm not coming back to the Organization! Not until I find Xinck, not until we save Axel and-"

The Diviner calmly held up a finger for silence. He turned away from Roxas just as the purple flames died down and the smoke cleared. He saw Axel, hunched over, breathing and otherwise still. Farther behind him, was Masq.

"Hey!" Masq shouted out, "Who the hell are you?"

"Tell me, Roxas," Saix said, ignoring the masked woman's questioning, "Is that thing the owner of this fortress?"

The Key of Destiny nodded grimly, "Yeah. That's her. She calls herself Masq."

"Hey!" Masq shouted again, "Don't you ignore me, you blue bastard!"

"Why haven't you killed it yet?" The Diviner asked,.

"I've tried!" Roxas said, "It's the first thing I tried to do when I got here, practically the only thing I've tried!"

"Hey Bitch!" Masq bellowed, " I am talking to you! I will Smack you with my dick!"

"See what I've been dealing with?" Roxas added.

"Indeed. One last question," Saix said, "Is she the reason why Axel was kidnapped?"

"Yeah. She is."

As soon as Roxas answered, a thick pressure began to erupt from Saix, "That's all I needed to know." An aura of fiery blue flames accompanied the pressure and seem to move from his body and onto Lunatic, which he brought up closer to himself and spoke softly the words, "_Absolve Me..._"

-–-

Lively blue flames danced at his feet. His azure hair began to thicken and grew longer and more savage with each passing second. Saïx continued to hold onto Lunatic as it burned the same blue as his aura. Slowly, Roxas observed, Saix's ears began to shift along the side of his face, seemingly moving the skin and flesh in a painful manner. They became longer and more pointed than they normally were, resembling the ears of a Beast and sticking up prominently from atop his hair.

Lunatic changed as well. In its Bererker released form already, the prominent set of spikes grew in size and reset themselves more along the sides of the weapon, forming a partial hand guard. The top two spikes extended much further upwards and between the two of them came a pronounced blade made of a tinted blue metal.

Roxas stood back, still healing from broken bones and burnt flesh from Axel's previous assault. Both awe and anxiety came over Roxas. He had never seen Saïx's Redux, he hadn't even heard a single mention of it. He could only imagine it was something fearsome, something fitting for Saïx as his Berserker State was a force of terror all on its own.

Saïx finally lowered the reformed Lunatic and breathed heavily. Nothing further changed or ignited along his body, though a tense stillness pulsed around him.

"_That's it?_" Roxas thought. "_No explosion? Not even a little one? This can't be a Redux, I can't even feel a change in his aura._.."

"Worst. Redux. Ever." Masq proclaimed lazily, "You look like a broke-ass, low rent Grimmjow. I haven't the time for this. Axel, dust this bitch...and break Roxas' legs for good measure. He'll still be cute, even if he is a gimp." Masq turned around, away from Roxas and Saïx as The mind-controlled Axel took up a stance in preparation to attack. She began to walk towards the open passageway adjacent to her right. Suddenly, her body was swiftly moved against its will and thrown forcefully against the wall behind her. Masq howled out in pain, and looked down to see Saïx's Lunatic jammed deeply through the side of her body, effectively pinning her to the wall.

The eyes of her mask spun around madly in her head. Gingerly so, she touched her fingers to the spot where the Claymore entered her body and examined the wound, "What the Fuck is this Shit?!" She screamed in a quivering voice.

"Low rent Grimmjow, eh?" Saïx's arm recoiled after throwing his claymore.

"You...you Hit Her!?" Roxas awed. The attack was almost too fast for Roxas to keep up, it was nearly instantaneous.

From underneath her mask, Masq began to bleed out from her mouth, a steady stream of it dripping down her front, "Gah! AXEL! KILL HIM!"

Axel responded, at first hesitantly as the devices attached to his head crackled and sparked in a dangerous manner. His body twitched for a moment but quickly stabilized as he bounded for Saïx, a cloud of flame burning into existence around him.

"Saïx!" Roxas called out, "He's not himself! Don't hurt him!"

"I've never listened to you before in my life, I don't think I'll start now." Saïx retorted. Axel came for him, raising a burning chakram and bringing it straight down upon Saïx, who, at the last moment, reached out and clasped his open palms on either side of the weapon, stopping Axel in midair.

Saïx gripped the chakram and took control of Axel before He could successfully retaliate. Saïx pulled Axel up over his head, then quickly pulled the lower half of his body upward until the flats of his feet were directly placed against Axel's stomach. A thrusting force of blue fire erupted and Axel was propelled up into the air, smoking wildly as he went.

Up above, there was a thin veil of darkness that obscured the ceiling and upper machinations of Veridis Quo. Axel quickly illuminated that darkness, blazing like a star as a ring of fire burned a circle around him. He moved his hands in a swooping motion downward, producing six large orbs from the fire that followed his movements and shot down for Saïx.

The Fireballs came streaming down, roaring like beasts for their prey. Saïx dodged the first one, letting it explode as he moved away. His hands lit up with their blue flames and presented his open hands for the next two fireballs. Saïx grabbed them just before they impacted and turned their Red flames into Blue flames. He gripped them harder and went into a quick spin, building up momentum as he did, then relaunched the two fireballs back at Axel.

The last three fireballs came down quicker and Saïx reacted swiftly. As they drew in, Saïx leapt into the air and met them with two fists and one outstretched foot, snuffing out all three of them upon contact. Saïx came back down to the ground just in time to see Axel, now like a falling star, make his way down to continue the fight as he effortlessly swerved out of the way of the two repelled fireballs.

The two Nobodies collided with each other, the Blue flames bombarding the Red and vice versa. An explosion ensued, obscuring them both in a furious outburst of violet purple. These flames expanded outward quickly, illuminating the paleness of the room, scorching the walls and floors and nearly consuming Roxas.

He hadn't noticed that his body had healed finally. He was too caught up in the fight between Axel and Saïx. Roxas had seen Axel fight numerous before and knew his style like the back of his hand, but as a mind-controlled servant, his moves were rigid and jerky as opposed to flowing like a smooth dance. Either way, it seemed Saïx had no issue in handling him with only his hands.

Roxas was still in disbelief that Saïx's transformation-if it could be called one-was really his Redux. He hadn't even heard a name and Saïx, for the most part, still looked the same. The only thing that had changed was his Lunatic, which was safely lodged within Masq.

Masq was wide-open and vulnerable. "Duh, Roxas," He said sarcastically, slapping his hand against his forehead. He tuned swiftly to the platform on which Masq was pinned, still dazed, confused and desperately trying to get free.

"Dammit!" Masq gasped, gripping hard on the handle of Saïx's Claymore, trying to pull it out, "Son of a bitch! Arrrgghh! I just...came down here to get a book and on my way back to my room I was gonna get some ice cream! Darrrgggh! Then some ass...ASShole comes in here and Fuckin' nails me to the wall!"

Roxas could just see that Lunatic's blade had pierced her body, slicing her side, but what was really pinning her to the wall was that the Claymore had struck through her cloak.

Oblivion dutifully shined into Roxas' grip, already aglow with his Light. He knew in her confusion she was less likely to recite any Enochian to defend herself. This was the perfect opportunity to finally put an end to all of this. Pale light forced its way into Roxas' hand, adding to the energy Oblivion was giving off on its own. Roxas pointed the Keyblade at the pinned Masq and took a stance to brace himself for the recoil of the blast.

"Enjoy your stay in hell!" Roxas' shout fell on deaf ears as his Light muffled out all noise, bursting out from his hand, through Oblivion and out in a wide explosion of white light. On an unexplainable impulse, Roxas looked over to Saïx for a brief second, only to see his mouth open and shut rapidly as if shouting something, but he could not make it out.

The next moment, the attack connected quicker than Roxas had anticipated. An explosion in midair illuminated the paleness of Veridis Quo once again and out of the light, Axel came crashing to the floor in a heap.

A coldness rushed over Roxas' body, with deep, sinking pit expanding inside him the moment he saw Axel's charred body collapse on the flat floor. He must have gotten away from Saïx; that's what he was shouting out. Roxas could neither shout out his name or move from his spot. His words chocked in his throat. His body went numb.

"What happened to not hurting him?" Saïx said flatly, appearing next to Roxas, unharmed from his brief fight. Roxas paid him no mind, as he was still in a shock. The only thing that brought him out of it was seeing Axel rise up off the ground, much to his relief.

"A-Axel!" Roxas finally managed to shout out. The devices attached to Axel's head, that had already been damaged, now gave off a dangerous electric discharge even worse than before. It was something comparable to lightning striking the earth, and even Axel was a target each time the devices reacted. "Don't move, Axel! I'm coming!" Roxas broke into a quick run. Another discharge bounded off from the devices for Roxas. He took the bolt to his chest, but he would not stop moving. He slowed for a bit, but he continued running through the pain.

"ARRRGGGHH!" Masq howled out, coming to an end with her struggle with the Lunatic. She finally managed to tear through her cloak, rendering it in shreds and she fell to the floor in a mild shock, tenderly cradling her bleeding wound. "Gah! AXEL!" A grander volley of electricity erupted, Axel was struck, the floor underneath him was struck as well as the ceiling above. Roxas somehow managed to dodge this time, albeit narrowly.

Axel was moaning and muttering some incomprehensible words. His hands were weakly clawing at the devices. Roxas finally got to him and he could see Axel trying to fight through the mind-control. Roxas could see his empty eyes flicker on and off. "It's okay, Axel, we came to bring you back!"

"Argh!" Axel moaned in pain, prompting another discharge, this one reaching all the way back behind Roxas to Saïx, with the Diviner just barely dodging it.

"Stop saying his name, you idiot!" Saïx hollered, "It's what's causing the discharges!"

"AXEL! AXEL!" Masq shouted again, writhing and groaning in between breaths, "Kill that blue motherfucker! Do it for mama! Arghh!"

"Urgghhh...wha..." Axel sounded again. He began to twitch, his body was torn between complying with the commands and fighting against them and Roxas grabbed at his shoulders to brace him.

"AXEL! AXEL! Ha ha ha HA!"

"Masq, shut up!" Roxas bellowed. He had to get those machines off of him. Roxas reached up to Axel's head to grab at the device, he barely touched it when an intense, searing heat burned through the tip of his fingers of his black gloves. He quickly recoiled as the pain shot through his hand. They were vibrating at an extraordinary rate, generating a heat that only Axel could tolerate.

"AXEEEEELLLLL!"

"Axel, just listen to me!" Roxas started, generating a harsh groan and angry sparks from Axel, "I'm gonna get you out of this, but you have to help me!"

"Axel, kill them! KILL THEM ALL!" Masq commanded.

Axel lifted a burning chakram into the air just above Roxas' head. He seemed to be trying to bring it down in full force, but would not. "Ro..Roxa-."

"We're fighting on this side, but you have to fight too." Roxas declared.

"Fucking DO IT!"

"That's enough!" Saïx sounded out. Instantly he was directly above Masq with Lunatic shining brightly in his grip. He came down on her with explosive force, bathing them both in a bout of blue flames and destroying the upper walkway Masq was situated on. As the metal and stone fell to the floor away from Axel and Roxas, the blue explosion fell with it, along with the two bodies that appeared as black silhouettes against the canvas of azure energy.

"RAAAAGGHHHH!" Axel's body began to react violently. His body became incased in his own flames, the devices began to hum as their vibrations increased tenfold, well beyond their limits. The left sided half of the device finally seemed to give up. It huffed out a large puff of smoke and fizzled, then, to Roxas' surprise, Axel quickly pushed him away as it exploded right along Axel's head, throwing him off balance to the side.

Roxas staggered to regain himself, just in time to see Axel trip to the ground, pick himself up and wobble off in confusion. He was immune to the explosion, but the force was still enough to harm him. "Axel!" Roxas called out. The Assassin quickly turned to face Roxas silently. His eyes were still blank, though the left half of his head was free, his right was still under control by the device.

With that, Axel leapt into the air, kicked off from a nearby wall and into the darkness of the upper structures of Veridis Quo, vanishing.

"Axel please..." Roxas' words wavered and struggled to leave his throat once again as he gazed up into the darkness.

"He's making his way deeper into this hellhole." Saïx said, appearing next to Roxas again.

"But Why!?" Roxas shouted, turning on Saïx, "I came here to save him and nothing is working! Every time I take a step forward, It's like another step in the opposite direction! I finally find him, and he's not even himself; I track him down again, and I just miss him; I find him again, and he attacks me! I'm getting nowhere!"

"Not necessarily, "Saïx replied, "Think about it. It's possible he left to keep from doing anymore harm. He hesitated with those commands, pushed you out of harm's way, then abruptly left. Those action's alone show he's resisting to some extent."

Roxas let these thoughts sink in. It made sense, he found. If nothing he had said and done had gotten through, then Axel would have stayed and fought. "He said my name." Roxas murmured, "At least that's a start..."

"You stupid...sons of bitches..what have you done...?"

The pair turned to see Masq. She was positioned on her knee, encircled by dying blue flames, with her hand carefully cradling the wound she had received from Lunatic on her abdomen. As luck would have it, the explosion Saïx had generated partially seared the wound close. Her mask face had been severely damaged. With a prominent crack along its surface, her free hand was used to hold the bulk of it in place. Bits and pieces of it were chipped and slowly crumbled to the floor.

"Damn." Saïx said, "I had hoped I would've killed you with that."

"Cockroaches rarely die after being squashed just once." Roxas sneered as both keyblades shined dutifully into his grip.

"Are you going to kill me? Now?" Masq inquired smoothly, "While I'm injured and defenseless? That's hardly fair..."

"Fair!? You wanna talk about fair? You kidnap and endanger my friend and use him as a shield because you're too much of a coward to face me head on!" Roxas exclaimed,"You want Fairness!? I'll talk about fairness after I've torn that stupid mask off your face!"

Through the crumbling of the mask, Masq's smile faded gradually. There was too much damage and its magic was leaving. The mask shattered near the bottom, revealing pale flesh and feminine lips that were turned downward in a frown and stained with blood. Several locks of long hair flung down near her exposed jawline. They were not the black and dark purple hairs that belonged to the Masq character, but were the hairs belonging to that of the woman underneath the mask. The hair itself was ambiguous in definite color, stubbornly straddling the line between brunette and dark blonde.

Masq parted her lips and recited, "NIISO! ("Come Away")". In a diminishing flash of light, she faded out from view just as Oblivion and Oathkeeper implanted themselves in the large chunk of concrete behind her.

"Rule of thumb, Roxas," Saïx said calmly, "If you're going to kill someone, kill them. Don't stand around talking about it."

Roxas turned harshly on his heel to stare daggers into Saïx's eyes. His jaw clenched, his fists trembled as he could barely contained his anger. "Why are you making jokes?" He said harshly, "Why are you even here!? I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!"

"I came here," Saïx asserted, "to ensure the assets and operatives of the Organization return intact."

"We are not your property!" Roxas exclaimed, getting as close to Saïx's face as he could reach, "We did this on our own! We chose to come here on our own, not as a part of the Organization. We don't need you here! I could have gotten through to Axel on my own AND stopped Masq without you, but because of you, they both got away!"

"Without me you would have been burned alive, incinerated on the spot. I save you and this is your gratitude?"

"Gratitude!? Why should I be grateful, least of all to YOU!? You came here on Xemnas' orders! Why!? Because I'm an investment! Not because my friends are in danger! You and Xemnas would just write them both off, amputate them like they were limbs that became too much of a burden to heal!"

"Calm down. You're overreacting." Saïx replied cooly.

"I'm not overreacting BECAUSE MY FRIENDS ARE GOING TO DIE! " Roxas panicked, "Xinck could be dead already, I don't even know where he is! I lost track of him and I can't feel his presence, It's like it just went out! And you think I'm overreacting?! At least I'm showing something! You're nothing but a big Blah! Even by Nobody standards! You don't even try to fake it either! Even Demyx acted happy when he found out Larxene died at Castle Oblivion! But you, you looked as if you you'd seen it a thousand times and you'd see it a thousand times again!

"That's why we can't stand you!" Roxas continued frantically, stopping little to even breathe, "Axel, Xinck and Me! We hate you, and the rest of the Organization because no one looks out for anyone else unless its for the good of the Organization! I WILL save my friends by myself, and you and the rest of the Organization can all go-!"

Saïx harshly passed a hand across Roxas' already bruised face, silencing him instantly. Roxas recovered and cupped his reddening cheek. He looked up at Saïx, unsure of what had happened. it was something Roxas, in all his time of knowing him, had never gotten out of Saïx: a reaction, tinged with feeling. Was it just pretend feeling, Roxas thought, or did he do it just to make him be quiet?

"Here's something I want you to consider," Saïx explained, "You, Axel and Xinck are all valued in the Organization. To varying degrees, yes, but you will know that at no point in time does the Organization allow its agents to fall into situations that they cannot handle on their own. That being said, Xigbar could have been here just as easily as I am now. Along with Demyx, Luxord, Xaldin, entire legions of Dusks and lesser Nobodies, and followed by a battalion from our Dreadnought Armada. Do you know why we would send so much?"

Roxas shook his head.

"It's because we are Organization XIII. We don't fight fair; we believe in overwhelming force. We could easily lay waste to this wretched place."

"Then...then why didn't you do all of that?" Roxas managed to ask.

"Because we don't need a massive force to be overwhelming." Saïx replied. The Diviner closed his eyes and shuddered briefly, ending the effects of his previous battle guise. His hair relaxed into it's normal state, as well as his ears and teeth. His ears returned to their natural position as his X scar thinned to vaguely noticeable and Lunatic returned to its standard shape. "No one knows I am here," He said, returned to normal, "They think I'm still in the Castle. Xaldin, Xigbar, Luxord and the other one are all blissfully ignorant, as they are every day that ends with a Y. "

"And...and Xemnas...?" Roxas asked.

"Is Xemnas." Saïx retorted firmly, "No backup, no reinforcements. Just me."

"Ugh! You don't understand!" Roxas groaned, "I hav-"

"No, you don't understand," Saïx exerted, "I can see right through you. In your mind you're only set on two options: one, you want to go all Gung-Ho on Masq, throw caution to the wind, attempt to rescue Axel on your own. That option, I assure you, will wind up with all of us dead, accomplishing nothing. Or two, you want to continue sulking and throwing a tantrum, also accomplishing nothing but in the worst way possible. Know this...if you pick the second option, I will kill you myself. Right here, right now."

Saïx focused his cold gaze on Roxas for emphasis, seeing the intimidation grow in his eyes. Roxas stayed planted where he was, a bead of cold sweat running down the side of his face. Stubbornly, Roxas shot back, "But what would that accomplish?"

"Who knows?" Saïx said, "Perhaps it'll put a smile on my face."

Roxas had never liked Saïx, not with the way he would talk down to him. Not like he was a child, but as if he were an idiot. Every notion in Roxas' gut wanted nothing to do with Saïx, but his brain told him differently. Gradually, Roxas unclenched his fists and exhaled a shaky breath. He looked away from Saïx, as looking at him would only rile his anger up further. "Maybe there's a third option."

"There is." Saïx abruptly turned on his heels and began walking to the farthest wall away from the them, "We iron out a plan of action to minimize the outcome of failure on our part. Between the two and a half of us, we should come up with something."

"Two and a half...?" Roxas raised an eyebrow at Saïx's back. He followed behind Saïx as he continued towards the wall, though there was nothing there as far as Roxas could see, apart from a few burn and scorch marks.

"When I got here, I found I had trouble navigating these halls. There doesn't seem to be any logic in the layout." Saïx said, "I found the remnants of a cave-in and the rotting corpse of some animal, then I came across a room splattered in blood. I couldn't make sense of that one, but I imagine the fight that took place was brutal..."

Saïx continued droning on, but his words feel on deaf ears as Roxas had focused his attention on an irregularity. There was actually something there, the spot Saïx was headed for, but it was well camouflaged. If one glanced at it, they would easily miss it, but if enough time and attention were paid, then it would just barely stick out. Roxas squinted his eyes to see, just against the wall, was a pronounced, rounded feature the exact same color as the wall, sticking out like a 3 dimensional object against a 2 dimensional surface.

"What is that?" Roxas asked.

Saïx came to a stop just ahead of it, reached out his hand and gripped the irregularity. "Shroud of Shadows." He said, triggering the irregularity to shimmer for a moment before it revealed itself as a large cloth of varying shades of black, gray and white. He ripped the shroud away, exposing the motionless body underneath, "I kept him hidden so he wouldn't be targeted during the fighting. He's quite lucky I found him when I did, but..."

Xinck sat there, impeccably still and at peace like a statue. His eyes were closed as if sleeping, with his head bowed and his limbs fully relaxed. There was a tiny black line running down his left eye to his chin. Roxas skipped a beat, another coldness took him, but became replaced with a sense of relief immediately after. "Xinck..." Roxas sighed heavily, "How can he sleep at a time like-"

"Look closer." Saïx said, and Roxas did drew in closer to him. Xinck was still, too still even for a sleeping person. He made no sounds and his chest did not heave up and down. Roxas placed a finger before his nostrils and felt no air. He was not breathing. Black wisps jumped up from his silent form and vaporized into nothing. He was fading.

"I don't understand. What's wrong with him?" Roxas exclaimed.

"Roxas, when I found him, he was torn to shreds." Saïx explained, "He was naked, he had no arms or legs, the biggest chunk of him consisted of some of his head, neck and bits and pieces of his upper torso. His body was mangled, and what survived was fading quickly. I had 30 Mega Elixirs with me when I left the Castle and I used them all to heal his shattered body."

Words were becoming lodged in Roxas' throat again. But he refused to succumb to that ever-growing pit inside him again, "What happened...what caused this?" He murmured.

"It was hard to discern," Saïx replied, " But I saw a small, female child there, swaddled in a puddle of clothes and blood. I can only guess they had killed each other. I found him, healed him into his present state, but he did not wake up and he was still fading. It seemed the healing slowed down the fading process, but did not stop it. His body is here, but, concerning the rest, I couldn't say."

"_She is more powerful than Xibre, Xinck, and Axel. She's even stronger than me and you..." _Masq's words, like a scathing reminder played in the back of Roxas' brain. "Dammit! I shouldn't have let him get away from me! This is-"

The Spiked edge of Lunatic poked harshly into the flesh of Roxas' neck, drawing a spot of blood. Roxas held back his words and cautiously turned his eyes to Saïx, who looked more than willing to follow-through. "I told you," He said, "Sulk and whine, and I'll kill you."

"I'm sick of people hurting my friends and thinking I won't do anything in return." Roxas said forcefully, grabbing the sharp edge of Lunatic and pushing it away from himself, "I'm not sulking. I'm angry and I want something to Hit!"

"Then hit him," Saïx gestured to Xinck's body, "I doubt he'd complain."

Roxas flashed him a vicious look.

"Then again, Xinck always complains." Saïx made a noise that suggested he found his own words fun, something between a snort and a sigh. He avoided Roxas' death stare and moved his hands to his neck. Hanging there by a small string was a magical knapsack, much like the one Roxas had seen Xinck bring when they had started their this mission. He pulled open the top of the bag, which expanded far beyond its small size would allow and Saïx mulled around inside for something.

"Here we are," He said, pulling out an object and presenting it to Roxas. It was a rounded, golden tube with deep engravings of symbols on its surface. It was about the length from the beginning of Saïx's hand to the tip of his middle finger. On the bottom of the tube was a long, golden needle, and at the top was a plunger. A red liquid, reminiscent of discolored blood, filled the inside of it, with a little air bubble bobbing up and down.

"I didn't think I'd be using this so early on." Saïx commented, "This is a very rare, very potent healing agent. Red Demon Hot Shot, a demonic panacea. Give it to him." He passed it into Roxas' hands.

Panacea. Roxas had heard that word before. He remembered Axel had taken a normal panacea once during a mission to heal a bout of blindness and stayed up for three days straight, ranting about how he could hear his hair as it grew from his head. This panacea was very warm and much heavier than it looked, "And this will make him better?"

"All I can guarantee is that the Panacea will trigger a reaction. It's function involves jumpstarting everything, mind, body, soul, etc. His body is here in fine condition, so it should only effect everything else."

"And you're sure about that?"

"No, but do it anyway."

Roxas raised the large syringe up just above Xinck's chest. He brought it down with a quick thrust and could feel the needle piercing his breastplate. Nothing happened. Roxas pulled out the syringe and jabbed it in again, careful not to pierce the same hole. Still, no reaction. Roxas pulled it out again and repeated again, three more times in a frantic manner. "Saïx, it's not working!"

"You just stabbed him in the lungs six times. You have to press down on the plunger!"

"Oh, yeah. Right." Roxas pierced Xinck one last time, pressing down on the back plunger of the syringe when he did. The Red liquid gradually drained from the golden tube, vanishing into the body. Roxas waited a moment, letting every drop make it's way inside before he pulled out the syringe and dropped it to the ground."Xinck?"

The black wisps stopped flaking off and evaporating off his body. A mild twitch erupted here and there from his shoulder down to his fingertips. Then, Roxas could see his body moving, heaving as it began to take in air faster and faster. "Xinck? Hey, can you hear me?" He carefully took the Deviant's shoulder.

"..B...bl..." Xinck murmured at last.

"Xinck! You're okay!" Roxas gasped.

" 'Okay' being completely up for debate in his case..." Saïx said.

Suddenly, Xinck's eye's shot wide open and from his mouth came a blood-curdling scream. He raised a leg and planted it in Saïx's chest, knocking him onto his back. He grabbed at Roxas' neck, strangling him in his grip.

"Gah!" Roxas choked, Xinck bringing him in closer, "What're you doing!? Stop it-"

"TAKE COVER, CHILD!" The Deviant wailed at Roxas before tossing him aside along the floor. He then pushed himself up from his seated position and began crawling on all floors in a straight line in front of him, "I'M FIRE!" He screamed, "HELLFIRE BURNING ME ALIVE! ARRGGHH!" He rolled over onto his back, raised his hands up to the ceiling above and released dark bursts of energy, "GO to ROBIN'S REVEEEAANNGE!"

"Damn." Saïx cursed, picking himself up, "I was afraid this would happen."

"What? What do you mean?" Roxas shouted.

The Diviner reached down and grabbed the empty golden syringe and began to read the engravings on its side out loud, " 'Caution: Side effects may include, up to and including, headache, nausea, super diarrhea, shedding of skin, mild stroke(s), insomnia, mild hallucinations, intense hallucinations, hallucinations involving Sofia Vegara, that hot chick from "Columbiana", and the rapper Common, violent convulsions, sagging lip syndrome, blackouts, overwhelming depression, intense bouts of mental instability and psychosis, followed by paralysis, etc...'. All of this actually continues on the other side, but I think we get the point." Saïx concluded.

"So you made me give that to him knowing full well what it might do!?"

"Listen, this is standard medicine, granted it is demonic medicine, but all medicine causes side-effects." Saïx replied, "I'm not entirely sure where the whole Sofia Vegara hallucinations are concerned, but what do I know? I'm not a doctor. "

They both turned to see Xinck writhing about on the floor, screaming and vigorously scratching at himself. He raised up, opened his mouth and shouted, "Now SWITCH to KRYPTON LIGGGHHTT!" He faced a wall that held a window to the outside, his mouth agape, he let fly another dark burst of energy from his gut that took out the entire wall, causing dust and debris to billow in and out of the room.

"I think this is the intense bout of insanity stage." Saïx said, "But he's always been insane."

"No." Roxas said, "Not like this. But...at least he's awake."

"Ton ro ti eveileb ,etad ot enod evI gniht tsedriew eht ton si siht!" Xinck continued to wallow, to scream, and laugh and sob all at once, while at the same time he would bash his head against the unforgiving floor and scratch at his own tender flesh. He then jumped to his his feet and took off into the air, using his darkness to propel him upward. He made onto the highest balcony of the second story and grabbed at the ledge of his fingertips, "NO ORPHAN PLEASE DON'T!" His fingers began losing their grip o the ledge.

"He's falling!" Roxas broke into a run to intercept the falling Deviant. Xinck made a screaming noise, as if struck by something, but as far as Roxas could see there was nothing there. Xinck's fingers at last gave out and he began to fall the long distance down.

His back to the ground and his arms outstretched, as if welcoming death by falling, he shouted, "See Me! Feel Me! Know Me! From Hell's heart, I stab at Thee!" Roxas with his arms outstretched, jumped into a dive, catching Xinck just moments before he touched down. They both slid across the floor and came to a dusty stop before colliding with the wall in front of them.

"Why?"

"Huh?" Roxas had heard his voice, his normal voice. He looked up, not only to see Xinck's body on top of his arms, but to see his eyes looking right into his.

Xinck asked again, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you bring me back?" Xinck asked.

"Bring you back? You mean...?" Roxas pulled his arms out from under Xinck and sat back on his shins. He looked at Xinck, his eyes were sunken and irritated. The black line under his eye seemed to pulse on his flesh.

"It was different this time, Roxas. I was dead. I was gone, my body...was gone." A twitching vibration worked its way through his body, then it quickly settled. The damage he had done to himself was healing and Xinck was still again, "I don't know where I went, if I just faded away to nothing, to darkness...or I went to Hell..."

"You don't remember anything? "

Xinck's head shook very slightly, "It's all a blur...and it should've stayed a blur. You shouldn't have brought me back."

"But you always come back!"

"No. Not this time."

Saïx came over next. He was out of Xinck's line of sight, as such, he seemed to just appear in front of him, "Seems the bout of insanity is over and done with." ¨Saïx said.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Xinck spat, his eyes darting in Saïx's direction.

"Here we go again, another ungrateful youth..."Saïx replied dryly.

"Xinck, he saved you." Roxas said, "If it weren't for him, you...well, you would have stayed gone."

"Oh." Xinck said, "Well, it's not that I'm ungrateful, but you can go fuck yourself, Saïx."

"Ah, yes," The Diviner replied, "Paralysis has set in."

"Paralysis? What paralysis?" Xinck asked.

"You can't feel it, but I'm now standing on your genitalia." Saïx raised his left foot, then brought it down in a stomp, "Did you feel that?"

"No."

"You will later when the paralysis wears off. Roxas, now that he's...relatively OK-"

"Hold my hand in the moonlight, you scalawag, scurvy Bitch!" Xinck exclaimed.

"-we'll have to think of a plan while we're on the move. Being in the same place for too long is awful battle strategy."

"You're right." Roxas nodded.

"On the move? Moving for what?" Xinck asked.

"We're stopping Masq and saving Axel." Roxas said.

"In that order?"

"Well, I almost got through to him, but he got away from me again."

"Ugh." Xinck groaned, "This is why I shouldn't have come back...I...can't..." His words drifted off, his eyes closed and he was silent.

"Hey, hey, hey! Xinck! No, wake up!"

"Stop screaming." Saïx said, "He just blacked out. He'll be fine."

"How do you know? You're not a doctor, you said so yourself." Roxas replied sarcastically. Roxas wasn't worried, far from it in fact. He wouldn't admit it, but at this point, he found himself trusting Saïx more than he wanted to. As much as a cold, uncaring automaton the Diviner could be, right now he was much less so and Roxas could appreciate that.

Saïx didn't reply, instead turning his attention to finding a way out. Meanwhile, Roxas reached down to Xinck and grabbed his arms to pull him up. A few quick maneuvers and Roxas was able to haul Xinck up onto his back and hook his arms underneath his legs to secure him. "There's a passageway up there. It seems to be the only way out of here." Saïx pointed up towards the second level of the room to the small doorway near the corner. He looked to Roxas, who was adjusting Xinck's arms as he settled him on his back. "Isn't he heavy?"

"Yeah, but I don't mind." Roxas said, taking a few steps to balance himself, "He's not a burden, and I don't want him to think he is. "

"Honestly, do you think he'd say the same of you?" Saïx replied.

"That Xinck think's I'm a burden?" Roxas looked at Saïx and scoffed, a solemn look making its way onto his face, "Its hard knowing what goes on in his head, but if Xinck does think I'm a burden, then I wouldn't blame him. I made him come with me to look for Axel. Whatever happened to him, that lead to you finding him the way you did, I'm responsible."

"No...stop it...Orphan..." Xinck murmured to himself in his sleep.

"No matter what, no matter how bad things get, he'll always say he's okay." Roxas said, "But he's not okay. Not like this. Burden or not, I know he'd do the same for me. When he wakes up and this is all over, I'm gonna make it up to him."

Roxas widened his stance and bent his knees. He aimed for the second level and jumped as hard as he could. With Xinck weighing hi down, he did not get far. Instead, he aimed for he wall itself, planted his foot against the stone then kicked off again, this time reaching the second level and clearing the railing by mere inches. He wobbled for a bit, but regained his balance quickly. Xinck reacted to the sudden movements with incoherent mumblings.

Saïx jumped and landed beside them effortlessly.

"When he wakes up, I suggest you ask him what this 'Orphan' is. It seemed vital enough for him to mention twice so it must be important." Saïx said, leading the way to the passage as Roxas followed.

"Masq had said something about someone else-a woman-being the strongest in Veridis Quo." Roxas said, "That's who she must have sent Xinck to, that could be the Orphan."

"Yes, but first, you must tell me everything, everything you know, everything you've learned since coming here. If we are to form a plan of attack then I need to be caught up to speed."

"Right. But first, I have a question." Roxas said.

"What is it?"

"How the HELL did you get here?!"

* * *

-Dammit he's alive!

Yeah, I couldn't leave him dead. Even though it would've been the perfect end...

-Why you support and continue on about a deranged murderer is beyond me...

Hey, no one's perfect.

-What happened before He was found anyway? Where'd he go?

I'll tell ya later...


	62. SINE NOMINE

Oh, sure, no one check to see If I'm alive or anything...

Standard disclaimer...

* * *

The Story So Far...

The **_EIGHTH_** Member of The Organization, _**Axel, The Flurry of Dancing Flames**_ had gone missing for sometime.

So The **_THIRTEENTH_** Member of the Organization, _**Roxas, The Key of Destiny**_ took it upon himself to bring him back.

The _**FOURTEENTH**_ Member of the Organization, _**Xinck, The Fallen Deviant**_ reluctantly came along with him.

"I am reluctantly accompanying you on this thing."-Xinck

"Oh, whatever! If you didn't come with me, you'd do nothing but mope around the Castle and stuff your face."-Roxas.

Roxas and Xinck's decision to defy the order of the Organization to not look for Axel did not sit well with The **_SECOND-In-COMMAND and SEVENTH_** Member of the Organization, _**Saïx, The Luna Diviner.**_ Roxas and Xinck escaped from The World That Never Was and Saïx immediately set out to recapture them by rallying the forces and resources of the Organization.

"'Forces of the Organization?'" Xinck says, "Lets see, a gambling drunk, two douchebags, a lazy dimwit and a sociopath. Oh, yeah, some forces alright..."

"You know, Xigbar drinks, so I think he's a drinking douchbag."-Roxas.

On their hunt for information concerning Axel's whereabouts, the two encountered wild situation after wild situation, meeting allies and making enemies.

"In a way, a pretty normal week for us." Roxas says, "The Satanic old lady was a nice new touch, though."

Soon, though, Xinck got the idea-

"I got the idea! Yay, me!"-Xinck.

Soon, though, Xinck got the idea on the best way to find Axel. They could find the Magic Mirror and ask it any question concerning Axel's location. The Magic Mirror was an ancient artifact that held within its glass a nigh-omniscient spirit capable of answering nearly any question asked of it. The Magic Mirror was currently being kept in The Underworld, located underneath Olympus Coliseum, unfortunately while They knew how to get to the Coliseum, they had no idea how to get to the Underworld. When the pair arrived in the world of Olympus Coliseum, they encountered Philoctetes, a Satyr and Trainer/owner of the Coliseum.

"*Scoff* Philoctetes. More like Philoc-Tities. Ha ha! Get it, Roxas?"-Xinck.

"*Sigh* Yeah, Xinck, I get..."-Roxas.

"Boobs and Such! Ha!"-Xinck.

Philoctetes knew how to get to the Underworld, but he was reluctant to give the information to them. He claimed that while they both had the look and training of fighters, they lacked the true nature of warriors. Roxas wasn't deterred by this at all and was able to persuade Philoctetes to put them in a mini-tournament to prove their mettle and if they won then Philoctetes would tell them how to get to the Underworld.

Philoctetes accepted their wager and while everything seemed legitimate on the surface, it was obvious that the Satyr had no intention of telling them what they wanted to know.

"That old goat! I thought I could trust him!"-Roxas.

"Mmm. Satyr sounds like Satan. He should not be trusted."-Xinck.

"Xinck sounds like Pink, so does that mean you have something to do with Breast Cancer?"- Roxas.

"...Where the hell did that come from?!"-Xinck.

The Tournament started out easy enough, random Heartless put together in teams as the opponents. Of course, as this was basically Roxas and Xinck's day job they didn't consider it much of a challenge.

"I kill Heartless in my sleep!"-Roxas.

Philoctetes saw how easy they were advancing in the tournament standings and so decided to bend the rules and sent in a ringer in order to stop them. The fighter he sent in was a woman with long flowing hair like dark red velvet. She was Nariko and she had a fierce look about her that matched the fierceness of her Heavenly Sword.

"Wow...boobs and such..."-Roxas.

"She can cut down entire armies with my Heavenly Sword anytime she wants...Wait, that didn't sound right."-Xinck.

Nariko was an incredible fighter and managed to critically wound them both and kill Xinck for a moment. Roxas engaged her and managed to land several hits of his own, but still remained on the defensive despite her superior skills. Roxas would not back down to her and as they fought she seemed to understand his motives.

Nariko conceded the fight honorably and wished Roxas and Xinck luck on their mission.

"I love to see her go because of her sweet ass," Xinck says, "But I hate seeing her coming because of her scary sword."

Philoctetes was angered by Nariko's concession and so bent the rules once more by bringing in his final fighter. A large blonde man with a ski-cap and trenchcoat named Snow Villiers. This fight was far more grueling than the last. This man, Snow, was quicker than he looked and had strength to match. To make matters worse, a nasty spell made using Oathkeeper/Oblivion and Thanatos useless, forcing Roxas and Xinck to fight him using hand-to-hand combat.

"Oh, my god, he's gonna snap you like a twig, Roxas!" Says Xinck, "Try to die in one piece so I can use your body as a shield and get away!"

"You dick!"-Roxas

Snow Villiers put up a vicious fight and even seemed to enjoy it the more Roxas and Xinck struggled to defeat him. It was only with quick thinking and well-executed magic were they able to force Snow into submission and secure their victory.

"Think of the damage to my reputation if it became known that I was beaten by a man named Snow."- Xinck.

"Oh, you mean your reputation for being a vicious, violent, greedy, selfish, psychopathic murderer who will kill at the slightest provocation? Being beaten by a man named Snow will worsen your reputation? Oh, No!"-Roxas.

"You dick!"-Xinck

Emerging from the Tournament at the top, Roxas didn't waste time celebrating and went directly to Philoctetes for the information they had been promised. Despite their victory, Philoctetes did not keep his side of the agreement and was adamant in keeping them out of the Underworld. Xinck protested , insisting on forcing the information out of the goat, but Roxas stopped him.

"You should've just let me kill him."-Xinck.

"Why is murder your solution to everything?"-Roxas.

Suddenly, the Coliseum came under attack. Somehow, Saïx had gotten wind of their location and sent out an enormous Twilight Thorn to capture them. The Thorn proceeded to do so, but Roxas stepped up and wasted no time in dispatching The Thorn in an awesome display of power. Roxas used his Redux, _**ARCHANGELUS LUCIFER**_ and instantly incinerated the Nobody, all the while Xinck forced Philoctetes to watch. Having witnessed such a feat, Philoctetes felt he had no choice but to tell them the location of the Underworld.

"You know, we could've saved a bunch of time if I had done my Redux when we first got there."-Roxas.

"Well, Obviously..."-Xinck.

Eventually, the two of them made it into the Underworld, The Abode of Hades. They encountered Charon the Ferryman, crossed the River Styx and trekked along the cliffs hanging over the River Lethe. They needed to find Hades to use the Magic Mirror, but had no idea how to find him. The duo met a young boy who died under unfortunate circumstances and, striking a deal, agreed to return him to Elysium in exchange for how to get to Hades' Palace.

Roxas and Xinck became separated as Roxas could enter Elysium, but Xinck could not. The Elysium Guardians found him to be "Ripe with the stench of Innocent Blood". The two agreed they would split up for now, Roxas would return the boy and find out where Hades was and Xinck would find the exit to Elysium and meet him there.

"What's amazing is that we had perfect cell reception in the Underworld." Says Roxas, "Yay for T-Mobile, huh?"

"Dammit AT&T!" Says Xinck, "Hold on, I'm gonna send you this funny picture, just let me step outside for a second!"

Roxas lost the boy as soon as he ran into the Fields of Light, but found someone who had apparently been waiting for him. The **_TENTH_** Member of The Organization, _**Luxord, the Gambler of Fate**_, was sitting under a tree, waiting to challenge Roxas to a card game. If Luxord won, then Roxas would have no choice but to retrieve Xinck and return to the Castle and end their crusade. If Roxas won, then Luxord would cease chasing them and reveal how they could locate Hades. Roxas accepted the stakes and the game began.

"Moron, don't you know never to take Luxord in a card game!?"-Xinck.

"Get off my back! SPOILER ALERT, I Won, obviously!"-Roxas.

On the other end, Xinck encountered a swarm of flying Heartless that Hades summoned after detecting their presence in his domain. Xinck rode one across the length of the River Lethe before dispatching several of them and landing in a cave inhabited by a lone spirit. The Spirit seemed to know Xinck, but Xinck did not know her. The Spirit then revealed that Xinck had set her ablaze, murdered her as he had murdered so many others on the day of his Massacre.

"My god, what is with you and The Dead?"-Roxas.

"I'm like candy to those people."-Xinck.

Roxas had, unsurprisingly to Luxord, beaten him at his own game. Luxord revealed that the boy had wandered past him before Roxas showed up and figured since he wore the same coat, he must know Roxas and Xinck and so told him where to find Hades, hoping the message would reach them. Luxord told Roxas Hades' location and departed, saying he would keep his end of the bargain.

Xinck, on the other end, had been tortured psychologically by the angry spirit, forced to become her in life and witness himself in a flashback killing himself over and over with a thrilled smile on his face. Xinck soon passed out and his body was carried along a river stream, down a hole and into a pool far at the bottom. He hallucinated Larxene drowning him in the water before he was swept up by the current, eventually being let out in a closed off mountainous region in the Underworld.

Roxas and Xinck met up once again, with Roxas noticing something wrong with Xinck, but he refused to elaborate on the matter. Now armed with Hades' location, the two made their way along the dangerous terrain of the mountains until they came to the doors of Hades' Throneroom. They entered and the God of the Underworld was less than happy to see them.

"The Lord of the Underworld and Master of the Dead." Xinck says, "Quick, let's kill him and take his stuff!"

"One does not simply kill The Lord of the Dead."-Roxas.

"Is that a meme? Cut that out!"-Xinck.

"You mad, bro?"-Roxas.

Hades spoke to them briefly, expressing his anger at having them cause so much trouble in his Realm. Xinck spoke back fiercely at Hades, giving the God no respect at all. Roxas tried to qualm the two in hopes of gaining access to the Magic Mirror, but to no avail. The tension mounted and a battle erupted between the three. The fight raged about in Hades' throne room with Hades keeping the two dangerously on their toes.

"We wouldn't have had to fight if you didn't fly off the handle at every opportunity!"-Roxas.

"Whatever," Xinck says, "Besides, the whole thing was-"

"You know Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!"-Roxas.

"Goddammit, stop with the memes!"-Xinck.

Hades had forced Xinck out of the Throne room windows and dropped him into the abyss below, leaving Roxas on his own. This did not last long as Xinck re-emerged from outside the room, now with his Redux activated. With a small gesture, Xinck commanded his Redux _**INUGAMI**_ to obliterate the Throne room and devastate Hades with a single blow.

"Ah, yes, there's no kill quite like overkill."-Xinck.

In the wreckage of Hades' throne room, Xinck and Roxas emerged unscathed. Hades, being an immortal god, began to reform, albeit slowly and apparently with difficulty. The God had been defeated and wanted nothing more to do with the Nobodies and reluctantly summoned the Magic Mirror for them. The Spirit of the Magic Mirror appeared in its glossy surface.

"O Magic Mirror!" Roxas says, "What can you tell me about my friend's where...about...ssss."

"Austin Powers reference. Nice."-Xinck.

The Magic Mirror spoke in rhyme, adding to its cryptic nature. Roxas asked his question, "Where was Axel?" but only got more cryptic rhymes. It was only after Xinck suggested asking the right, specific questions could a clear answer be given. Roxas thought for a moment and the question came to him. "Was Axel kidnapped?"

"Mannapped. I can't believe how many times we have to go through this."-Roxas.

Axel had been taken against his will, The Mirror confirmed this.

"To this, I applaud your tremendous courage, yet pray that my answer doth not discourage.

Axel, captive not of his will, but by those who doth wish great ill,

was taken in a bloody thrill.

One, Two, Three, and even Four stand ready for War Galore

Now, One of Dark and One of Light must go, go through great plight to retrieve

thy friend and set All right."

Roxas and Xinck had come this far for an answer and now that they had it, they hardly knew what else to do besides the obvious: Find Axel and hunt down the ones who took him. On an off shot, Xinck had the idea to ask the Mirror if Axel's phone was anywhere near him or his captors. The Mirror answered yes and Roxas tentatively dialed his number. The phone answered and Roxas could tell someone was on the other end but remained silent.

Roxas issued a warning, telling whomever it was would see the end of this if they simply let Axel go. But, should they refuse, then Roxas and Xinck would see to it personally that they would be killed without mercy or hesitation.

Arrogantly, a voice replied with "Bring It, Baby."

"Oh, bitch, it has been brought!"-Xinck.

"We brought it, sat it down on the table and opened it."-Roxas.

With their question at last answered, Roxas and Xinck promptly left the Underworld, as it began to collapse around them and reform into a new layout. It didn't take them long to return to the above world and-

"And what happens next is a bunch of crap." says Xinck, "We get back in the ship, Xercivio pops in, the ship malfunctions and we crash land in blah blah blah."

"You know just because you don't talk about something doesn't mean it doesn't still exist."-Roxas.

"Nothing happened!"-Xinck.

"We landed in the world where you woke up in when you became a Nobody." Roxas says, "You were not happy at all, you actually seemed really sad and shaken up by the whole thing. You told me about your first few days in the Organization, your time with Larxene, your Redux and how you killed all those people just to vent out your highly repressed and unstable emotions."

"We don't have emotions, Roxas, we've been through this before."-Xinck.

"Whatever you say..."-Roxas.

"Let's move on." Says Xinck "After-"

"We can talk whenever you're ready. I'm right here."-Roxas.

*Annoyed Grunt* "After that trip down memory lane," Xinck says, "The ship ran out of gas and we landed in Vancouver. We were stranded, but...

On a chance encounter, Roxas and Xinck came into contact with an elderly woman. They had stopped a thief from taking one of her possessions and in her gratitude she revealed she was not only a mystic, but she was also from another world and that she could help them. She gave them a book and told them about the Axis Mundi, the Road of the Worlds. As she spoke of it, it was neither a dark path or a light path but a backroad created by a world and randomly connecting to another without the need to go through Inter Space. It opened most frequently when a world was being consumed by darkness. She explained that it randomly opened and lead to random destinations, but, with the right magic used in conjunction it could lead "Wherever the walker is fated to be".

"Thank you, Deus Ex Machina!"-Roxas.

When they left the Gypsy and headed back into the city of Vancouver, they found that someone was waiting for them. A man wearing a black coat and Hood like those in the Organization stood before them. They were taken by surprise at first, thinking the Organization was on them again, but the man claimed he wasn't in Organization XIII. Xinck thought he was Riku at first, but the man's presence said otherwise. It was then that he thought it was Zexion, somehow resurrected. The man took off in a run and Roxas and Xinck gave chase, Xinck made sure he would get to him first.

The man broke down an alleyway, then up onto a rooftop. He managed to hold off Roxas, but Xinck continued to run him down. He shouted out Zexion's name, catching the man off guard, but he began to go on the offensive when Xinck revealed that Zexion was dead. After a brief skirmish, Roxas re-emerged and delivered a decisive blow on the man's body that could've easily split him down the middle. But somehow he recovered easily and the tiny drops of blood from the attack seemed to find their way back into his body.

"Healing Blood?" says Roxas, "Ain't Nobody Got Time For That."

"No more Memes!"-Xinck.

"No more memes?"Roxas says, "I Don't Want To Live On This Planet Anymore...without memes."

"GAAAH!"-Xinck.

The man vanished into thin air, but not before uttering, "I will remember to give Axel your regards. See you seen." This provocation prompted Roxas and Xinck to quickly follow the gypsy woman's instructions and open the Axis Mundi. Whoever the man was, he had to be apart of the scheme behind Axel's being taken.

"Speaking of Taken," says Xinck, "Why did they make a second 'Taken'? I mean, you'd think they'd get the idea to stop fucking with Liam Neeson and his family."

"Yeah, just think about it: He trained Batman and he punched a wolf. The Dude punched a wolf!"-Roxas.

"Simply madness to step on that man's toes."-Xinck.

"And This is coming from you?"-Roxas.

The Path of the Axis Mundi was open, allowing them to travel the worlds to their destination by following a shimmering line on the path laid out before them. The Axis Mundi lead them to a forest, which they trekked through for the entire night. In the morning, they emerged from the forest and realized quickly that the spell to travel the Axis Mundi had worked and they were no longer in Vancouver, but Springfield.

"Not that one, but the one The Simpsons live in."-Roxas.

Walking through the forest all night had taken its toll on the two. Hungry, they stopped at a fast-food restaurant to eat and rest at a moment. Unknown to them, another had also stopped to dine in the restaurant, The **_THIRD_** Member of The Organization, _**Xaldin, The Whirlwind Lancer.**_ Somehow, the two parties remained completely ignorant of each other's presence for a time until Roxas began performing the Heimlich Maneuver on Xinck as he chocked on a french fry, at which point Xaldin emerged from the bathroom.

"I haven't been in a situation this awkward since Demyx's Quinceañera."-Roxas.

"...Uh...what?"-Xinck.

"Just a second."-Roxas.

"What are you doing?"-Xinck.

"I'm trying to set up a cutaway gag like they do on 'Family Guy'.-Roxas.

"Don't be low rent, Roxas. We're better than that."-Xinck.

"You already know we're not."-Roxas.

Needless to say, a brawl ensued between the three. Xaldin was a trained warrior, when it came to having well-polished skills in combat, he was an army of one. Xaldin wasn't the type to be concerned with others beyond the necessary and so had no qualms about stopping Roxas and Xinck from searching for Axel simply because He was ordered to stop them. He fervently told Roxas that Axel's missing should have no reaction on him as their job consists of them putting their lives on the line everyday and being excessively attached to each other was pointless.

Xaldin said he follows orders and if he had been ordered to look for Axel, then he would, but he doubted that an order such as that would come from Saïx. "Besides, "He said, "if Axel was careless and fool enough to be kidnapped then he deserved to have his life come to an end".

Roxas quickly responded by letting loose a flurry of attacks that Xaldin actually seemed to have trouble blocking. Xinck came from behind just as Roxas went in to attack an opening and Xaldin struck at the exact moment of their attacks, resulting in Keyblades, Swords and Lances staying inches away from flesh as the three stood locked in a stalemate.

"I got Ninety-Nine problems, but Xaldin ain't one!"-Xinck.

"Technically, he's Three."-Roxas.

"Ah, yes, I see what you did there."-Xinck

"Look at us just standing there, locked together and staring at each other."-Roxas.

"Just like Shovel Face and Can't-Close-Her-Mouth-All-The-Way from 'Twilight'." Says Xinck, "It's a shame really, being immortal and spending all your time going to High School and hitting on fugly girls."

However, a new enemy soon emerged from the bathroom of the restaurant. An enemy that neither Nobody had seen coming. It was a monster larger than any one man whose stench invaded the air and was so strong that it forced Xaldin, Roxas and Xinck out of their stalemate in order to safely cover their noses. It was a walking abomination constructed from human fecal matter, an 'excremental' called The Golgothan Shit Demon.

"A Living, breathing, monstrous Pile of walking shit."-Xinck.

"It was 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' all over again."-Roxas.

The Golgothan attacked indiscriminately, prompting the Nobodies to cease their fighting and take cover together. While the monster rampaged and slowly made its way to the Nobodies, Xinck began to frantically look for a way to defeat the monster with his spell books. Xaldin, however, seemed to quickly get over his initial bout of shock and rediscovered his warrior spirit. Despite protests from the younger Nobodies, Xaldin leapt into action in a Gung-Ho manner and, surprisingly, was promptly and easily dispatched by the monster.

"He died the way he lived; covered in crap."-Xinck.

"Makes no sense and he's not dead."-Roxas.

Roxas was forced into engaging the abomination to give Xinck time to look for a spell. The fight was very one-sided, though, as the Golgothan was immune to many of Roxas' attacks, both magical and physical. Ice magic was the only thing that even vaguely slowed it down. It was only by chance did the two manage to find a fatal weakness of the Golgothan. The monster apparently had no tolerance for the greasy, fat-drenched, cholesterol-soaked hamburgers and fries that the restaurant served. With a weakness found, Roxas and Xinck leapt into action, bombarding the Golgothan with-

"With disgusting, crappy, over-priced fast food." Says Roxas, "Don't try to paraphrase it or put a nice simile to it. That's what we used. Horrible, nasty food."

"...Nuggets were pretty good, though."-Xinck.

The Golgothan was finally beaten, and with local law enforcement closing in, Roxas and Xinck were forced to flee, continuing down the Axis Mundi in a stolen station wagon. On the road, they quickly cleared the town of Springfield and made their way onto the highway.

"Get the fuck outta my way!" says Xinck, "Driving with insurance is for pansies."

"But, Xinck, what about The Right of Way?"-Roxas.

"*Scoff* More Like You've got The Right To Get out My way if you're in the Way!"-Xinck.

They followed the Axis Mundi for sometime, seamlessly passing through many mundane worlds as they went, and drawing nearer to Axel and his captors with each passing world. Roxas figured all they had to do was keep driving and they would be there in no time flat, but these thoughts were put on hold when their vehicle came under attack.

"We're under attack?" Says Xinck, "Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!"

"Only funny when I do it!"-Roxas.

The **_SECOND _**Member of The Organization, **_Xigbar_**, _**The Freeshooter**_ was riding up on them, firing a salvo of bullets at the vehicle. He was accompanied by The **_NINTH_** Member of The Organization, _**Demyx, The Melodious Nocturne**_, who, more or less, just came along for the ride. Xigbar and Demyx had briefly managed to apprehend Roxas and Xinck, but quick thinking on Roxas' part allowed them to escape back onto the highway atop a speeding oil tanker.

Xigbar and Demyx gave chase, driving in Xigbar's own stolen Lamborghini Murcielago. The Freeshooter let fly a flurry of shots at the two, but to no avail. Xigbar teleported from the car and onto the oil tanker and took them both on directly.

Xigbar, despite his thuggish personality, was a force to be taken seriously. He liked to toy with his opponents, inflicting non-fatal, but potent and painful attacks. He kept the distance between them wide and teleported away when they got too close. His speed, accuracy and near-unpredictability made him dangerous, but only when he wanted his targets dead. Xigbar wasn't trying to kill them, at least not Roxas anyway, but he was taking them both on with ease. In his own words, Xigbar was perfectly fine with the two of them going off to search for Axel, saying that the 8th member was one of the few people in the Castle he actually found entertaining. His only grievance was that Roxas' absence was causing their Heart Quota to drop severely, thus ruining the Organization's window of time and hindering their plans.

"Xigbar's such a dick."-Xinck.

"..."

"I said, Xigbar's such a dick."-Xinck.

"Roxas, hey! Where the...Hey! Where'd you go?! Oh, damn it!"-Xinck.

The fight between Xigbar, Xinck and Roxas was interrupted as Demyx somehow made his way onto the tanker. Much to Xigbar's chagrin, his car was destroyed as it lacked a driver. Angered, Xigbar unleashed everything he had and fired indiscriminately at all three of his fellow Nobodies. Roxas took to Xigbar while Xinck easily overpowered Demyx.

"Roxas! Seriously, where are you!?"-Xinck.

Demyx's Sitar was no match for Xinck's reckless attacks. His water manipulation was useless, as the speeding tanker made it too difficult to pull water out of the air. Desperate, Demyx pulled on the only liquid he could; The gasoline in the tanker. A jet of flammable gasoline jetted into the air between Demyx and Xinck at the exact moment Roxas dodged a stray bullet from Xigbar. The bullet ignited the streaming gas, which led to the reservoir of pressurized gasoline in the tanker below, resulting in an enormous explosion that cast all four of them off in flaming balls of fire.

"Oh, hey, I was in the bathroom, what'd I miss?"-Roxas.

"Nope. Nuh-uh. I'm not telling you."-Xinck.

"Why not? What happened? Did you make a joke?"-Roxas.

"Yes! Yes, I made a joke. I made a joke so hilarious, so outrageously outrageous that it will soon be an Internet Meme that transcends space and time! A joke so powerful that it is, without a doubt, the pinnacle of my wit and humour!"-Xinck.

"Well, what was the joke?"-Roxas.

"I'm not telling!"-Xinck.

"Then just rewind the video."-Roxas.

"No."-Xinck.

"Rewind the video!"-Roxas.

"I said No!"-Xinck.

"Gimme the remote! Give it to me right now!"-Roxas.

"No! Get away from me! Did you wash your hands!?"-Xinck.

Xigbar and Demyx seemed to have gained the upper hand in their battle with Roxas and Xinck, subjecting them to the harshness of the road after casting them off the roofs of cars. Difficult as it was, Roxas and Xinck managed to fight back long enough for Roxas to come up with a plan to rid themselves of their Seniors. The final confrontation took place on the back of large log transporter truck over a bridge. It took some maneuvering and a distraction on Xinck's part, but Roxas managed to sever the bindings of the logs while at the same time causing the truck to jackknife, flinging Demyx and Xigbar into the river below and tossing Roxas and Xinck into the road.

"Ugh! If its one thing I hate more than getting shot by bullets, its getting hit with cars."-Roxas.

"Well, at least the EMTs were nice."-Xinck.

"You punched one in the groin."-Roxas.

"He shouldn't have touched me down there."-Xinck.

"You mean on your wrist? To check for a pulse? He was trying to see if you were alive."-Roxas.

"He'll know better next time."-Xinck.

The damage and casualty their fight had caused on the road called an entire horde of Ambulances to the location. After Roxas and Xinck were shoveled off the road, they received partial medical attention while they were unconscious. Of course, their bodies healed on their own and when they got the chance they brooke away from the emergency services, stole another car and continued on down the Axis Mundi.

After driving for half a day, their stolen car ran out of gas. The engine faltered just as the Axis Mundi signaled its end. The two came out in a world that looked to be stuck in the hazy purple of the mid-morning. There were no trees, no animals, or rivers. They crossed over a tall mountain range and came out onto an impeccably flat surface of land that stretched out for dozens of miles and was surrounded by mountains. At the exact center was the Castle Fortress of Veridis Quo.

"How awesome is Daft Punk?"-Xinck.

"She's Up All Night 'Til The Sun! I'm Up All Night To Get Some! She's Up All Night For Good Fun! I'm Up All Night To Get Lucky!"-Roxas.

"Ha! Do you even know what 'Some' and 'Get lucky' actually mean?"-Xinck.

"Um...Ice Cream? Get lucky with ice cream? Get Some ice cream? All night long?"-Roxas.

"I...don't know whether to laugh at you or cry for you..."-Xinck.

"Like you know what 'Some' and 'Get lucky' mean, Mr. I'm Too Dumb To Know That The 'H' On The Faucet Means Hot!"-Roxas.

"I'll learn that lesson on my own time, dammit! And I am NOT the one on trial right now!"-Xinck.

Veridis Quo was an impenetrable mountain stronghold. Roxas and Xinck weren't going to be deterred by the intimidating Castle, which was actually larger than the Castle That Never Was. They came to the front doors and forced their way into a foyer that looked to be in disarray.

"I was suspicious from the get-go." Says Xinck, "We didn't fight anyone, stumble into a trap or anything. We got to the front door with no trouble."

"If you don't count you spitting up on my shoes, then yeah, we got in with no trouble."-Roxas.

Inside the first room of Veridis Quo, Roxas and Xinck came face to face with Three of their would-be adversaries. The first to come was the mysterious man they had encountered in Vancouver. He removed his black hood to reveal stark red and black hair and dark-gold eyes. He had a braid going down the left side of his face and a jagged X scar on the right side of his forehead. As it turns out, he was actually The **_Ex-Fourteenth _**Member of The Organization, _**Xibre, The Wailing Redder.**_

"Why're we wasting time with this red-headed chicken shit!?"-Xinck.

"Get to the important people!"-Roxas.

Xibre rambled on about how shocked he was that Roxas did not recognize him. His words fell on deaf ears, as neither Roxas or Xinck cared, but then he mentioned how he was the one who had personally captured Axel, which served to rouse Roxas' ire.

The second to come along was a tall man dressed in a dark green duster, a matching wide brimmed fedora and goggles. He had a noticeable cajun accent attached to his speech. There was something odd about him, as he looked normal enough but something about him gave the impression that he was more than Human. Or Less. He was _**Hermés Andreas Babin**_, or by his nickname "**_Baby_**".

"Listening to him put me in the mood for Cajun food."-Xinck.

"Like what?"-Roxas.

"Alligator."-Xinck.

"Alligator!? Ugh! That's gross! Is there anything you won't eat!?"-Roxas.

"Alligator is good! You've never been to a fair and had alligator on a stick?"-Xinck

"Alligator's are Lizards!"- Roxas.

"Yeah, but-"

"That's freakin' nasty!"-Roxas.

It was then that the mastermind behind all of Roxas and Xinck's problems made her way onto the scene. She was a tall woman draped in a dark, tight fitting outfit complete with a living mask to obscure her face. She politely introduced herself as **_Masq The Heretic Witch_**. She was the woman on the phone who had enticed Roxas over the phone with "Bring It, baby.". She spoke casually to Roxas as if they had met before, despite his growing anger. She claimed all that she did was to get revenge on them for all of the lives that they and their Organization had ruined.

"God, I swear all women do is complain, complain, complain."-Xinck.

"That's kinda sexist, you know."-Roxas.

"I'm a sexy sexist."-Xinck.

"...Are you proud of that? Are you proud of that crap that just came from your mouth? I am so disappointed in you right now."-Roxas.

Axel's captors seemed to have no fear or intimidations about either of them, speaking so casually as if they were all good friends. Roxas had had enough of them and wanted to end it all as quick as possible. He went in for the attack, bathing himself and both his Keyblades in Light as he leapt for Masq. Masq showed little interest and versed the words "BLOCK UP A WAY OF THOU IN THE NAME OF GOD", an Enochian spell that produced an impenetrable shield that both protected her and knocked Roxas flying backwards into Xinck.

Masq and her Associates then vanished, with Xibre challenging Xinck and Baby excited at what was to unfold. Masq herself baited Roxas to explore deeper into Veridis Quo to Discover its secrets and to find Axel.

"It's A Trap!"-Roxas.

Reluctantly, Roxas and Xinck took to walking through Veridis Quo to both figure out a plan of action and to discover their connection with these people. As they walked through the large expanse of fortress, the felt its walls shift and rumble in the distance. Verids Quo changed its layout, switching the walls, creating hallways and random rooms, rerouting set pathways and shifting its infrastructure.

Somehow, The pair came out to a part of Veridis Quo that appeared to be an actual part of the mountain instead of being part of the Fortress itself. These were The Ruins, an old temple of worship used by the prior inhabitants of the mountain. Roaming these Ruins was a beast called _**Neri the Lumophage**_.

"The diet of the Lumophage consists of Photons, Electrons, Waves, occasional Meats, and 5'11, One-Hundred and Sixty Five pound Blondes with Blue Eyes."-Xinck.

"...Just so you know, I've lost some weight."-Roxas.

"Apparently, not in your ass, bubble butt."-Xinck.

Neri the Lumophage was Masq's pet. Lumohages are rare creatures and, as their name suggests, consume light as most of their diet. The World of Veridis Quo was dim and lacked enough light to properly sustain Neri, and, as a result, He was starving. Seeing Roxas only served to incite his hunger. Neri, at first seemed, amiable towards Roxas, rubbing against him, sniffing him, licking his face and his body.

"Well, that should have been a sign for you right there."-Xinck.

"Yeah, I admit, I should've stopped him when he started licking my...legs."-Roxas.

"He licked a little more than your legs..."-Xinck.

Neri then bit Roxas' hand and the fight began. Despite, his weakened state, Neri was determined. He was fast and vicious, blinding Xinck with quick flashes of light, biting down on his neck, locking his jaws and wringing him violently. Roxas would go in to strike to help Xinck by sending out lasers and waves of light, but Neri would then free Xinck in order to eat the light and grow stronger.

Suddenly, Veridis Quo began to change, the result of which caused The Ruins to begin collapsing into rubble. Roxas was tossed over the side of The Ruins and Neri dove after him, biting onto his leg as they fell. Xinck, somehow, actually fell into the inner machinations of Veridis Quo, bearing witness to the complex of techno-sorcery necessary to change the structure of such a large fortress.

Roxas and Neri landed at the very bottom of Veridis Quo, or at least that is where he felt he landed. It was a dark pit that seemed to be separated from the main fortress somehow. Neri didn't care, for as soon as they landed, he went in for the attack. Masq appeared along the walls of the dark pit and oversaw the fight, egging both Roxas and Neri to kill the other for survival.

"Is this what it's like to have something always trying to kill you?"-Roxas.

*Sigh* "You get used to it."-Xinck.

Roxas reluctantly squared off with Neri. He pitied the creature as he could see in its eyes that it was desperate and unhappy. Masq had beens starving him, depriving him of food and driving him to this course of action, as Lumophages were normally docile. Neri had grown massive in size and attacked relentlessly, clawing and biting at Roxas to the point where he was blinded by his own blood in his eyes. Roxas was pushed to his limit, angered by Neri's intent to kill and Masq's constant taunting. Roxas grabbed at the Lumophage's head, jerking and twisting until he heard its neck snap and Neri's body fell to the floor, dead.

On the other end, Xinck emerged into a room with an Altar, another part of the temple of worship used by the people who once lived in these mountains. It was here that Xinck encountered the red-haired mystery man from Vancouver, Xibre. Xibre revealed that, as the former 14th Member, his power consisted of Haemokinesis, the manipulation and control of his own blood.

"Xibre's nothing but a joke. He's a living Period. What kind of power is that?"-Xinck.

"I don't know, it seems pretty cool. I mean, Ganta seemed have a certain style about the whole thing."-Roxas.

"He bites himself to use his powers. How is that-"-Xinck.

"I Will Be Your Deadman! With Nothing But This Blood On My Hands!"-Roxas.

"Oh, my god..."-Xinck.

"Hurry Up And Make A Season 2!"-Roxas.

Xibre was the 14th Member in the Organization for a week with Zexion acting as his mentor. By very little chance, either brought on by Xemnas's ire or his random whim, The Superior fired a hole through Xibre's skull and tossed him out of the Castle That Never Was. Somehow, Xibre survived and, feeling betrayed by the Organization, sought out revenge. Masq found him sometime later and joined her when she promised him Lordship over Organization XIII as her personal enforcers.

"I'm not even gonna comment on how bad that stupid plan would've turned out."-Roxas.

Xinck and Xibre clashed. Xibre had a fantastic advantage, being able to harden the blood underneath his skin to nullify many of Xinck's attacks. It was only through tricking Xibre was Xinck able to come out on top. He baited Xibre to attack him in his stomach, not realizing that Xinck kept a magical 'experiment' in his lower abdomen. When Xibre disturbed the 'experiment', it reacted and pulled Xibre inside Xinck whereupon he was eaten, digested, then spat back out. What was left of the former 14th Member was nothing more than a flesh-colored ball of skin, pus and blood.

"Finish Him! Fatality! Xinck Wins!"-Xinck.

"Fatality? Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!"-Roxas.

At this point, both the Former 14th Member Xibre and Neri the Lumophage had been killed by Xinck and Roxas. Still separated after their victories, they found themselves wandering a long, bricked corridor, completely unaware that the other was also there. Masq's Associate Baby was there as well. Baby's abilities consisted of changing his shape and he appeared to Roxas in the form of Xinck. At first, Roxas was convinced it truly was his friend, until Baby failed to use a verbal habit of the Deviant that caused Roxas to turn on him.

Baby retreated after Roxas attacked him. He then appeared to Xinck in the form of Roxas, but the Deviant quickly impaled him as he was unconvinced he was Roxas from the outset. Baby hastily retreated again to nurse his wounds. It was then that Roxas and Xinck found each other again, albeit with some trouble at first.

"I could've totally sliced you in half if you hadn't snuck up on me!"-Roxas.

"Not before I sucked your eyes out of your sockets and ate them!"-Xinck.

"Oh, what a surprise! Xinck's thinking about eating! Again!"-Roxas.

"At least my diet is varied, you ice-cream eating pussy!"-Xinck.

It was here in the Corridor did the two exchange whatever information they had learned so far. Masq's plot did not simply involve revenge on Roxas and Xinck, for a still not fully understood reason, but, according to slipped information, had something to do with world domination plot and a device known as The Cannon.

"Oh, let me tell you about the Cannon. It's this enormous..."-Roxas.

"No! No, don't tell me! No Spoilers! Keep going!"-Xinck.

Roxas and Xinck soon emerged from the Corridors, no doubt at Masq's whim, and entered into The Atrium. The Atrium housed an ancient, enormous tree called Adonai. It was a Holy Tree utilized by the prior inhabitants of the mountain. The tree was surrounded by an ethereal glow and decorated with thousands off white charms hanging from its branches.

"StupidLookingTreeSaysWhat."-Xinck.

"Huh? What?"-Roxas.

"I...uh, don't think I planned that out right."-Xinck.

"Wait, what'd you say?"-Roxas.

As they entered, Baby, sitting on a Tree Branch, greeted them and casually started a conversation. He talked about whether or not they believed in God, which they answered that, being Nobodies, they could not believe in anything. Baby replied that he must also be a Nobody because he didn't believe in God either. Roxas dismissed the entire conversation, telling Baby to stay out of their way. He was willing to let Baby go, as he had not directly interacted with them before the Corridor.

Baby laughed, his form changing as he did. He turned into the old gypsy woman that had told them of the Axis. Baby explained that it was not coincidence that they found a quick path to Veridis Quo and that Masq has already planned for everything and there is nothing they can do to stop what is coming.

Roxas was the first to engage Baby, who turned into a mirror image of Roxas with a matching pair of Keyblades. He engaged both Roxas and Xinck, his speed, and inhuman maneuverability proving more than a match. Roxas flew into a rage, attacking Baby blindly but to no avail.

A nerve had snapped in Roxas. Everything he had done since leaving The World That Never Was, or possibly since before that, was all part of some plot. Roxas was on edge, attacking Baby and even snapping at Xinck in his anger.

"This has caused me to be quite Butthurt. Quite Butthurt, indeed."-Xinck.

"Um...I'm sorry about your...hurt butt?"-Roxas.

Baby's powers not only allowed him to change his shape, mass and physical properties, but he could also do the same for his dual firearms, The Saint of Killers. He changed into Axel with Oblivion and Oathkepper, then into Xinck with Thanatos, then into Roxas with one Keyblade and an amalgamation of one Thanatos blade and a Saint of Killers gun.

"He's a cobbled-together mess of other people! He can't think of anything original on his own."-Roxas.

"Kinda like Lady Gaga."-Xinck.

It was then that Masq appeared in the branches of the Tree. She warned Roxas not to attack her, as the Tree Adonai would furiously attack those who harmed it. Roxas didn't believe her, but Xinck backed up her claim as true. Masq then chided Xinck, calling him a child murderer and a monster. The Deviant stayed silent, but Roxas fervently came to his defense. Masq seemed almost passionate when it came to her criticizing of their wonton killings, but simmered down when Baby insisted on bringing the attention back to himself.

"Drama Queen."-Xinck.

"You're one to talk."-Roxas.

The fight continued on with Baby winning easily. He shot, cut, blasted and sliced at them with his ever-changing weapons, prompting Roxas and Xinck to resort to trickery in order to win. They used the holy tree Adonai to their advantage. They covered the Atrium in a magically summoned fog, blinding Baby to his surroundings. By forcing his hand, Baby attacked the Holy Tree Adonai, which responded by hurling an enormous bolt of powerful energy at him. The bolt melted Baby's skin as it bathed him in powerful flames.

"Take this one, Xinck, I can't think of anything."-Roxas.

"I don't have any fire jokes."-Xinck.

"Then...what should we say?-Roxas.

"No idea. Just wing it."-Xinck.

"Um...uh...Nicki Minaj looks like if I touched her, she'd be really, really sticky."-Roxas.

"...Yeah, I can agree with that."-Xinck.

The flames had completely scorched Baby's body, forcing him to reveal his true form. Baby was an Android, or at least he was more machine than man. Humiliated by his defeat and furious, Baby exploded out of The Atrium and disappeared.

"Sticky Minaj. Ha! That's hilarious."-Roxas.

Masq then made her way to the battlefield. Roxas and Xinck instinctively attacked her, but she easily repelled them with her Enochian Shield. Roxas threatened to bring Veridis Quo crashing down on all of them if she did not return Axel, but Masq was unfazed. She said how impressed she was with their progress through Veridis Quo and wanted to reward them. With a hand wave, she summoned a mind-controlled Axel to her side. Roxas tried to reach him, but to no avail. Masq demonstrated that Axel was completely under her control, having him jump up and down and even kiss her.

Roxas could not stand to see his friend in this state. Desperate, he prostrated himself before Masq and begged her to let him take Axel home.

"Maybe you should've given her a foot rub while you were down there?"-Xinck.

"Well, I did more than you! All you did was stand there!"-Roxas.

"You have no idea what happened to me, do you?"-Xinck.

"...Stuff, I imagine."-Roxas.

Roxas could take no more and at last unleashed _**ARCHANGELUS LUCIFER**_, bathing the Atrium in its Light and destroying the Holy Tree Adonai. In the ensuing chaos, Masq had caught Xinck off guard and sent him off to another part of Veridis Quo, once again separating the two.

Roxas and Masq finally fought after she had sent Axel away to complete a task. Roxas was weakened, allowing Masq to toy with him as he struggled to kill her through sheer force of will. Their fight went back and forth, and Roxas was growing weaker and more desperate to win. Masq only mocked him further, saying it didn't matter how much he struggled or fought. She had planned everything for the past twenty years, prepared for everything by use of a Time-Dilation spell. 20 Years passed for Masq and her associates in mere months.

"Twenty Years? Ain't Nob.."-Xinck.

"Ain't Nobody Got Time For That! I got it! I said it first! It's mine!"-Roxas.

When it seemed that Roxas finally defeated Masq, by literally destroying her heart and much of her upper body, he found that he had spent much of hi own energy and nearly blacked-out from the strain. Masq revealed that what Roxas had actually defeated was an imperfect clone of herself. Masq merely waved the entire experience away and vanished while laughing and giving Roxas extra energy to continue on through Veridis Quo.

On the other end, Xinck found himself forced into an Enormous White and featureless area that was home to a large Black Cathedral. It was here that a force was emanating so immensely that it seemed to be zeroing in on Xinck, intent on snuffing out his very being.

"Wow, Xinck, who'd you piss off?"-Roxas.

"Uh...you know, it's such a long list, It'd be easier to list who I didn't piss off."-Xinck.

"Ok, then, who didn't you piss off?"-Roxas.

"Remember Nelly Furtado?"-Xinck.

"No."-Roxas.

"Danny Glover?"-Xinck.

"No."-Roxas.

"Patrick Stuart?"-Xinck.

"Uh...no."-Roxas.

"Ok, well, Google those people and get back to me."-Xinck.

Xinck came into the Black Cathedral to see a lone figure sitting before an altar covered in corpses and bones. After a brief, odd talk, the figure, in a display of impossible speed, killed Xinck in one hit by slicing open his stomach.

"Oh, god! Can I rewind that!? That was amazing!"-Roxas.

"Rewind it!? What the hell?!"-Xinck.

The figure then healed Xinck back to 100% and proceeded to attack him relentlessly. Xinck tried fighting back but became quickly overwhelmed. Desperate and angered, Xinck set fire to the entire cathedral, but still the figure would not stop. The figure then caught Xinck and the remainder of the Cathedral in an explosion, propelling them both to the white, featureless area outside.

The figure revealed herself to be **_Orphan_**, The Self-Proclaimed _**Desolate One**_. She was the lone survivor of Xinck's massacre and allied herself with Masq to have her revenge on Xinck for what he had done. She was only a 7 year old child when he came to her world, but per the Time-Dilation Spell, she was now 27. She had spent all that time ruminating on Xinck, training her body, mind and soul and mastering any magical art she could.

"It's always the pretty ones that want to kill me."-Xinck.

"Lucky." Says Roxas, "I can only guess Masq wears that mask because she's ugly."

An azure jewel hung from her neck, emanating amazing powwer that only added to her fearful presence. Xinck, at first, attempted to assuage Orphan's wrath, but saw it was pointless. Orphan claimed she would make him suffer for every life that was lost on that day. Xinck thought he deserved this, in the back of his mind knowing what he done. As such, he would give her a fight she deserved.

"Aw, how noble of you."-Roxas.

"I really am a good person."-Xinck.

Meanwhile, Roxas had gone deeper into Veridis Quo, now more dead-set on finding Axel after the previous altercation. What he found instead was Baby, parading around as Axel. After a brief bout with him, Roxas forced Baby to show his true Android from. Roxas berated and taunted Baby, claiming he hated himself and had low self-esteem if all his power consisted of changing his physical appearance. Enraged Baby drove Roxas to the Auditorium to continue the fight, claiming to forgo Masq's orders and punish Roxas for his disrespect.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Brave Little Toaster."-Roxas.

"Worthless."-Xinck.

Baby's onslaught was relentless but Roxas did not waver and easily overpowered the android as the fight reached its climax high above Veridis Quo in the skies. Roxas delivered the killing blow as they fell back down into the auditorium. Amid the dust and debris as the action settled, Baby's dying words were cryptically delivered with a smile creeping on his opaque face.

"_HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU...HE WAS SO WONDERFULLY RIGHT! GOOD LUCK, KID! YOU'RE GONNA NEED IT..."_

"Now I gotta find out what that means..."-Roxas.

"Who cares? Do you think Baby has iTunes? I need to update my playlist."-Xinck.

On the other end, Xinck was fighting a losing battle with Orphan. Her black blade, Sunyata, had two abilities designed specifically for Xinck. The first nullified his healing wherever it cut and the second allowed Orphan to rip through any darkness he made like it was cloth. Orphan obliterated Xinck's defense, easily overcame his offensive and succeeded in nearly annihilating his Redux _**INUGAMI**_ completely. He was forced to rely on his magic, but even that was no match for Orphan's wrath.

"This is amazing!" Says Roxas, "I'm on pins and needles! I kinda want her to win!"

"Oh, you have got to be shitting me! She's killing me! Right there!"-Xinck.

"I know! But still, dude, you...kinda deserve it?"-Roxas.

"I know that! But you don't have to be so damn giddy about it!"-Xinck

Years and years of Orphan pining over Xinck and what he had done had rendered her psychotic. Her anger, hate and despair were only small factors that drove her. Two decades of obsession had caused a twisted, evil concept of love to drive her more than anything. She wasn't doing this for her people, for closure, but for herself because she had nothing else but Xinck. When Xinck realized this, he refused to die at her hand and fought on as best he could.

"She's evil!? Aw, man! I hate her now."-Roxas.

"See!? I told you!"-Xinck.

"Still, she's really nice to look at."-Roxas.

"I know, right? Hey, rewind it and you can see when she's stabbing me in the face...I touched her boob."-Xinck.

After a massive sacrificial spell, Xinck was nearly too near-death to continue on. Orphan, of course, survived and proceeded to reveal that the reason why her magics and strength were so far beyond his. The azure stone around her neck was a construct of forbidden magic, The Necromancer's Stone. A relative to the Philosopher's Stone that was created by massive amounts of dead spirits, souls of people that had already passed on from this life.

"How cool is 'Fullmetal Alchemist'?", Says Xinck, "Did you see 'Sacred Star of Milos'?! Three Dimensional Philosopher Stone!"

"I hated that Major Armstrong didn't have a bigger part," Says Roxas, "It's so funny when he says 'Blah blah blah's Been passed Down THE ARMSTRONG LINE FOR GENERATIONS! HA HA HA!' I'm gonna get a catchphrase for myself."

"I thought 'Ain't Nobody Got Time For That' was your catchphrase."-Xinck.

"No, that's just my favorite meme. Oh, maybe we should make a meme."-Roxas.

"You don't just make a meme. It has to happen naturally, like..."-Xinck.

"This Meme...Has Been PASSED DOWN THE ROXICK LINE FOR GENERATIONS! HA HA HA!"-Roxas.

"Uh..."-Xinck.

"What do you want? It's a work in progress."-Roxas.

Orphan's coup de grace was meant to be ironic. She would absorb Xinck into the very core of The Necromancer's Stone. He would not die and he would not live, instead he would be forever tormented by those he had slain on that day. Forced into the stone, the Thousands of suffering souls tortured Xinck with memories from his past that he wished he could forget. They forced him to relive the last moments of every soul and watched as he killed himself over and over in more perverse and malefic ways.

Xinck did not lose his sense of self in the tempest of souls. And when the souls appeared to him en masse in the form of Larxene did either party realize that Xinck wanted to live from the very moment Orphan revealed who she was. The souls revealed that Orphan only uses them for energy and that they are in a worse torment than any death could ever rival. They wanted freedom from her. A bargain was struck between Xinck and all the souls, a bargain that was only possible if Xinck uncovered a power of his that he had locked away in himself. The power of Necrokinesis.

"So...does that mean you...you know..._That_...with dead people..?"-Roxas.

"That's a necrophile! I'm a necrokinetic, it means I can control and commune with dead people."-Xinck.

"Oh, ok, good. I mean, It's just, I like to at least think you have _some_ standards."-Roxas.

"Oi..."-Xinck.

The deal would allow Xinck to return to full health and power, this restoration being temporary and connected to the will and presence of the souls. For this, Xinck would free the souls and stop Orphan from becoming a walking plague of desolation on the world and hurting his friends. The deal was struck and Xinck forced his way out of the stone, ready to fight Orphan once again. Using his newly accepted powers, he was able to use his free hand to exorcise many souls, essentially weakening Orphan and allowing him to fight with her on par.

At last, the battle drew to an end with Orphan dying, unable to heal herself as her powers and most of her souls were gone, and Xinck dying from several vital wounds inflicted by Sunyata. He was dying faster than the souls were able to heal him. One final attack and, because of the Deviant tricking the Orphan at the last second, Xinck was able to win.

"Yeah, you won! I knew you would!"-Roxas.

"Roxas, do me a favor and look up Pyrrhic Victory for me."-Xinck.

After leaving Xinck with the words, _"I LOVE YOU. YOU KNOW THAT, RIGHT?"_, Orphan drew her last breath and died. Xinck then released whatever souls remained and freed them from the influence of The Necromancer's Stone. It was then that his body began to tear itself apart in a grotesque manner, the deal of the souls completed and Xinck's body returned to its previous state. Xinck began to fade away. He begged the souls for help, proclaiming he needed their power to help his friends. The Souls refused. Some offered words of comfort and told him to have faith in his friends, others called him pathetic for asking for help from his victims.

The souls then vanished completely. Xinck lay there alone, fading, sobbing and scared while hating himself and his existence. It was only the thoughts and memories of Roxas and Axel that brought any comfort to him. He died, whispering that those memories were more than enough.

"Oh..."-Roxas.

"Yeah, I'm actually quite proud of my death scene. I told you I was the greatest actor of all time."-Xinck.

"So...you're actually...dead?"-Roxas.

"Yup."-Xinck.

"Like, right now?"-Roxas.

"Yeah.*Stops breathing, plays dead*"-Xinck.

"So...I guess you won't mind if I finish eating your nachos."-Roxas.

"Hands off my nachos!"-Xinck.

In a different area, Roxas continued on. He stumbled upon The Library of Veridis Quo, a grand room with books and tomes as far as he could see. It was here that Roxas detected Axel's presence, plus a second, unknown presence. Axel's presence was faded, meaning he was here some time ago, but the second one was stronger and close by. The second aura was a Book that sat alone on an open table and when Roxas opened it-

"'When Roxas opened it'? Well, of course I opened it. Why doesn't it say Why I opened it?"-Roxas.

"It's implied you opened it. It's just a summary."-Xinck.

"It's bad story-telling, is what it is."-Roxas.

The Book itself was blank, but was capable of making words appear to express itself. It told Roxas that it was _**The Book of The In-Between**_, a book nearly as old as the Universe that records everything between The Beginning and The End. It was a nigh-omniscient tome capable of answering nearly any question. Roxas, of course, asked it where he could find Axel. The Book replied He was in The Doctor's laboratory, an area of Veridis Quo that exists in a dimension adjacent to the Castle Fortress.

"A book that can answer any question. Can You Say 'Plot Convenience'?"-Xinck.

Roxas took the book with him and he found a portal that lead him to the Doctor's Laboratory. When he came through, he was in an empty world with an ethereal atmosphere and an inconceivably large metallic construct behind him. Roxas asked the book several questions, about Masq and veridis Quo, but the book told him much of its knowledge about the subjects were ripped out and could not give a meaningful answer.

Roxas then asked about Masq's Cannon and where could he find it. The pages of the Book exploded in a wild explanation of technobabble and jargon that Roxas had little chance of understanding.

"Twaddle-speak and Gobbledegook!"-Xinck.

"What...is that even English?"-Roxas.

"Google it!"-Xinck.

It was then that Roxas heard Axel's voice screaming far in the distance. He was at the very bottom of this place and Roxas flung himself over the side railing and free-fell down the side of the massive metallic wall. He used his powers to gain a boost in speed, but his descent was still nothing compared to the sheer massiveness of the wall. For 6 miles Roxas fell and when he finally hit the bottom, injured and bleeding internally, he followed a trail of blood and fire sparks through the Doctor's actual workstation.

"Oh you know what would be cool? If Morgan Freeman narrated this."-Roxas.

"He's so cool, like he's not even trying. He's a god among men."-Xinck.

"Did you know Penguins didn't exist until He made that movie?"-Roxas.

"I just like saying his name. MorganFreemanMorganFreemanMorganFreemanMorganFreem an..."-Xinck.

"Having a bad day?" Says Roxas, "Just think about Morgan Freeman. He's certainly thinking about you."

"Mor-gan! Free-man! Mor-gan! Free-man!"-Xinck.

"Morgan Freeman."-Roxas.

Roxas then found the Doctor on a computer console, his torso savagely ripped open and burned beyond repair due to the mind-controlled Axel. The Doctor said he as able to slightly damage the devices controlling Axel, but his mind was still not his own. In his dying breaths, he asked Roxas to forgive him for his part in Masq's plans, as he so desperately wanted to see his family again and Masq promised to bring them back. He then told Roxas that the reason why Axel was involved in all of this was because of his uncanny pyrokinetic ability that allowed Axel to produce energy like a perfect engine and thus power Masq's Cannon, not unlike a battery.

Hearing the Doctor's dying words about Masq's intentions only served to strengthen Roxas' resolve to stop her. In order to fully stop her plans, he had to destroy the Cannon. He reopened the Book of The In-Between, seeing it had stopped its complicated explanation, asked it where he could find the Cannon. The Book then replied that it thought Roxas already knew, since he had just fallen down the side of it.

"Wait, so the wall was the Cannon?"-Xinck.

"No, the wall was just a small piece of the Cannon."-Roxas.

"A small piece? How big is it?"-Xinck.

"Humungous, apparently."-Roxas.

"Like, 100 feet?"-Xinck.

"No, bigger."-Roxas.

"200 Feet?"-Xinck.

"It's far beyond that, Xinck. I mean, come on."-Roxas.

"300 feet?"-Xinck.

"No! And I swear to God, if you say 400 feet...!"-Roxas.

"...100 feet?"-Xinck.

"GAH!"-Roxas.

Roxas could not destroy the Cannon, The Book proclaimed. Doing so would destroy them, Veridis Quo, the world it was on and whatever adjacent world was near it, and the local reality. If he wanted this to end before the Cannon was fired, he would have to take out Masq.

Roxas returned to the main area of Veridis Quo, once again following Axel's trail. Almost immediately after returning He was accosted by Masq who recovered the Book from him by force. Masq's plans were coming to bear fruit and the closer she came to her true goal, the more Roxas noticed that her mannerisms and attitude were becoming more erratic and mad.

"It's because she has the hots for you. Love makes you crazy."-Xinck.

"Oh, did you learn that from Orphan?"-Roxas.

She enjoyed pulling at Roxas' strings so much, she summoned Axel and proclaimed him her property, her 'batter-turned-manservant." Roxas went in to a rage and charge in to strike, but Axel came in between them and took the blow. He could not wince or scream out, only moan unintelligently. Roxas, horrified at what he had done, back down and refused to fight Axel as Masq sent The Assassin in to fight on her behalf.

Axel cut, stabbed ad burned Roxas all over his body until he could barely move. Roxas refused to fight Axel in his current state. He told Axel that no matter what, he would not stop trying to save him, even if he lost his life. Masq shouted that Roxas was a fool as nothing could be done to stop her plans, especially if he was too weak to survive something like this. She ordered Axel to burn that fact into his skull, and as the inferno closed in, at the very last second, even hotter Blue flames came in to cancel out the attack.

"Gasp and Shock!"-Xinck.

Making his way onto the battlefield and saving Roxas, came Saïx. At first, Roxas was surprised and thought he would have to fight in order to keep Saïx from dragging him back to The World That Never Was. But the Luna Diviner keep his questions short and sweet, mainly asking if Masq was the reason for all of this. When Roxas tentatively answered "Yes", Saïx replied that that was all he needed to know.

"Well, well, if it isn't the big damn hero."-Xinck.

"I hate to admit it, but watching Saïx fight was actually pretty awesome."-Roxas.

"Here's a question, how does Moon powers translate to Blue Flames? The moon's light is just a reflection of the Sun's light, and blue flames are actually hotter than normal red/orange flames, so hoe does that..?"-Xinck.

"Xinck, just shut up and watch this!"-Roxas.

Saïx allowed Roxas to sit out while he engaged Axel, much to Masq's chagrin who had no idea who he was. Saïx initiated his Partially Activated Redux, due to the lack of the Moon in Veridis Quo. Only His physical strength increased and Lunatic changed its appearance to compensate. Unexpectedly, he took Masq by surprise and pinned her to the wall with Lunatic.

"Ok, I admit, that was pretty cool."-Xinck.

"Told you!"-Roxas.

Saïx engaged Axel briefly and easily proved to be the superior, even without his Lunatic. The entire room was bathed in purple flames as the two Nobodies continued on. Roxas then recovered enough to stand and recover his state of mind. He saw Masq wide open, distracted by Saïx's initial attack on her, and when he went in for the killing blow, Axel once again stepped in and took the hit, damaging his body and half of the device controlling his mind.

Axel was finally able to fight back against the mind control, but Masq still had a hold on him. Both Masq and Roxas were shouting at him to fight the other's influence. Saïx came back on Masq and exploded on her and she fell silent, but the strain on Axel became so great that at last he screamed out in pain and run away.

Masq laid out on the floor, holding her cracking mask and berating both Roxas and Saïx. She was in disbelief that she could let her guard down in such a way. She then vanished again with an Enochian Chant before Oathkeeper and Oblivion could strike her.

"Ugh! Why is it so hard to kill her!?"-Roxas.

"Maybe you're just bad at it."-Xinck.

Roxas then angrily turned on Saïx, frantically shouting that He would not return to the Castle without his friends. He yelled at Saïx, cursing him and the Organization, saying that he did not need his help. Saïx attempted to calm Roxas, but the younger Nobody would not listen and continued to fire insults at the Diviner. It was only by slapping him did Saïx manage to finally silence Roxas.

"Wow. I had no idea Saïx was a part-time Pimp."-Xinck.

"He's not a pimp."-Roxas.

"Then why did he use his backhand to hit you?"-Xinck.

"I...I don't know! But that doesn't necessarily make him a pimp!"-Roxas.

"Well, at the very least, he slapped you like a bitch."-Xinck.

"Hey!"-Roxas.

"Hey, hey, I'm just saying. You took it very bitchly..."-Xinck.

Saïx calmly explained that he was here of his own free will and that everyone In The Castle That Never Was completely ignorant of his disappearing. He told Roxas that he was here to ensure the safe return of the Agents of The Organization. He also explained that in order to do that, they must regroup and think of an appropriate plan of action.

With Roxas finally calm and compliant, Saïx went on to explain how he located him. As he did, Saïx revealed he had also found Xinck's fading body, mangled nearly beyond recognition due to the outcome of a massive battle. Saïx had managed to fully heal Xinck's body, but it was his consciousness that was still inactive. Saïx then presented, what he called, a Demonic Panacea to Roxas. Saïx claimed it was meant to cause reactive stimulation in every molecule in the body and mind, revitalizing every aspect of the person it was used on.

"Kinda like 5 Hour Energy mixed with Cocaine and baked into a Sugar cookie."-Roxas.

"The cocaine, of course, being saturated with Ancient Demon Witch Blood." Says Xinck, "With trace amounts of Morgan Freeman."

Using the Demonic Panacea shot directly into his bloodstream, Xinck opened his eyes and exploded in a fit of raging madness, clawing at his own flesh and rambling nonsense. When the paralysis set in, one of the many side-effects of the Panacea, Xinck expressed his disdain at being brought back to life after what he had been through. Saïx told him that in order to retrieve Axel and stop Masq, the three of them would need to come up with a plan, unfortunately though, Xinck blacked-out, another side-effect, and Roxas hauled him onto his back to carry him as he told Saïx what they had learned since entering Veridis Quo...

* * *

"And that's everything so far." Roxas yawned and stretched as he rose up from his seat.

"Man, it feels like we've been at this forever." Xinck added, doing the same and rising from his seat.

"Hey, Saïx, you saw all that, right?" Roxas looked to the third seat on Xinck's right side to the sleeping figure of the Seventh member. Saïx was curled up in his seat, his hood over his head and a hand caressing the face inside. His snores were like whispers. "What the-He was asleep the whole time!?"

"I thought it strange he didn't laugh at my witty comments." said Xinck.

"He was right next to you and you never looked over?"

"Yeah, I gotta level with you, Roxas." Xinck said, "I don't like paying attention to other things that don't have to deal with me. You should know this."

"Ugh! You're impossible sometimes!" Roxas shouted. He came over to Saïx and roughly kicked his seat, "Wake up, you lousy bum!"

"Uh! Wha-!?...what? What Happened?" Saïx groggily stumbled awake and removed his hood. He looked at the two younger Nobodies wearily and half awake, "Is the movie over? I didn't miss anything, did I?"

"You missed the whole thing!" Roxas exclaimed.

"No...no I didn't." Saïx replied, standing, yawning and stretching, "I was just resting my eyes. Morgan Freeman, memes and all that. I saw the whole everything."

"So...?" Roxas lead Saïx on.

"So...what?"

"Did you think up a plan?"

"Mmm." Saïx sighed, rubbing his eyes, then running a hand through his hair, "How about we return to the main setting first before we discuss such things."

Roxas scoffed and rolled his eyes, "Fine. Let's get going."

"Come on, Roxas." Xinck said, "Think about it. Things are pretty bad now, so that means it would be really difficult for things to get any worse."

"The reward for these misfortunes," Saïx added, "Will be the recovery of our lost comrade and the defeat of the enemy who dared to provoke us."

A clever smirk appeared on Roxas' face as he looked to Saïx and Xinck. With a flick of his wrist, Oblivion and Oathkeeper dutifully shined into his grip. His smirk then turned to a smile, "Oh, yeah, I Definitely Got Time For That."

* * *

EL REGRESO...kinda.


End file.
